There are two comments that best sum up Nanny’s botched anti terror laws, which were introduced in haste and without due care and attention post 9/11.
Lord Hoffman noted, in the Law Lords ruling on Thursday, that:
“The real threat to the life of the nation….comes not from terrorism but from laws such as these..”
Another public figure, also had a few thoughts on the subject of detention without trial:
“The power of the executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgement of his peers, is in the highest degree odious it's the foundation of all totalitarian government, whether Nazi or Communist..”
Who spoke so wisely?
A political pundit?
A lawyer?
None other than Sir Winston Churchill, in 1943.
It seems to me that Churchill’s words are as valid now, as they were then.
The case Nanny has to address, and frankly it was as obvious as when she passed the terrorism act, as it is now; is what do you do with the people who are incarcerated under this law?
Incidentally, where were the “opposition” parties when these half-baked laws were being passed?
The detainees cannot be held forever, as appealing a prospect as that may sound.
Nanny needs to ensure that one, or all, of the following take place:
-Put them on trial for terrorist offences
-Put them on trial for other crimes
-Deport them
-Release them
The above actions may not be easy, and indeed were rejected as being too troublesome by Nanny’s old chum David “trial without jury” Blunkett, but nonetheless are necessary.
The trouble with Nanny is that she is intellectually lazy; she acts before thinking and she likes to play to the populist gallery, she does not do “difficult”.
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