Dictatorship?
Dictatorship?
-------------
Charles Clarke the Home Secretary was reported on Monday 24th April as criticising the press for using words "once reserved for tyrants to describe the legitimate policies of democratic governments." The tenor of his complaint was that the media are protesting because the government is democratically passing laws which once would have been thought inappropriate in a democracy but which he now claims to be necessary. "Clarke attacks 'distorting' media" BBC news item
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4938078.stm
To see one vision of the UK as it is after the passing of a number of recent laws go to have a look at "Big Brother" a comic book which highlights many of the laws which have been passed but which would indeed have been thought impossible in the UK only a few years ago.
Big Brother Comic
http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/resources/big-brother.pdf
The problem though is that it is not just the strange laws which we are having foisted upon us which indicate our gradual decline into a dictatorship. There are other factors which have been highlighted by events this week.
Firstly is the incompetence with which some laws are enforced while others are pursued to ridiculous extremes. Mr Clarke has faced a barrage of criticism over the failure of the Home Office to deport 160 foreign criminals recommended by the courts for deportation after their prison sentences were served or to consider almost nine hundred others for deportation. As a result murderers, rapists and other criminals, supposedly under supervision by the probation service, have been able to disappear. On the other hand Kirklees Council has spent at least 2,800 GBP in legal costs in prosecuting a ratepayer (representing himself) over his non-payment of a 10p parking ticket on a car parking spot which is now free and possibly always has been. "Parking Mad" - Daily Telegraph news story:
http://digbig.com/4hhcw
Motorists are targeted, while violent criminals are allowed to roam the streets under ineffective supervision methods. Such incompetence and inconsistency have been the hallmark of dictatorships over the ages.
Secondly is the fact that government ministers seem to believe that they can do whatever they like. Clarke's initial reaction this week was apparently to offer his resignation as Home Secretary which he obviously thought was an appropriate response and nobody would have blamed him for that. Except that Tony Blair said that he would not accept the resignation, so that was alright. John Prescott has admitted to having an affair with a secretary. David Blunkett continued to live in his "grace and favour" accommodation for months even after resigning as Home Secretary. The list of inappropriate behaviour is endless, but none of them seem to worry that they are in the wrong. Hypocrisy like this is another feature of tyranny.
The third is the constant need for propaganda and misleading commentary. A the prime example of which was Patricia Hewitt's repeated assertion that the NHS had just had its best year ever. In support of this she stated that we had just had the coldest winter for decades but the hospitals had still been able to cope without any crisis. The last winter was not the coldest for decades or even the coldest this century - it was relatively mild. To say that hospitals are not in crisis at the moment is nonsense, as the people who work in them have pointed out. And yet the government presses on with the same propaganda regardless - following the Nazi principle that the bigger the lie, the more likely it is to be believed.
So the media are not perpetuating "pernicious and even dangerous poison" as Charles Clarke would have us believe. Isn't what they are saying just a reflection of a general malaise caused by the many factors which reflect the fact that our democracy is changing for the worse?
-------------
Charles Clarke the Home Secretary was reported on Monday 24th April as criticising the press for using words "once reserved for tyrants to describe the legitimate policies of democratic governments." The tenor of his complaint was that the media are protesting because the government is democratically passing laws which once would have been thought inappropriate in a democracy but which he now claims to be necessary. "Clarke attacks 'distorting' media" BBC news item
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4938078.stm
To see one vision of the UK as it is after the passing of a number of recent laws go to have a look at "Big Brother" a comic book which highlights many of the laws which have been passed but which would indeed have been thought impossible in the UK only a few years ago.
Big Brother Comic
http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/resources/big-brother.pdf
The problem though is that it is not just the strange laws which we are having foisted upon us which indicate our gradual decline into a dictatorship. There are other factors which have been highlighted by events this week.
Firstly is the incompetence with which some laws are enforced while others are pursued to ridiculous extremes. Mr Clarke has faced a barrage of criticism over the failure of the Home Office to deport 160 foreign criminals recommended by the courts for deportation after their prison sentences were served or to consider almost nine hundred others for deportation. As a result murderers, rapists and other criminals, supposedly under supervision by the probation service, have been able to disappear. On the other hand Kirklees Council has spent at least 2,800 GBP in legal costs in prosecuting a ratepayer (representing himself) over his non-payment of a 10p parking ticket on a car parking spot which is now free and possibly always has been. "Parking Mad" - Daily Telegraph news story:
http://digbig.com/4hhcw
Motorists are targeted, while violent criminals are allowed to roam the streets under ineffective supervision methods. Such incompetence and inconsistency have been the hallmark of dictatorships over the ages.
Secondly is the fact that government ministers seem to believe that they can do whatever they like. Clarke's initial reaction this week was apparently to offer his resignation as Home Secretary which he obviously thought was an appropriate response and nobody would have blamed him for that. Except that Tony Blair said that he would not accept the resignation, so that was alright. John Prescott has admitted to having an affair with a secretary. David Blunkett continued to live in his "grace and favour" accommodation for months even after resigning as Home Secretary. The list of inappropriate behaviour is endless, but none of them seem to worry that they are in the wrong. Hypocrisy like this is another feature of tyranny.
The third is the constant need for propaganda and misleading commentary. A the prime example of which was Patricia Hewitt's repeated assertion that the NHS had just had its best year ever. In support of this she stated that we had just had the coldest winter for decades but the hospitals had still been able to cope without any crisis. The last winter was not the coldest for decades or even the coldest this century - it was relatively mild. To say that hospitals are not in crisis at the moment is nonsense, as the people who work in them have pointed out. And yet the government presses on with the same propaganda regardless - following the Nazi principle that the bigger the lie, the more likely it is to be believed.
So the media are not perpetuating "pernicious and even dangerous poison" as Charles Clarke would have us believe. Isn't what they are saying just a reflection of a general malaise caused by the many factors which reflect the fact that our democracy is changing for the worse?
posted by Steve Butler, UKlawyers | 10:34 pm
|
0 comments
