Dark Ages

I remember learning about the principle of habeas corpus at school, and I remember feeling extremely excited and proud that our forebears could have been so enlightened, and so intrinsically decent, to have brought such a concept into statute as long ago as they did. How long ago was that? The Act of 1679 is often quoted as being the definitive piece of legislation, but I seem to recall that the origins of the premise lay much further back than that, inside the Magna Carta of 1215.

How strange then, that whilst most western democracies become more enlightened as they strike out into the 21st Century, ours is moving backwards. In a few short years we have begun to retreat – at a frightening speed - into the iniquities of the Dark Ages. The prospect of universal ID cards, DNA databases, more CCTV cameras, and now this – internment – all leads me to wonder whatever happened to the ideal of our civil liberties.

You will have deduced from this that I am opposed to the introduction of 42-day detention. This is not because I am an Islamic terrorist, nor even that I have any sympathies whatsoever for people who would indiscriminately murder our citizens (myself included). No, my opposition to this latest move is this: It is unnecessary, it is insidious, it is authoritarian and above all, it is dishonest. Gordon Brown repeatedly tells us that the ‘vast majority’ of people whose opinions have been sought are in favour of this extension. Really? I wonder what question they were asked. If the question were: “Would you be in favour of detaining people without charge for forty-two days based mainly upon their ethnic origins and the colour of their skin?”, I wonder how many people would then answer “Yes”.

But whichever way the British public would answer this question, that isn’t the point. An enlightened government sometimes has a responsibility to legislate ahead of public opinion, rather than follow it. This is what happened in the case of capital punishment – despite public opinion being very much in favour of retaining hanging at the time, Parliament took the step to abolish it (correctly) and then waited for public opinion to catch up. In the roughly 40 years since this happened, that is exactly what public opinion has done. So Gordon Brown’s assertion that he is acting ‘because the public wants it’ is a poor excuse for what is really a thinly-veiled attempt to boost his flagging popularity and to stamp his waning authority on his disaffected party. It’s more than just pathetic; it’s sinister and an evil use of power.

Apparently, it could all prove to be nugatory anyway, because the proposed legislation will never get past the House of Lords. The irony of this makes me chuckle really. It required the foresight and determination of King John’s good barons to bring the concept of habeas corpus into being as far back as 1215. Now, 800 years later, it will be the good barons of today who will stop King Gordon in his tracks.

Hurrah for that, although it's very depressing that we have to go right back to the beginning, as if we have learned nothing in all those years.