42 Days and all that

Working from home this morning, before setting off to London by train where I write this I had the opportunity to listen to a lot of debate (I use the term in the loosest sense) on the 42 days detention proposals. It was very worrying to hear some of the vox pop as caller after caller, after pundit, put forward their illiberal view point and explained why we had to lock up people the police thought might be guilty for as long as possible.

Even worse, every time someone opposed the proposal they were challenged
by the presenter with a "What if they did something after they were let off? Or "How would you feel if your daughter had been killed in 7/7?" type question. Nobody had the gumption, or more likely time to challenge these asinine questions.

You would think the BBC of all people would be on the side of presumed innocence but let's look at these two questions….

What are the chances of me being involved in a terrorist incident? I was in London on 7/7 along with about 8m other people when 57 were killed and lets say another 150 or so injured. Rounding this off for ease I had an 8m/200 chance (0.0025%) of being involved on that day. However it's not like we get an attack like that every day so lets say we get one every 10 years. In which case there is a 0.0000007% of me being involved in a terrorist attack in London. Setting that against the States desire to do away with our protections I'll take my chance thank you as I reckon I've got more chance being killed on the roads, sailing or on the golf course.

As for my view if it had been my family who had been killed I would like to think that I would have the same view, although I don't know how I would react and may even be vengeful. This is why we don't allow victims justice and whilst I feel sorry for them their opinions should not be allowed to set up some sort of sympathy vote.

Even more worrying was one debate in which it was implied that Gordon had deliberately picked this subject to take on Cameron, despite the advice of his advisors and most of the Cabinet. If he does indeed see playing fast and lose with our liberties as something he gain a party political advantage from I hope he rots in hell, and the sooner the better.

The final insult was those MP's who support it because it is popular. The restoration of the death penalty would be popular but we don't hear them arguing for that! Although I may start a campaign to hang MP's who vote for this Bill because they think it makes them popular.

And finally, not one shred of evidence in support of the need for this Bill, not even a "dodgy dossier".