Jock's Place - Justice - Comments

I perhaps ought to say that

Jock — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 11:44:45 +0100

I perhaps ought to say that I know quite a few current and former Thames Valley officers on first name terms and I have always had respect for them and what they do. So I really hope that this one guy in particular is one of a "few bad aples". But if that was my experience of contact with the police I would feel the same.

It is amazing that we

Stephen — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 10:20:41 +0100

It is amazing that we prevent as many terrorist attacks as we do with utter plonkers like thesde 'protecting' us. I have no doubt that as a law abiding person in 2008, I would consider the police to a significant threat to my well being.

Thanks Mike - I am sure, as

Jock — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 04:52:54 +0100

Thanks Mike - I am sure, as your comment implies, that the "Fourth" is being abused, and that things like the Patriot Act are severely testing its very existence. At least you've got one though, and in theory, a judicial branch that could uphold it. We have neither. Or at least any judge who would would be condemned as an "activist judge" rather than one fulfilling their constitutional role!

4th Amendment

Mike Haubrich, FCD — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 03:52:40 +0100

If you were to have the likes of our 4th Amendment I would only hope that you would put it to better use than we have.

...and I thought all London

Jock — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:42:17 +0100

...and I thought all London policemen eventually moved to Goathland!

That is absolutely

Peter Mc — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:24:34 +0100

That is absolutely astonishing and infuriating. (Glad I live in North Yorkshire where we see a policeman and assume he's lost.)

I'm very glad it was not

Jock — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:33:51 +0100

I'm very glad it was not me. It can take hours to verify my address because of perpetual cock-ups and confusion over the electoral roll and my landlord's propensity for changing my address o a whim. I have, however, just in case, taken any ID with an address on for me out of my wallet and will not be carrying them on me any more.

That reminds me - that Fourth Amendment is the thing that's used to stop US officials rummaging through your bin rubbish like the bin spooks in Britain are doing isn't it?

Gavin Webb

Anonymous — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 23:09:47 +0100

Surely libertarian ideas are a valid part of the discussion even if disagreeable to some. A lot of Lib Dems seem to have forgotten how radical On Liberty - the party book of office is. It has quite a long section of why polygamy is not to be automatically outlawed which is a lot more radical than anything Gavin has been proposing. I believe that JS Mill himself could well have found himself in danger of suspension and he was after all a Liberal MP for a while.

When you say...

Jock — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:53:04 +0100

"he could be part of the solution"...do you mean "expelling him could be part of the solution" or his presence and some kind of borkered peace could be part of the solution? It would seem equally bad to me to do an Admiral Bynge - "pour encourager les autre" - so to speak.

I think the fight to defend

Anonymous — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:11:42 +0100

I think the fight to defend the role of libertarians and radicals is one worth fighting
but the issues facing the lib dems in stoke are mired in history, context and much more simple issues
The debate on one individual is at risk of obscuring the reality of a deeper seated problem to which he could be part of the solution

I really couldn't agree

James Schneider — Sat, 03 May 2008 17:29:07 +0100

I really couldn't agree more. People often want to tar us "legalize, tax, and regulate" types as being unpragmatic ideological libertarian drug pushers. In fact, the legalize, tax, and regulate position is inherently pragmatic and non-threatening. The status quo, which keeps thousands of people living outside the law, at risk from abuse and sex slavery, is threatening. The status quo gives us a position where the IMF estimates that 15-20% of global GDP is orginised crime. A phenomenal level. If drugs were brought above board it would be taken out of the hands of the gangsters and out into the open. This is the pragmatic position.

42 day limit

Curly — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:41:08 +0100

I fear that the British government is becoming more dangerous than those it proposes to protect us from.