Tag Archives: eliza manningham-buller

Lord Jim Wallace writes… Secret courts: only where absolutely necessary

Securocrats arguing for increased judicial scrutiny of their actions? Human rights groups praising the collapse of cases brought alleging torture against the Government?

Like me I suspect, you will suspect this is some elaborate joke, or indeed a typographical error.

But in fact these are indeed the seemingly bizarre positions into which these perennial adversaries have put themselves.

In the last few days we have seen some spectacular attempts to redefine the content of the Government’s Justice & Security Bill, casting all sorts of hyperbole and confusion on what should be a cool-headed debate.

The authors of these counsels of despair could do worse …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , and | 3 Comments

Anti-terrorism review: 6 questions to judge the government by

With the publication of the government’s anti-terrorism review just about to happen, and likely to include a large number of details, what are the key points to look for in judging how the review has gone?

So far, we know one outcome – the reduction in the maximum period people can be held without charge from 28-days to 14-days (which is in line with the Liberal Democrat manifesto). Yet to be published are the plans on control orders (the abolition of which has been another key Liberal Democrat demand) and on a host of other anti-terrorism legislation.

What to look out for

…

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , , and | 38 Comments

Labour misled Britain over Iraq role in terror threat – Farron

A party news release hits The Voice’s inbox:

Commenting on Eliza Manningham-Buller’s evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry, in which she said the conflict in Iraq ‘substantially’ increased the threat to the UK from international terrorism, Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence, Tim Farron said:

“This is a shattering blow for Labour’s claim that the Iraq war did not increase the terrorist threat to Britain.

“We already knew that this was a disastrous war for our own brave service personnel and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians. Now we have the head of MI5 at the time saying …

Posted in News | Also tagged and | 17 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Tim
    @PM. Yes, allowing a LOT more houses to be built would reduce wealth inequality dramatically. We should aim to return to the c1997 price to income ratios - whic...
  • Peter Davies
    and building more houses of course....
  • Peter Davies
    The rising property market contributed more to the impoverishment of the poor than the enrichment of the rich. It is owner occupiers who hold the greatest propo...
  • PM
    @ Tim, You may be technically correct with your argument but it doesn't change the fact that we have become very much more unequal in recent decades. The ...
  • Mick Taylor
    @ColinMurphy. Yes and you could close all the tax loopholes and greatly reduce the huge number of pages in the tax codes that take a highly qualified accountant...