42 Days

Well, it happened, I even wrote to my MP to try and stop it. See that's due process for you, I should have used my mighty hammer to stop this nonsense. Brown decided to pin his entire career on a policy that undermined magna carta, was deemed unnecessary by most of those in the know, and was only popular amongst the Sun/Daily Hate fraternity. In fact I had to switch off an ex scum editor for harping on about how if this takes suicide bombers off the streets then its worth it. Yes, we arrest everyone who looks a bit Asian, and anyone who protested against the government just to be sure, and keep them for over a month, without even telling them what they've done, brilliant, it was tried in Northern Ireland and was the IRA's most successful recruiting campaign ever. I do shudder about what sort of deal with the devil has been made with the Ulster unionists.

It is a very strange world we currently live in, where men of principle (well at least showing the most principle) are Tory's, and the best hope for freedom and democracy lies with the unelected, undemocratic house of Lords.

However, I'm not one for moaning, ok that's not true, I'm a huge fan of moaning, but at base the problems we have here is twofold.

1. The government wants more power to lock up those who disagree with them, it is paranoid ramblings but this government has done more to take more power unto itself and less to democratic process than any other
2. The MPs in the 42 days vote were more interested in what could be got for them rather than the views of their constituents

So, what can you do. Well, when a vote like this comes up, write to your MP about how you want them to vote. It won't make much difference, but when they do care about you (Come election time) you can broach this subject with them in person when they're trying to toady for your vote. My actual threat was that if my MP voted yes, I wouldn't vote labour in any election, so no support for MSPs MEPs or councillors. You can see all your representatives voting records at www.theyworkforyou.com, a useful site that keeps these people accountable.

The second thing you can do is visit www.noliberties.com, the website of the film "Taking liberties" it has details on action you can do and covers exactly what's been taken by those in power. What I plan to do next time they're grubbing for my votes, mostly in the next Westminster election, is have a copy of what has been taken, and what acts have done this, and ask every candidate if they will work to repeal these laws, regardless of party politics. I doubt I'll get a straight yes/no but seeing them squirm should be fun. And BTW coming from a long standing opponent of Scottish Independence, if you can promise me, on the blood of your expense account, that we'll have none of this nonsense in an independent Scotland, Sign me up matey.