Way back in 1977, the BBC broadcast a brillant drama series called 1990. It was set (obviously enough) in 1990, but a dystopian 1990 where the Home Office Public Control Department effectively ruled the country. The PCD had abolished individual rights, introduced ID cards for all citizens and used sophisticated electronic surveillance. At the time, critics attacked the show for pandering to the middle class fear of a right wing police state. How ironic then that our current Home Secretary keeps proposing and introducing measures that 1990 portrayed as being the basis of the Orwellian nightmare state of the time. Now I'm not saying that such a dystopian end point is the inevitable consequence, but once such powers are on the statute books, the abuse of such powers by future administrations is not out of the question.
Thomas Jefferson hit it on the head when he said The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Anti-terrorism is being used too freely today as justification for the introduction of laws that could in future restrict your individual rights and civil liberties; freedoms you cannot afford to take for granted.
Wednesday, 25 February 2004
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