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JUST EXPLAIN IT TO ME WILL YOU ?

by Susan Hill on Fri 13 Jun 2008 12:54 BST | Permanent Link

This morning I went out into 2 small towns and 1 supermarket and I am sure CCTV picked me up twenty times. If I have nicked a cabbage they`ll come to get me later. As it was I parked my car for 6 minutes over the time I`d paid for so I got a £40 fine. It was a fair cop, 6 minutes is 6 minutes, even if I am cross with myself. If they come round to mine and find bomb-making equipment in the shed with my prints on it and some inflammatory terrorist websites on my computer, I am going to expect them to take me in and hold me pending further investigations - 42 hours, 42 days or 420 days or as long as it takes.

For God`s sake, what is David David about ? ID cards...? Great. Bring them on. I had one in the war hung round my little tiny neck on a ribbon. It will save all this utility bill and driving licence rubbish. At least I hope so. If you are innocent you have nothing to fear and most of us are. I didn`t nick the cabbage, there is no bomb-making equipment in the shed. But if there were....

I simply do not understand what all this fuss is about. If I don't pay the parking fine, they will double it and I will get a court order because my numberplate gives them my name and address and quite right too. I`m not innocent. I have everything to fear. But otherwise I spent a blameless morning and if I am o 1,000 CCTVs SO WHAT ? It is a weapon the police need. They capture robbers and terrorists and murderers on it and as a result they sometimes catch them. I thought this was a good thing.

Now if David Davis and the other complainers had taken a stand against Political Correctness and the erosion of our right to free speech I might understand. I think he has gone mad - and of course he has committed political suicide but that`s up to him. I just don`t understand his problem or indeed anybody else`s, with CCTV and with holding in custody people who might be about to blow up and kill hundreds of people until they have established the facts. The police are not about to arrest and hold anyone they fancy for 42 days on a random basis - why would they ? There are checks and balances. Any magistrate would agree that I should have received my parking penalty this morning but none would agree to them arresting and holding me as a potential terrorist.

Now someone tell me why I`ve got it all wrong.

Posted to:

Comments

Re: JUST EXPLAIN IT TO ME WILL YOU ?

by Bishop Hill on Fri 13 Jun 2008 13:55 BST | Profile | Permanent Link

Davis has made a stand on a number of issues - it's the whole gamut of infringements of civil liberties. He specifically mentioned freedom of speech in his resignation statement, so you can support him on those grounds alone.

You're missing the point on 42 days. If they find bomb-making equipment in your house, they're going to be able to charge you that day aren't they? It's where they don't have anything that they need 42 days. And if they don't have evidence then you shouldn't be locked up. The whole point is about innocent people being incarcerated, not guilty ones.

You can shrug your shoulders at 420 days - most people can't. 42 days away from my business would be enough to destroy my livelihood. You are surely not arguing that the police only ever arrest guilty people?

The innocent have nothing to fear from CCTV? See here for a list of innocents who do have something to fear from CCTV. And while we're about it, why not put a CCTV camera in every home? After all, you are innocent and have nothing to fear.

Re: Re: JUST EXPLAIN IT TO ME WILL YOU ?

by Ellie Weld on Tue 17 Jun 2008 22:31 BST | Profile | Permanent Link

I think Bishop Hill does a pretty good job of explaining it, don't you? There are valid reasons to oppose 42 days' incarceration: not everyone who is arrested is guilty, and no one should be locked up without charge for so long; and ID cards: it's the database with masses of personal information that can be passed on to other people, or stolen, or lost that is the worry, not the card itself, and in any case I cherish my privacy; and the philosophy expressed in "if you're innocent you have nothing to fear": do you assume that the government, politicians and police are never incompetent, mistaken or lazy? That's the triumph of hope over experience. P.S. Susan, I was pleased to read your comments about Stephen Mallatratt. He was married to my stepdaughter, and was a very nice man.

Re: JUST EXPLAIN IT TO ME WILL YOU ?

by rozj on Fri 13 Jun 2008 14:09 BST | Profile | Permanent Link

ID cards - I was looking forward to the day someone would tattoo a barcode on my forehead to I can forget all these passwords/pin numbers, etc. I'm not a criminal so nothing to fear. A pal who works in computers kindly pointed out how easy it would be for hackers to use my barcode and thus land me in all sorts. No ID cards til computers are safe. This may be never and its a damn nuisance.

Re: JUST EXPLAIN IT TO ME WILL YOU ?

by Curzon Tussaud on Fri 13 Jun 2008 15:19 BST | Profile | Permanent Link

I'm getting rather sick of hearing about the "human rights" of criminals, suspects, asylum seekers et al. I also have human rights, which include not being threatened, attacked, robbed or possibly even killed by some crazed Somebody with a knife or bomb, or perhaps a drunk behind the wheel of an (uninsured?) car. I think my career as a Grumpy Old Woman starts today.

Re: Re: JUST EXPLAIN IT TO ME WILL YOU ?

by Bishop Hill on Sat 14 Jun 2008 17:10 BST | Profile | Permanent Link

Curzon Tussaud

You do indeed have rights not to be threatened, attacked, robbed and so on. And we rather handily have laws against these things. The objections of those like David Davis are that locking up innocent people isn't going to protect you. Innocent until proven guilty is quite an important idea, I would have thought.

We could, of course, just agree to lock up anyone we want, for as long as we want, and dispense with all those old-fashioned complications like evidence and juries and trials. No doubt these sorts of measures made the people of the old Soviet Empire feel much safer on their streets. (Strangely enough, it's the approach that has recently been adopted on Jersey too. Perhaps we'll see it here soon too.)

It strikes me as astonishingly naive that anyone should want to trust a politician with these sorts of powers. Are you so sure that the government we have and every government in the future will not abuse them?

Re: JUST EXPLAIN IT TO ME WILL YOU ?

by Naomi Mott on Fri 13 Jun 2008 19:45 BST | Profile | Permanent Link

Very simply, at some point the common man has to take a stand and say 'here, but no further' - which is basically what DD is saying. It's no good taking a stand when we no longer have any human rights.
If we didn't need the 42 day law during the days of the IRA, then I don't see why we need it now. So called 'anti-terror' laws like that just spread paranoia and intolerance.

Re: JUST EXPLAIN IT TO ME WILL YOU ?

by Simon Stuck In A Book on Fri 13 Jun 2008 22:00 BST | Profile | Permanent Link

I'm completely with you, Susan - what is all the fuss about ID cards? I don't have anything to hide, and it can only prove useful.

Re: JUST EXPLAIN IT TO ME WILL YOU ?

by Bela on Fri 13 Jun 2008 22:08 BST | Profile | Permanent Link

For an explanation, see: http://slapoftheday.blogspot.com/2007/04/guest-slapper-of-month-xv.html

Re: JUST EXPLAIN IT TO ME WILL YOU ?

by ALJ on Sun 15 Jun 2008 19:34 BST | Profile | Permanent Link

CCTV is OK by me, too. So are ID cards: just as long as someone is thoughtful enough to hang the latter around my less-than-tiny neck with a ribbon, or I shall be forever losing the damned thing, or leaving it at home.