Stop trying to balance liberty with security
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By Tim Black
From the countless amendments and additions to the Counter Terrorism Act to the ever-expanding Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, there’s no doubting that British anti-terrorist legislation since 9/11 now constitutes a mightily oppressive edifice.
Under the powers granted to the state over the past ten years, we can be imprisoned on the basis of so-called inciteful speech, we can be detained without charge for days upon end, we can be held under de facto house arrest, we can be stopped and searched at will… on and on the liberty-squeezing measures go. All under the guise of protecting us from the potential terror in our midst.
Last week, however, the state issued what looks like a mea culpa. ‘I think we saw some powers, some laws, enacted which did go too far.’ Coming from Lord MacDonald, the man overseeing the Lib-Con Government’s review of counter-terrorism legislation, this is quite an admission. Though the actual reforms to existing legislation are yet to be...
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