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I won't address the situation in the US (largely because of ignorance), but my beef with these 'thin end of the wedge' erosions of our rights here to certain activities such as free assembly (already reeling from the depredations of the Thatcher years) might not seem pernicious per se, but is a massive hostage to fortune- like huge social databases, the power is inocuous in the right hands: but whose hands could you honestly say were the 'right ones'? Not mine, certainly- I'm aware of the terrible temptation that such unaccountable power holds. We are already veering in the West towards 'preventive incarceration', a trend that scares the willies out of me...........
All it needs is a slightly bigger swing to the right or left, and we end up with Nazi Germany, only with massive IT and much better weapons. That's why sensible socialists here were appalled at the spinelessness of the Tories recent years- the surest defence against tyranny in a parliamentary democracy is a strong opposition.

"All it needs is a slightly bigger swing to the right or left, and we end up with Nazi Germany,"

Come on, JJ, do you really believe that?

It's a fact that "special measures" tend to stay on the books. Income tax was only introduced to help pay for the Napoleonic wars. There are good and sensible reasons why certain of our civil rights are eroded, and people who argue against those reasons tend to be dismissed as cranks. But there is such a thing as public mood, and if 10 or 20 years down the line that mood is more repressive, and we end up with a totalitarian state, we won't have to watch our rights being thrown away---they'll have gone already.

Oh, and I hope that arsewipe Kilroy Silk hasn't cottoned on to some underlying public mood. More than enough bigoted bollocks is talked about Asians, and Muslims in particular, without giving that tosser a hearing. I may not believe that Islamic law is fair to certain people (particularly women), but nor do I judge the whole religion by its more extremist elements. It's like a view of Christianity based on the fire and brimstone Presbyterians, the Catholic Inquisition or (the one quoted by Saddam, al Qaida and others) the insane zealots of the crusades.

Yes.
And to disbelieve it is the first step toward achieving that particular goal.
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing".

This comment will no doubt be shot down in flames as juvenile and too simplistic, but? if you've got nothing to hide what does it matter what information governments hold about you? It's nothing new, is it? If the powers that be want to know where you work, what you buy in the shops, who you telephone, what you watch on tv - it's all there for them.

Maybe the Americans tightening their borders and immigration procedures will make terrorists turn to a softer target like Britain. Will you be happy then?

Not shot down in flames, but it does rely on a belief in "best interests." There are good and bad people in all walks of life, and the information collated on you, for example, could fall into the hands of either---you just don't know. A throwaway comment you can't recall making may be of special interest to some; how you voted might be used as a guide to your beliefs and character. It sounds like paranoia, until you see a list of the kind of people the secret services have files on and why they were being watched.

Interestingly, some potential "enemies of the state" (anti-apartheid activist Peter Hain, and was protestor Jack Straw) are now soft as shite lapdogs of the PM. Even "Red Ken" is persona grata these days.

Thanks Bimmercat if you as a US citizen who has had experience of the Green Card Lottery can't fathom the system, I expect non of us UKers ever will.



CC.

Did you hear about the guy applying in person at Australia House for a visa. When he was asked "Have you got a criminal record?" he replied "Why, is it still a necessary qualification?".

Mart

If you think the government knowing my intimate personal details will prevent an Islamic fundamentalist bombing London........

Ha Ha Ha!!!!!

He obviously didn't want to go to
South Australia then if he did have one

cheers
B....OZ