News from elsewhere -good deed needed
02
October
The Chicken Yoghurt asks for assitance for a Guantanamo detainee, he grew up in Britain and got his law degree here, why is he rotting in Cuba?
Tim Worstall has provided us with his weekly BritBlog round up, and there are a few gems worth highlighting directly. The Liberator describes Blackpool as “a Chav Beirut” and also quotes my MP’s description of the place. OK, small bias, Torquay is a rival to Blackpool in the tourist industry, but from thet description, Torbay wins hands down. The Campaign for an English Parliament (as in those misguided reformers I’m directly opposed to) also give us an English blog round up.
However, the pick of the week is definately Tim Ireland at Bloggerheads giving us a summary of the Labour eviction and the worrying implications for freedom of speech:
The bottom line is that apologies have been made, so it’s all over and it shouldn’t worry your little heads that an anti-terror Act was used to stifle legitimate debate.
He then goes on to highlight many of my concerns over the end result of limiting freedom of speech:
This attempt to stifle and shut down debate under cover of zero-tolerance of terrorism enrages animal rights activists. Some who feel they have little choice take that Big Step Beyond Reason, and the next thing you know grandma’s bones are kidnapped and hidden in a shed in Burton-Upon-Trent.
Repeat message: Continuing to deny reality actually makes the problem worse.
Freedom of speech must be an absolute.
Oh; read on till the end, I love the Santa Claus thing, wonder if we can get it into a t-shirt?
1. Toque | October 17th, 2005 at 3:10 pm
In what way are you directly opposed to the Campaign for an English Parliament? Are you campaigning against an English parliament? If so, are you also campaigning against the Scottish and Welsh devolved legislatures?
2. MatGB | October 17th, 2005 at 4:53 pm
I am in favour of reforming the current set up, but not in such a way as to threaten the Union itself, and I strongly believe that a single English parliament would be a threat, whereas the Scottish and Welsh assemblies, being much smaller, are not.
There’s a full article in the works explaining the full position, it’s one of the thre raison d’etre of the site, but I’m too busy to write it currently.
Status quo is not an option, but I don’t think a full English parliament is a viable solution either.
3. Toque | October 18th, 2005 at 2:41 am
How do you justify you position of allowing Scottish and Welsh national parliaments but not an English one? Why should England be sacrificed at the alter of Unionism and whilst the other nations have free reign to do as they please? Some might accuse you of prejudiced, or even of being anti-English.
I look forward to the article, and a full explaination of how you would solve the West Lothian Question and square the constitution.