Lots of other things I would like to see, of course, but I suppose in the current climate it would be churlish to complain about anything that proposes to push the pendulum in the other direction.

However something to set the record straight on freedom of speech after Hune’s contribution to the Wilders affair would have been welcome.

Stick in freedom of speech and I’m sold!

Excellent suggestions for the most part but I have to ask what the LibDems are going to do to ensure they WIN an election?

Those of us who have weighed up the arguments of each of the major parties on this issue and are voting with our conscience rather than tribalism or habit are aware of the LibDem’s principled stance, but they don’t really have an effective campaign and given the FPTP system they are unlikely to win a significant number of seats.

Being right isn’t enough.

Sort out the presentation abit, and it should suit pagar, Alisdair Cameron and Shatterface rather better:

Restoring Our General Freedoms

Ancient, hard-earned freedoms in how we live have been eroded. They must be restored.

• Abolish the flawed control orders regime
• Restore the right to public assembly for more than two people.
• Stop criminalising trespass.
• Prevent bailiffs from using force.
• Reduce the maximum period of pre-charge detention to 14 days.
• Restore the right to protest in Parliament Square, at the heart of our democracy.
Restoring Our Rights in the Courts

The rules of justice that have served and protected us for centuries have been cut away. We must put them back in place.
• Ensure that there are no restrictions in the right to trial by jury for serious offences including fraud.
• Renegotiate the unfair extradition treaty with the United States.
• Restore the public interest defence for whistleblowers
• Prevent allegations of ‘bad character’ from being used in court.
• Restore the right to silence when accused in court.
• Restore the principle of double jeopardy in UK law.
Restoring Our Privacy

The Government is collecting information about us in case they find it useful, are failing to keep it safe, are using it carelessly, and will misuse it.
• Scrap ID cards for everyone, including foreign nationals.
• Scrap the Contact Point database of all children in Britain.
• Restrict the use of surveillance powers to the investigation of serious crimes and stop councils snooping.
• Remove innocent people from the DNA database.
• Require explicit parental consent for biometric information to be taken from children.
• Regulate CCTV following a Royal Commission on cameras.

Our Right to Know

The freedom to know and to speak truth is vital to democracy

• Scrap the ministerial veto which allowed the Government to block the release of Cabinet minutes relating to the Iraq war.
• Strengthen freedom of information by giving greater powers to the Information Commissioner and reducing exemptions.

The Freedom Bill is a first big step. It will need to be built on.

A good document. And broadly speaking it is principled rather than populist. Yet I would not go quite as far as to say it is brave and bold.

The ommissions which have been mentioned -in particular a failure to reassert freedom of speech in the wake of the Huhne/Wilders event – arguably are symptomatic of a broader pattern. Namely an unwillingness to address those issues which touch on the sensibilities of the Lib Dems sodt left constituency, and to do so in a way that prioritises liberty. Hence no mention of smoking, fox hunting, councils banningfast food establishments frin high streets.

I also cant help feeling that the emphasis on CCTV, courts and Prisons is reflective of cartoonish, Orwellian-influenced understanding of liberty and tyranny. Arguably the now commonplace association between authoritarianism with the iron fist of government has bllinded us to some of the more mundane threats to our freedom.

http://www.seangabb.co.uk/pamphlet/thatcher.htm – some other infringements of our liberties back in the 1980s that ought to be repealed.

Looks good to me.

I hesitated before making this comment, in case some people fly off the handle. But what the hell.

I agree with some of these proposals, (especially the ones that are associated with the right to protest), but what is it with the Lib Dem/Tory obsession with CCTV? Of all the people I’ve canvassed, no-one has ever complained about there being too MUCH CCTV. People want CCTV so people who persistently vandalise, shit in lifts & act violently/threateningly to others can be identified. I really don’t understand what is wrong with that. I just don’t believe that the state has thousands of minions viewing CCTV footage and using it to build up files of information on individuals; most of it isn’t even reviewed unless there is a complaint about an incident.

They can say anything they want. They never need to implement. they never need to deal with any down side of their ideas. And if this lot were all conference approved LD party policy rather than a pamphlet we’d have (a) seen them falling out over some of it and (b) be able to expect it – probably in vain – to figure in election material. They are a franchise. They have no principles on the ground. It really doesn’t matter what they churn out. There is no telling whether any particular representative or candidate will believe any of it. But they’re certain to be anti-Labour and/or anti-Tory and/or pro-Misery. IMO.

PS

On the CCTV point. I can remember a meeting in Manchester City Centre. A staunch LD ward in a strongly Labour council. A libertarian and lefty LD barrister faced with questions from residents and businesses about police on beats and actual response to incidents virtually orgasmed recounting a trip to the CCTV HQ and how bloody marvellous it all was. Ignored the issue of policing. Incredibly positive about CCTV. Most people are these days. All the alarums of the 1990s are long gone. Question for all of us is whether a similar process might occur over iD cards or the like.

The funny thing is how CCTV footage always seems to go missing when Police actions are questioned ?
It happened at Hillsborough and it happened again after the Stockwell tube incident.

Mind you, the tapes never seem to go missing if a quarter inch of your car tyre ends up in the bus lane.

I might be wrong but my instinct is that all this big-brother stuff will be put on the back burner when it comes to the crunch ?
The next election will be fought over the state of the economy and the fall out from the credit crunch.

I don’t have an issue with CCTV as long as it’s kept in public areas like town centres. When it appears in residential areas then I’ll become concerned.

CCTV is popular because the Police refuse to provide an effective patrol service . Too many many unfit and overweight police officers are happy filling in forms in a warm and dry office rather than patrolling the beat when it is cold, wet and windy.

It is time the law against blasphemy was removed and and a law permitting freedom of speech was introduced. It is time we supported the freedom to speak even if people are offended. Taking offence is completely subjective ; to one person a comment may be a gross insult, to another it is water of a duck’s back. The fear of causing offence has now become a de facto form of censorship. Political correctness is acting to reducing our liberty to speak our mind.
I would rather see people hold a demonstration in which chants and placards demanding death to an individual or a people, than these views only be expressed behind closed doors. When comments are made in public we can judge an invidual or a group and rebut their views. However, if comments are only made in private then we cannot judge a group or rebut their views.

Failure to fit CCTV over pub doors can result in the police blocking licences so its not just a matter of city centres, its about a gross invasion of privicy.

And yes, watching the footage currently requires too many staff hours to watch it all but the software to analyse behaviour and body language is coming, just as its already there to sift your emails.