42

I've tried not to include politics in the blog as, well, it's not all that interesting, but I've been kinda intrigued by the issues over the extension of the detention without charge powers to 42 days.

In theory this power is only for use with terror suspects and will allow police to detain them for up to 42 days without charging them. This is important as, since the signing of Magna Carta way back in the early 1200's, every person arrested or detained by Police in England has had the right to be released unless charged within 24 hours.

It's called Habeas Corpus and it's essentially seen as a fundamental human right. They cannot hold you without formally accusing you of an actual crime. It's important because it's what separates us from despotism and dictatorship - this is your real and actual freedom that people who talk about freedom actually mean when it comes down to it.

This power to hold was extended for those suspect of terrorism up to 28 days a while back now, and has recently been approved for extension up to 42 days by the House of Commons.

Really, this, for me, is a very scary thing, because it's the thin end of the wedge. Where does it go next? What other suspects of crimes might start to have longer periods of detention? How long does it become? 84 days? 168 days? 365 days? As long as the police need in order to manufacture evidence?

But the really scary thing is that, apparently, surveys indicate three quarters of the UK population agree with the move. To me, that's staggering, and it seems it's because it's about terrorism.

For some reason, people have become so brainwashed about terrorism that they somehow feel it is okay to abuse people's human rights because of it. And here's the key point in this - these people are suspects. They have not necessarily committed a crime.

There seems to be an attitude that if you're arrested for terrorism then you must be guilty. But what about those that aren't guilty? This is the fundamental point about freedom and why it is so important - everyone has the right to due process. Even the bad guys.

Of course, to some extent, I believe it to be a little academic, as I don't see why the house of lords won't just throw the law out the window, but bizarrely, this means that the unelected part of our democratic process is better able to safeguard our rights than our actual elected representatives :/.