What You Can Get Away With

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Archive for category Liberty

I have nothing to say about Trafigura

Oct 13

Posted by Nick in Liberty, Media, Parliament, Politics | 2 Comments

If you haven’t read this or seen this, you might never have heard of the oil company Trafigura before. Indeed, they could have stayed nicely below many people’s radars, just they way they like to be, except for the fact they took their desire for secrecy a bit too far.

Apparently, it’s possible to use the law to stop a newspaper from reporting on proceedings in Parliament, which is the sort of revelation that should send chills down the spine of anyone with a commitment to democracy, debate and freedom of speech. Specifically, it would seem that the Guardian is not being allowed to report on a question being asked in Parliament, so if I was working for the Guardian I might not be able to do this (taking a question entirely at random, of course):

61 N Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme): To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation to protect (a) whistleblowers and (b) press freedom following the injunctions obtained in the High Court by (i) Barclays and Freshfields solicitors on 19 March 2009 on the publication of internal Barclays reports documenting alleged tax avoidance schemes and (ii) Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura.

But, the science of internet communications is about to get some fascinating data points, as we discover just how many blog posts one injunction can generate, and just how quickly it takes from obtaining a court ruling to get your company’s name as a trending topic on Twitter.

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Thoughts on David Davis

Jun 12

Posted by Nick in Britain, Elections, Liberal Democrats, Liberty, Politics, Tories | 3 Comments

Blood and Treasure:

It seems to me that the choice available over this is to outsmart yourself by trying to uncover the “real reasons” behind his resignation or take him at his word and push the issue.

The question that occurs to me is this: Who knew about this first – Nick Clegg or David Cameron? It seems that Clegg’s agreement to not stand a Liberal Democrat in the by-election was required for Davis to go ahead and do it, so did he get the agreement from Clegg first and then present it to Cameron as a fait accompli?

And who was watching you last night?

Jan 1

Posted by Nick in Human rights, Liberty | 1 Comment

Welcome to 2008, and the news that the UK is one of the world’s ‘endemic surveillance socities’ (via Duncan). The good news is, of course, that we are still capable of keeping up with the superpowers at some things as the USA, Russia and China all receive the same rating.

And remember that Gordon Brown still wants to make us number 1 in this list, not just sharing that title with anybody – we’re still set to get an ID card scheme that would be the “most invasive in the world”, and doesn’t that just make you proud to be British? Don’t worry if it doesn’t, the cameras can’t work out how proud or patriotic you’re feeling at any particular moment. Yet.

Another superb work of satire

Dec 12

Posted by Nick in Bizarre world, Britain, Liberty | Comments off

I’m trying to work out who wrote this piece on Comment is Free, supposedly by Jack Straw. My initial suspicion is Armando Ianucci or Chris Morris, as it has that level of absurdity, that sense of turning the whole world inside out so black is white and up is down that they try to infuse their work with. After all, it takes a master satirist to even attempt to write a piece claiming that the last decade has been ‘liberty’s best since the vote was won’ that seems to be claiming that having ‘only’ 28 days detention without trial is a triumph of liberalism, rather than a dangerous threat to liberty that far exceeds the measures used in other countries, even those exposed to the threat of terrorism as much, if not more, than the UK.

So, congratulations to Armando, Chris or whoever it was, and I look forward to seeing what else ‘Jack Straw’ will end up championing, now he’s shown us how slavery is freedom.

The ‘reputation of the Oxford Union’

Nov 25

Posted by Nick in Britain, Liberty, Politics | 8 Comments

As most of you probably know already, I didn’t go to Oxford or Cambridge. Instead, I spent my University days by the sea at Swansea, which may be why some of the shock and horror at the latest brouhahaha about the Oxford Union confuses me.

One of the complaints from those opposed to Griffin and Irving speaking there is that somehow they’ll be legitimised by being allowed to speak in the hallowed halls of the Oxford Union, as if this one student-run debating society has the power to decide the opinions of the nation.

And this is where the bit about not going to Oxford becomes important, because I’m sure that to people who studied there, the Union is a fantastically important body that creates inspirational oratorical figures who’ll go on to shape the future history of the nation. However, to the rest of us, it’s some quaint debating club for posh people at a University most people don’t really care about that occasionally gets mentioned in the news when some celebrity gets invited.

Now, I’m sure someone could tell me about the vitally important debates the Oxford Union have held over the past few years, but doing a search for it on the BBC News site finds the top stories for ‘Oxford Union’ mention the following people speaking there: General Mike Jackson, Bishop Gene Robinson, Ray Mallon, Clint Eastwood, Claire Short, Charlotte Church, Douglas Hurd, Judi Dench, Jon Bon Jovi, Jerry Hall, Michael Jackson and Gerard Way (the singer with My Chemical Romance). The idea that an organisation that’s not much different from the TV chat show circuit having some mythical reputation and authority that it will magically bestow onto Griffin and Irving is not one widely shared by most people.

And while we’re talking of celebrity speakers, the Union has invited Kermit The Frog to speak there, so I expect it won’t be long before the Millennium Elephant gets invited to travel there.

Protesting in secret

Oct 29

Posted by Nick in Britain, Humour, Liberty, Politics | Comments off

Just noticed this on the BBC’s ‘Have Your Say’ about flag-burning (which features occasional moments of sense breaking out amongst all the usual ‘ban anything that might offend me’ comments):

Will these proposals risk driving political protests underground?

Leaving aside the question of what the point of a secret protest might be, one wonders what sort of person would find themselves going to an ‘underground’ protest. Are there members of the SWP so committed to protesting that they’ve actually become addicted to it? Do they get the shakes if they can’t wave a placard about every so often? Do they start hallucinating bored police officers standing at the side of the road wondering what they’re going to spend this bit of overtime on? Do they try and get a methadone-esque shallow hit by putting on an old steward’s tabard and pretending they’re about to go and lead a march?

Maybe it’ll be more like rave culture with protestors milling around motorway service stations and car parks on a Saturday morning eagerly waiting for one of them to get a message from ‘Dave – you know, Dave, Sarah’s old workmate’s friend, he knows where it’s going off today’ that’ll direct them through back roads and byways to a deserted field where they’ll be able to march up and down while either covering their faces with cloth or burning it until the police arrive.

Or is the London Riot Re-enactment Society secretly the organising hub for the underground protest movement, pre-emptively organising its cover story?

Because we don’t have enough stupid laws already

Oct 28

Posted by Nick in Britain, Human rights, Liberty, Politics | 1 Comment

Ian Blair must resign says Alex. But don’tworry if he does go, because Tarique Ghaffur is putting in a bid to replace him as the senior police office most likely to suggest stupid things. Yes, because coming up with plans to stop the growing menace of flag-burning and the wearing of balaclavas on demonstrations should be the main priority of our police forces. I’m sure we’re all finding it impossible to walk down the street at the moment because of the epidemic of people burning coloured pieces of cloth.

Jock suggests a National Flag Burning Day though also notes that:

It might be funny if the call didn’t come a few days before half the country goes out and burns a token Catholic, or, as Lewes sometimes does, an effigy of the Pope.

Though it would be interesting to note how any such law would define a flag. Say, for example, I had something that looked like a Union Flag, but the red diagonals were in the middle of the white ones, not slightly off-centre – is that a flag, or something that just happens to look very similar to one? What about a Stars and Stripes with 49 stars or 14 stripes, or a Tricolore where the three colours weren’t of equal size? What if the newspaper I use to light my bonfire with has a flag printed on it, or has a photo of a flag within – does that count?

And what if I burn the flag of a police force to protest about the fact that it’s their job as servants of the people to enforce the laws we already have, not demand new ones?

‘A blank cheque drawn against our own freedom’

Oct 21

Posted by Nick in Human rights, Liberty, Media, Politics, TV, US, World | Comments off

Via Justin, Keith Olbermann on the 2006 Military Commission Act, or below the cut:
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