Public Order vs. Civil Rights: Is Liberal Britain Under Threat? | DW News

Jul 16, 2023 | Civil liberties and human rights - are they under threat in Britain? The United Kingdom sees itself as a champion of democracy. But new laws that criminalize some forms of protest and limit workers' right to strike are worrying human rights organizations. The right to asylum is also in the spotlight. What's happening to liberal Britain? How free and fair is Britain today?

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Liberty Groups Unite to Defend UK Rights
THE GUARDIAN: Writers, pop stars, lawyers and politicians from across the party spectrum yesterday issued a call to arms. They joined the largest ever campaign across Britain to warn of the erosion of freedoms and the emergence of surveillance techniques

The government and the courts are collaborating in slicing away freedoms and pushing Britain to the brink of becoming a "database" police state, a series of sold-out conferences in eight British cities heard yesterday.

In a day of speeches and discussions, academics, politicians, lawyers, writers, journalists and pop stars joined civil liberty campaigners yesterday to issue a call to arms for Britons to defend their democratic rights.

More than 1,500 people, paying £35 a ticket, attended the Convention on Modern Liberty in Bloomsbury, central London, which was linked by video to parallel events in Glasgow, Birmingham, Belfast, Bristol, Manchester, Cardiff and Cambridge. They heard from more than 80 speakers, including author Philip Pullman; musicians Brian Eno and Feargal Sharkey; journalists Fatima Bhutto, Andrew Gilligan, Nick Cohen and Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger; politicians Lord Bingham and Dominic Grieve; a former director of public prosecutions, Ken Macdonald; and human rights lawyer Helena Kennedy.

In her speech Kennedy said she felt that fear was being used as a weapon to break down civil liberties. "There is a general feeling that in creating a climate of fear people have been writing a blank cheque to government. People feel the fear of terrorism is being used to take away a lot of rights."

She said that voters were anxious that their communities were 'being alienated' by the use of powers designed to protect national security being applied outside their original remit, and that there was now an open window of opportunity for the electorate to make their feelings known to government before the next election: "People are fearful of the general business of collecting too much information about individuals." >>> Tracy McVeigh, Chief Reporter | Sunday, March 1, 2009

THE OBSERVER: Modern Liberty Has Found Its Voice

It was never in a Labour manifesto that individual freedom should be surrendered in the interests of collective security. Nor was it written that society should submit itself to a blanket of surveillance by the state.

It was never announced as a political creed of the current government that trial by jury is an expensive inconvenience that modern democracies can, in certain circumstances, do without. Nor was it proclaimed that the principle of habeas corpus, that prohibits the crown from detaining a free individual without his or her knowing the charge, was redundant in the face of terrorist threats in the 21st century. And yet, one way or another, all of those views have been expressed in laws introduced by Labour since it came to power.

Whether by complacency, arrogance or cynical design, the government has erected an edifice of legal constraint to liberty that would suit the methods and aims of a despot. >>> Editorial | Sunday, March 1, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>

Centuries of British Freedoms Being 'Broken' by Security State, Says Sir Ken Macdonald
THE TELEGRAPH: Centuries of British civil liberties risk being broken by the relentless pressure from the ‘security state’, the country’s top prosecutor has warned.

Outgoing Director of Public Prosecutions Sir Ken Macdonald warned that the expansion of technology by the state into everyday life could create a world future generations “can’t bear”.

In his wide-ranging speech, Sir Ken appeared to condemn a series of key Government policies, attacking terrorism proposals - including 42 day detention - identity card plans and the “paraphernalia of paranoia”.

Instead, he said, the Government should insist that “our rights are priceless” and that: “The best way to face down those threats is to strengthen our institutions rather than to degrade them.”

The intervention will be seen as a significant setback to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith who last week saw her plans to lock up terror suspects for 42 days before being charged thrown out by the House of Lords.

It is also a blow to Miss Smith’s plans for a super-database to record the details of millions of people’s online presence, including emails, SMS messages and Facebook profiles as well as the controversial identity card programme.

Sir Ken chose to issue his tough warning about the perils of the “Big Brother” state in his final speech as DPP, days before he leaves his post at the end of this month.

He warned that MPs should “take very great care to imagine the world we are creating before we build it. We might end up living with something we can’t bear”. >>> By Christopher Hope, Home Affairs Editor | October 20, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>

The “Strangulation” of British Freedoms

THE TELEGRAPH: The Conservative Party has been plunged into turmoil after David Davis, one of the party’s most senior members, unexpectedly resigned as an MP.

In a surprise move that shocked David Cameron, the shadow home secretary announced he was quitting the front bench following Gordon Brown’s victory over the 42 day terrorism laws.

After enjoying eight months of positive publicity and a series of recent electoral successes, Mr Davis’s move marks a significant setback for Mr Cameron.

The Tory leader will now have to deal with the biggest upheaval and uncertainty of his leadership since fighting off a possible early election last autumn.

Publicly, Mr Cameron said the move was “brave and courageous”. But Conservative insiders now believe Mr Davis has “lost the plot”.

The move stunned Westminster and shocked Tory MPs. Mr Davis acknowledged that he could be risking his own political future.

By standing down as an MP, Mr Davis will spark a by-election in his Yorkshire seat, where he will stand again as a Tory candidate campaigning on the issue of civil liberties. David Davis Stuns Westminster with Resignation over 42-Day Terror Law >>> By Andrew Porter, Political Editor | June 13, 2008

THE TELEGRAPH:
David Davis’ statement in full >>>

THE TELEGRAPH:
I’m Fighting to Defend Our Basic Freedoms >>> | June 13, 2008

THE TELEGRAPH:
David Davis Has Set a Powerful Example >>> By Simon Heffer | June 13, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardcover – USA)

The Guardian on Liberties
THE GUARDIAN – LEADER: Like a suitor who is not deterred by past rejections, Gordon Brown went to the Commons yesterday to propose that his government should be granted new powers to deal with terrorism suspects. It is less than two years since the house defeated plans for 90-day detention, but Mr Brown made a fresh pitch with great skill. In place of the melodramatic rhetoric of the last prime minister - who casually brushed aside concerns about liberty with the chilling assertion that "the rules of the game have changed" - his successor accepted the delicate balance between security and liberty. He declined to make a totem, as Tony Blair had, of 90 days - or of any other limit. Instead he claimed that while he believed the current 28-day limit should increase, he wanted to see this achieved with as much consensus as possible.

The desire to avoid looking partisan was taken to extraordinary heights, with Mr Brown making a brazen grab for one policy long championed by the Conservatives - a single border force, encompassing customs and immigration officials. In practice, the new force is not what the opposition envisaged, as it excludes the police. But the move deprives the Tories of one of their distinctive offerings on security, increasing the pressure on them to restore their tough-on-terror credentials by falling into line with ministers on pre-trial detention. The shadow home secretary, David Davis, a sceptic of state control, helped to engineer the defeat of 90-day detention last time. Whether his party will feel able to stick to the principle this time, given that ministers have adopted a less overtly draconian tone, remains to be seen. Taking liberties (more)

Mark Alexander