13th August 2008
‘In the 12 months to 31 May 2006 the Government passed 3,621 separate pieces of legislation. Yes, that is more than 100 new sets of rules and regulations for each day of the year. To give an idea of the sheer weight of these regulations I sampled 10 per cent of the Government’s regulatory output for the 12 months to 31 May 2006, counted the pages and then factored them up. It came to a shocking figure: 72,400 pages of legislation and 26,200 pages of explanatory notes – a total of 98,600 pages of official bum…. If the pages were laid out end to end they would stretch for 18 miles.’ Ross Clark, from his book How To Label A Goat.
GRANDFATHER ACCUSED OF
RUNNING STREET
BUSINESS WHEN HE PUT A ‘FOR
SALE
’ SIGN IN CAR
67-year-old grandfather, Victor Abrahams, was fined for running a street business when he put a ‘for sale’ sign in his Ford Escort.
A property manager from Brent,
North London
, Mr. Abrahams fell foul of a new code introduced by the local council on April 4, 2007.
When told he would have to pay a £100 fine, he asked: ‘why is the for-sale sign in my car window any different from a delivery van with the name and phone number of the company on the side?’ Mr. Abrahams asked. ‘Or why is it different from a driving instructor's car that has the name and details of the driving school on the side? Surely if I'm offering goods for sale, so are they.'
Read full article HERE.
‘I must confess I had always taken Jefferson’s aphorism [‘the price of freedom is eternal vigilance’] to mean that we must be eternally on our guard against any erosion of our freedom. It now seems I was wrong; or at least, I’m at odds with the Government, which evidently believes that the price of freedom is that we should be under constant surveillance.’
- Rory Bremner
LIVING IN A ‘SURVEILLANCE SOCIETY’ COSTS £20 BILLION, SAYS NEW REPORT
The cost of living in a ‘surveillance society’ now costs the taxpayer £20 billion according to a new report.
The figure includes £19 billion for the planned ID card system and £500 million for CCTV cameras.
The report was conducted by the TaxPayers’
Alliance
and has renewed concerns about Governments habit of spying on its citizens.
David Davis, the former shadow home secretary, said: “This is yet further damning evidence of Big Brother’s expensive tastes. ID cards, CCTV, the DNA database and other measures are a huge waste of taxpayers’ money on policies that undermine freedom and are utterly ineffective in fighting crime or terrorism.’
Currently the
UK
has only 1% of world’s population but 20% of its CCTV cameras: one for every 15 citizens.
Read full article HERE.
BROWN’S DETENTION PLAN IS ‘
ATTACK
ON
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS’ SAYS MP
Shadow security minister, Baroness Neville-Jones, has criticised Gordon Brown’s plans to extend the maximum time in which a terror suspect can legally be detained without a charge.
The plan, which passed the Commons by just nine votes in June, would lengthen the period of detention from 28 days to 42 days. It is now being considered by the House of Lords, which are expected to reject it.
The Baroness commented that: ‘It represents yet another attack, on the part of the government, without justification, on fundamental democratic rights and freedoms that have underpinned our society for centuries.’
According to the Terrorism Act 2000, 48 hours is the maximum length of time in which somebody can be arrested and held without a warrant. The Criminal Justice Act 2003 extended the time that a person could be held for up to 14 days. The Terrorism Act 2006 then extended the time a person could be held without a trial from 14 days to 28 days.
In the important debate over detention limits, we should not overlook the colossal abuses which already occur under the present law, pointed out Christopher Booker in the Sunday Telegraph. Take the case of Ian Thornhill, who was detained for 700 days without being convicted, all because officials had made amistake. Mr. Booker wrote that ‘Although he was innocent - the arrogant officials had made a colossal blunder - he and his brother were locked up as Class A prisoners, with terrorists and mass-murderers. For two years they were subjected to appalling physical ill-treatment. Court hearings degenerated into farce. Eventually, because HM Customs didn't have a shred of evidence to link them to the crime (for which someone else was imprisoned), they were set free. Although they were wholly innocent, the state had kept them in prison not for 42 days but for more than 700. Yet, by a bizarre quirk of the law, though their lives and businesses had been destroyed, they were not entitled to a penny of compensation.’
MAN ARRESTED FOR DEFENDING HIS HOME AGAINST TEENAGE GANG
A 65-year-old father has been arrested for trying to defend his home.
The trouble began when a gang of teenagers began throwing stones at the house of Sydney Davis. Having had his windows smashed five times in the last eight months, Mr. Davis dialled 999.
The retired builder then waited for the police while his wife and two sons hid behind the sofa as the attack continued.
When, after two hours, the police were still failing to show up, Mr. Davis decided to take action himself. Grabbing a piece of wood from a broken-up sofa lying in his front garden, Mr. Davis chased the gang down the street.
At that moment the police arrived, only to let the gang run away. The officers then proceeded to handcuff and arrest Mr. Davis, who faces a potential prison term of six months if he is convicted.
Read full article HERE.
READ: Ps. 2:10-12; 59:7; Prov. 1 Prov. 4:34; 6:16-18; 20:26; Is. 5:20-23; Is. 10:1-4; Micah 2:1-2; Rom. 13:3; 1 Pet. 2:14; 2 Peter 2:18-19;
PRAY: The totalitarian approach to law currently being pursued by our lawmakers and courts is only a symptom of a far greater problem: the rejection of God’s law as the only basis upon which a nation can be governed. William Penn once said, ‘Men must be governed by God, or they will be ruled by tyrants.’ The people of
Britain
are certainly growing alarmed at the increasing tyranny of our leaders, yet they are stubbornly refusing to embrace the only solution. Pray that the Lord would use the erosion of our liberties as a wake-up call to bring the people of
Britain
to their knees. (2 Chron. 7:13-14)
