Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Guardian Unlimited | Guardian daily comment | Shami Chakrabarti: Don't sell our rights and freedoms

Chakrarti seems to be coming good. She was worse then useless when she first came on the Today Programme, but this is good stuff. She even picked up the reference to the mood changing almost as fast as Blairy England.
I have to say I am surprised at how very strong the lawyers and critics are being with their condemnation of Blair. I was half expecting supine aquiescence in the face of public opinion which is currently paranoid and stupid.

"If Friday was intended as Mr Blair's 'fight them on the beaches' moment, I am afraid that he blew it. Great wartime leaders unite their countries with optimism and resolve that inspires both herculean effort and self-sacrifice in defence of cherished ideals.

Instead Mr Blair was in 'I told you so' mode - his underlying suggestion that Britain's senior judiciary, opposition political parties and just about anyone who had opposed his earlier authoritarian adventures had done so through a lack of belief in the terrorist threat. In this airbrushing of history, none of us had acknowledged the threat."