Welcome to the party

From the Telegraph:

But then, of course, we forget that the same Charles Clarke who now acts like an old East European interior minister from the era of Honecker and Ceaucescu was once a fanatical student radical who enjoyed his visits to the Soviet Union and, clearly, learnt a lot from them. Equally clearly, he pines after a polity where the executive does what it likes and the media does what it is told.

Is this a new front opening up, a new area of friction where the media actually get serious about the issue of civil liberties in the face of a government that has been running pretty much unchecked for years?

The government has been able to quote its popularity and mandate from the masses as a good enough reason for it to what it wants. ID cards. Detention without trial. The Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill. Protests by appointment only outside parliament. Surges in the use of CCTV cameras. New police powers. On the spot fines or summary judgement light if you like. Databases. More databases. DNA sampling of free subjects. Anti-terror legislation that we were assured would be used appropriately but is now used to eject protesters, hassle hobby and professional photographers and scare old women cyclists.

All the while they quote that this is what's good for the people, this is what the people want. Everyone else is out of touch or stuck in the past. Well now that the media seem to have finally arrived at the party let's see how soon that 'popularity mandate' turns into a 'because we know better', one.

They've been getting away with it because they have not been on the radar of the ordinary public. It's about time that the MSM put it there and kept it there. Government jibes, bullying and insults can only be a good thing. If the media has the stomach for the fight.

Posted by John at April 25, 2006 11:42 AM | TrackBack