Papieren, bitte

As a PS to my previous blog entry, barely two days after writing it John "Big Bampot" Reid suddenly proposes "draconian" new powers to cops, allowing them to stop and 'quiz' people on their identity, what they're doing, and where they're going [1]. No "reasonable suspicion" needed, just random stop and interrogate (or, given the cops' 'previous' in this area - anyone remember 'sus'? - rather less than random - watch out if you're non-white or just look a bit different). The rationale for the new law? What else but "terrorism", that catch-all evil so beloved of dictatorships worldwide. A shame, then, that the cops' trade union, the Police Federation, welcomed the new proposals (quelle surprise) but unintentionally blew a hole in NuLabor's justification by saying that 'stop and quiz' would be of no use against terrorism, but would be handy in "fighting crime".

Surely even the Daily Mail will balk at this, though at the time of writing there was no editorial comment from The Daily Blackshirt. It's rival in reaction, the Daily Express, has no such qualms, and unequivocally backs Bampot's proposals, concluding that:

"The war on terror must be won, whatever it takes." [2]

("Whatever it takes"?? Mass internment? Torture? Execution? Would any of those be too extreme for the Daily Express, you have to wonder? )

However, The Scum draws the line and random stop and question [3], though not on the grounds of freedom but because it might "breed disaffection" amongst Muslim youth and damage the gathering of "intelligence from within the Muslim community".

So, if the house journal of White Van Man is against it, then it's unlikely NuLabor will push it forward, and Big Bampot (who's retiring shortly anyway) will instead produce 'concessions' to 'allay civil liberties' fears, which in practice will still allow the cops to do what they want but with a few figleaf 'safeguards'. This is cynical kite-flying. In much the same way, the regime's 'concession' to 'civil liberties' on internment (sorry, "detention without charge") was to reduce the period for which someone could be banged up at the cops' pleasure from the proposed 8 weeks to a mere 4 weeks, in a classic exercise whereby the regime proposes something far more extreme than it's planning, then ends up doing exactly what it really planned but after apparently climbing down in response to howls of outrage.

So now there's been another click on the authoritarian ratchet, and a serious one at that, which no fascist state has ever been able to do without - the right for cops to stop anyone without reason, demand their papers, and lock them up if they fancy it. What might be called a Martini law: any time, any place, any where.


[1] "More stop and quiz powers", BBC Online News, 27/5/07
[2] "GIVE POLICE WHATEVER IT TAKES TO WIN TERROR WAR", Daily Express online, 28/5/07
[3] "Think again", Sun Online, 28/5/07