Unexpected freedom fighter
When I wrote earlier this week that during my children's lifetime people would be fighting for the rights and freedoms we are meekly surrendering on an almost daily basis I was not expecting it to happen within 24 hours and for the fight to be led by a politician
Whether any hidden motives emerge remains to be seen but for the time being David Davis deserves our full support if for no other reason it will force people to stop watching Big Brother and realise they are actually living it - all with one CCTV camera for every 14 people to keep an eye on things.
The 42 day detention without charge or trial is just the catalyst which appears to have tipped Mr Davis over the edge. We have the biggest DNA data base in the world, with most people on it totally innocent, and, as Mr Davis has already pointed out, a proposed ID card system which will carry more information than even the KGB and Stasi in their darkest days ever held on their citizens. All that information, along with even the most intimate medical details on the NHS system - if it ever gets off the ground - will then be available to the most obscure state employee for the flimsiest of reasons.
The only saving grace is that with this Government's record on anything involving computers the current population will be long dead before even the most basic system is limping into operation at the cost of scores of billions of pounds. More worrying, given their record of losing data, is that most of our personal details will be in the hands of criminals, terrorists and probably even on the Internet long before the first ID card is issued.
We have seen people arrested at the Cenotaph and charged under terror legislation for reading out the names of British soldiers killed in Iraq. We have seen a pensioner, a survivor of the Holocaust, dragged out of a Labour Party conference, again under anti-terror legislation, for a show of disapproval in a speech by the foreign secretary - for disagree read arrest.
We have race and religious laws that stifle free speech and free expression and, before the rent-a-conscience liberals splutter into their cornflakes, they should remember that freedom of speech is only worth anything when people are allowed the freedom to say things you disagree with. There were plenty of existing laws from breach of the peace to incitement that were available but they would not have given the same sweeping powers to state and police - or appeased certain sections of the populus.
We have stood by while laws were passed to allow a whole host of jumped up officials the right to enter our properties without permission, search every room and take photographs of whatever they like for assessment of council tax or whatever other reason they can think of and the same 800 of so public bodies are using anti-terror legislation for general snooping on the population, fishing for the most trivial of offences.
On top of all that we have extradition to the USA, for example, if the US authorities ask for it without them first having to prove a prima facie case in court - effectively giving up our citizens to a foreign power virtually without a fight. Then within the newly formed Ministry of Justice, a name somehow very anti-British, redolent of Kafka and a totalitarian state, we have threats to jury trials and even the presumption of innocence.
The irony is that while the state gives itself more and more power over our lives it is giving away its own powers to the unelected figures who run the EU in the shadowy world they inhabit in Brussels.
With the Liberal Democrats not putting up a candidate and Labour struggling to beat an egg when it comes to elections Mr Davis might well find himself with a free run with plenty of column inches and air time to express his views. Whatever people think of his politics, his party or politicians in general we should at least be grateful that he is forcing people to wake up and see what is being done, in their name, to their basic freedoms. Maybe the fight back might just be beginning.
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Roger Clarke
Birmingham’s very own Grumpy Old Man on what gets right up his nose.
I’ve been thinking about you, Roger, and your scribblings here. You’re not a happy bunny are you? How can anyone be this discontented with life itself?
I’m presuming you are over 50? Well read on. This is for you.
Don't we, as decent human beings, have a duty to provide food for the starving, to get rid of once and for all the shameful waiting lists for hospital treatment? To provide immediate medical attention at all times?
Billions of pounds is at present being spent by Social Services, in the running of our overstretched National Health Hospitals. Because of the mess society has selfishly allowed itself to get into, most of this enormous expenditure is constantly being thrown down the drain.
Let's sort out this mess right away and dramatically cut out the waste so that we can all have a better life.
* You may ask how this can be achieved. Simple! We've all heard of voluntary euthanasia. It's time for radical thought. Why not go one step further and introduce compulsory euthanasia - for everyone over the age of 50. For everyone who has reached the winter of their lives... or the winter of discontent, as in your case! Surely it's time to say happy birthday... and goodbye to those who have reached the age of 50.
* Without the over 50s around to clog up the system, there would no longer be waiting lists for hospital treatment. Even the waiting rooms at the local doctor's surgery would be crowded no more. What a marvellous thought!
* Think of all the food you will consume after your 50th birthday, Roger, until you take your last breath. A 90 year old will have eaten 40 years supply of food! Wouldn't you rather see that colossal amount of food distributed evenly amongst the hungry? Of course you would.
* Even the post office would be a delight to visit. No more frustrating queues on 'pension day' to drive the rest of us mad when we wait for ages to buy just a couple of first class stamps.
* And talking about pensions. There would be no more state pensions to pay out. The Old Age Pension would be a thing of the past. No longer would those in work need to pay towards their pension. There wouldn't be a need for one! Which means more money in our pay-packets to spend on what we want. The idea is starting to look quite appealing, isn't it, Roger?
* Bus journeys would be a pleasure. No more waiting while the 'oldies' fumble for their bus passes. The bus ride would be quicker and more efficient.
* Let's face it, if you haven't done with your life what you wanted to do before the age of 50, then you are not going to do it afterwards.
* No more concessions - Council-run facilities, theatres, and cinemas would start becoming profitble. No longer would they have to lose money by charging OAP rates. Everyone pays the full price. More profit equals improved facilities.
* Jobs for all!!! Just look around you. Take out the over 50s from the job market and introduce the younger, more energetic employees. In effect, take away the dead wood.
So there you are Roger. Stop all this grumbling and moaning and pop along to the doctor’s for that last injection.
See, you just prove my point about the NHS not really working for the benefit of the patient. Whatever generic, cheaper alternative drugs they have got you on are clearly not working. Go back to your Polyclinic and demand the real medication, the good stuff on the posh prescriptions reserved for the over 50s - they are the ones who have paid 30 years or so of tax and national insurance thus earning the right to be as cynical as they like.
As for removing the over 50s - that would mean that the majority of theatres, cinemas, the NEC, NIA and Symphony Hall would all effectively close down through lack of talent or star quality so you would be left with your feet sticking to the floor at the Carling Academy for your entertainment or watching celebrity who wants a bit part in some much-hyped, tired old West End musical on TV, being ripped off each time you vote, of course.
Mind you, it is all a bit academic. Let’s be honest am I ever going to accept advice from someone named after a Minnesota hamburger dating all the way back to 1954? That’s 54 years ago - is there something you have forgotten to tell us perhaps?