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Rush Limbaugh really ought to stay away from stories about other peoples' legitimate drug consumption.

How did we get from:

So, I gave in, and went at had a look at the Number 10 petition site. Well, I was one of the early adopters of the first attempt just after 1997, to set up a Number 10 discussion board, in the days when the interweb ran like a lump of tangled wet string.

So, having signed a few petitions - don't implement ID cards, legalize cannabis and other usual suspects, I decided to try my hand at creating one. It's not been approved yet, and you can be sure I will publish the signature page details if it is, but, in "pre-release form" one might say, here it is:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Abolish the
Department of Communities and Local Government and allow local
people to decide in consultation with the local representatives
they elect to do the job how best to run their localities

And in the "further information" box, this:

Local government has been subject to far too much tinkering,
target setting and control by central government for decades.
If government is by the consent of the governed then surely
that consent, for local affairs, is given in elections to local
councillors. Instead of handing down a menu from on high of
how local government will be permitted to operate, allow real
innovation and local consultation to decide how to run and fund
their local communities.

Keep your eyes open for it and go sign it if it tickles your fancy.

Technorati Tags: localism, politics, electoral reform

...this is one reason that would give me pause. There has already been much written and said about David Davis's decision to stand for re-election to his own seat.  Lots still seems uncertain - whether he will stand as a Tory or an Independent and so on. His stance on the 42 days issue and what I would call our constitutional liberties is all very well and good, but I cannot see him as a truly classical liberal or libertarian. Indeed he has been quite the opposite on all sorts of touchstone issues for a libertarian - drugs and sexuality for two examples.

Maybe I've missed some subtle nuance of the man. In the fight for our constitutional liberties, in the face of this government especially, every voice is welcome, but it doesn't make every defender a libertarian. I hope, for the sake of the Libertarian Party, Davis politely declines their offer. I feel there will be better opportunities to make their mark than this one.

I absolutely endorse what DK says in his blog on the issue of the 42 days as a whole though. 

...remember when policemen were people you felt you could go up to and ask for directions?

No longer it seems. In fact, if you have anything like a map with you, you could find yourself staying at Belmarsh (warning, watching the whole of this may cause you to damage your computer in anger!):

H/T Tristan

I am so glad Terence was filming this. Everyone should get the chance to see this kind of thing and have a real good think about the "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" attitude that is allowing our country to become a fascist state. The ability to stop at random (I was going to say "take to one side", but clearly they're happy to do this in full view of the entire concourse), with no probable cause whatever, and humiliate them in order to show other passengers "look, we're doing something about your security" is utterly obnoxious. I must say, though, I am amazed that he was allowed to continue filming, considering all that has been going on about photography in public places.

Britain, like never before, needs Fourth Amendment rights enshrined in law: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."