‘In his last broadcast interview before his resignation, Mr Blair insisted that large-scale surveillance of terror suspects was essential, and said some criticism from civil liberties campaigners was “completely absurd… loopy-loo in its extremism”.’

“The idea that that’s an assault on hundreds of years of British civil liberties is completely absurd,” he said. The Guardian

I beg to “differ from the hollow lies” and so do many others:

In the period under review [2nd half 2006], instead of bringing people to justice, the UK authorities continued to impose “control orders” under the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 (PTA) on individuals allegedly involved in “terrorism-related activity”. Consequent judicial proceedings were profoundly unfair, denying individuals the right to a fair hearing, including because of heavy reliance on secret hearings in which intelligence information had been withheld from the appellants and their lawyers of choice, as well as a particularly low standard of proof. Amnesty Int

Lords investigate ‘unconstitutional’ surveillance society – The Register, April 2007

“A recent survey conducted on behalf of the Daily Telegraph found that hundreds of thousands of UK citizens would refuse to sign up to a national identity register in the first place, even if it resulted in fines.” The Register, April 2007

“Four people have been found guilty of defying a ban on unauthorised protests near Parliament.” BBC, January 2006

“However, Parliament should take a long view, and resist the temptation to grant powers to governments which compromise the rights and liberties of individuals. The situations which may appear to justify the granting of such powers are temporary—the loss of freedom is often permanent.”

“…we are not persuaded that the circumstances of the present emergency or the exigencies of the current situation meet the tests set out in Article 15 of the ECHR” Joint Committee On Human Rights (2001) on ANTI-TERRORISM, CRIME AND SECURITY BILL

Also the continuing allegations of extraordinary rendition make me deeply concerned.

“whatever [the state] saith it lieth; and whatever it hath it hath stolen.” Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra (oh I love that quote!)

I got to go answer the door… oh I’m “looking, with knowledge, at a member of the Thought Police.”… bye world! (… “completely absurd” indeed…)

Anti Citizen One