Taking Liberties!!!!

MutleyRules · **Posted:** Mon Jul 20, 2009 8:12 pm

Just watched this very interesting programme....

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/taking-liberties/episode-guide/series-1/episode-1

Riding in on a wave of optimism and real belief in their mantra that things can only get better, the New Labour government proceeded to enact some of the most authoritarian legislation in recent history. With fast-paced satirical style, this Bafta-nominated film shows how, in just over a decade, some rights and freedoms that took centuries to build up have been rolled back or cut away through a personal journey into the decline of civil liberties.

The 82-year-old holocaust survivor Walter Wolfgang was lifted bodily from a debate at the Labour Party conference for, as Tony Benn points out, 'rightfully' saying that Jack Straw is talking 'nonsense' about Iraq. We see a man who tries to protest against the treatment of Mr Wolfgang also set upon by security, and learn that he was later handled roughly - and that poor old Wolfgang was next detained by the police under the 2000 Terrorism Act.

We meet Moulad Sihali, an Algerian refugee. He was cleared of all charges relating to a non-existent plot to manufacture the poison ricin, but has now been made a prisoner in his own home. He's been fitted with a tracking device, is only allowed outside at certain hours - and then only within a one mile radius of his house - and is forbidden to meet anyone who hasn't been vetted by the Home Office. The specific charge against him? There isn't one.

We hear how Maya Evans, a vegan chef, and her friend the writer Milan Rai were arrested under the Serious Organised Crime and Police act for reading out the names of people who have died in Iraq and occasionally ringing a (very quiet) Buddhist bell.

Occasionally the footage is very funny. Protestors are told that if they step off the grass verge they have been crowded onto they could be arrested for blocking a public highway. They are told this by a massed group of policemen who are actually blocking the road.

There are recordings of the police intimidating grandmothers; protestors being strong-armed; 80-year-olds being dragged along on their backsides by police; Tony Blair staring on silently (in contravention of international law against complicity with torturers) as George W. Bush praises the facilities at Guantanamo Bay.

The documentary even succeeds in arousing sympathy for a group of bankers - the Natwest Three. Thanks to a 2003 treaty they were extradited to the US - for a crime they allegedly committed in Britain but that British authorities declined to prosecute due to lack of evidence. In this case, the US authorities were allowed to take these men from their homes and support networks without presenting any new data to the British government.

Spender · **Posted:** Tue Jul 21, 2009 6:43 am

Ha!! Why do you think I'm where I am Mr Mutley?? confised

Cornelius Atweasle · **Posted:** Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:09 pm

Mr M, do you think our short-on-height MP would stand up to protect the rights of any of theose people? :laugh:

MutleyRules · **Posted:** Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:41 pm

Depends if his Strings were pulled in that direction!!!! banghead

MutleyRules · **Posted:** Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:00 pm

Some of the stuff on that programme.... rage

Tony Blair 1995/96?....'ID Cards = What a waste of Money....WE would but more Bobbies on the beat....More Nurses....More Teachers....ecfeckingcetra....we'll abolish ID Cards'!!!! :roll:

A bit like having a Referendum on Europe ecfeckingcetra!!!! rage

But honestly....some of the Footage in that programme made me so Mad....it's indescribable*!!!!

There's one point of the Documentary that Blurrr is going on about Kids and Crime....and I'll pass you onto a Post on the Channel 4 Message Board about the Documentary....

"one truly jaw dropping moment for me was an interview with Tony Blair at about 46 minutes in when he's talking about the early detection and prevention of crime caused by children from dysfunctional families, the interviewer asked when this should start as some of these children should really be in nappies at the time and without batting an eyelid Mr Blair responded with "or pre birth even" I'm sorry but I thought selective breeding and eugenics died with the Nazis at the end of world war 2"!!!!

rage

Cornelius Atweasle · **Posted:** Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:14 pm

You'd better watch out Gremmlin doesn't attack you with his zimmer frame. :laugh:

Spender · **Posted:** Wed Jul 22, 2009 6:39 am

chip fireball wrote:

new labour gradually morphed into thatchers conservatives.

that said i dont think china has got a great track record on such matters. :shock:

Don't believe the hype. :wink:

grabec · **Posted:** Wed Jul 22, 2009 11:00 am

How do you stop it, though, Mutley? Things have gone far past the stage where an independent MP would make any difference at all. We should all get off our arses and form Citizens' Pressure Groups, I say.

MutleyRules · **Posted:** Wed Jul 22, 2009 11:53 am

There should be a People's Revolution!!!! :coool:

The French wouldn't stand for it in the slightest!!!! :coool:

Frodraff · **Posted:** Wed Jul 22, 2009 1:22 pm

The alternative's generally unthinkable.

Peoples revolution? Have you looked at the people lately.

Snowy · **Joined:** Fri Aug 18, 2006 12:18 pm **Posts:** 37619

Spender wrote:

chip fireball wrote:

new labour gradually morphed into thatchers conservatives.

that said i dont think china has got a great track record on such matters. :shock:

Don't believe the hype. :wink:

New Labour morphed into .... New Labour, even old mother Thatcher wouldn't have dared try half the things these clowns have tried, so let's not try and spread guilt by assocoiation, it was ALL their own work. New Labour have to accept it's their responsibility no one elses.

parmopooly · **Posted:** Wed Jul 22, 2009 9:56 pm

sadly we live in a society where it seems absolutely nobody wants to take responsibility for their own actions when they've done something wrong or lied in public, so if those at the top behave like that then it's no surprise to see the rank and file of assorted everyday folks doing likewise.
As a result, peoples' pressure groups will consist of a minority!!!!

Snowy · **Joined:** Fri Aug 18, 2006 12:18 pm **Posts:** 37619

Can you imagine the outcry if the Tories had 'improved' our health service by shutting down the General hospital ...?

grabec · **Posted:** Thu Jul 23, 2009 9:04 am

parmopooly wrote:

sadly we live in a society where it seems absolutely nobody wants to take responsibility for their own actions when they've done something wrong or lied in public, so if those at the top behave like that then it's no surprise to see the rank and file of assorted everyday folks doing likewise.
As a result, peoples' pressure groups will consist of a minority!!!!

The Bolsheviks were once a minority, though.......

Mr Ripper · **Posted:** Thu Jul 23, 2009 10:42 am

Grabec wrote:

parmopooly wrote:

sadly we live in a society where it seems absolutely nobody wants to take responsibility for their own actions when they've done something wrong or lied in public, so if those at the top behave like that then it's no surprise to see the rank and file of assorted everyday folks doing likewise.
As a result, peoples' pressure groups will consist of a minority!!!!

The Bolsheviks were once a minority, though.......

So were the German Nazis. :roll:

grabec · **Posted:** Thu Jul 23, 2009 11:19 am

Mr Ripper wrote:

Grabec wrote:

parmopooly wrote:

sadly we live in a society where it seems absolutely nobody wants to take responsibility for their own actions when they've done something wrong or lied in public, so if those at the top behave like that then it's no surprise to see the rank and file of assorted everyday folks doing likewise.
As a result, peoples' pressure groups will consist of a minority!!!!

The Bolsheviks were once a minority, though.......

So were the German Nazis. :roll:

Yes, the idea was to reply to Mr Parmo's post, not to list every minority group that ever was. Do keep up, Ripper. :wink:

Taking Liberties!!!!

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