Sean O’Neill Crime Editor at The Times October 28, 2009
The Labour Government, hot foot from the Terrorism Act 2000 disgrace, are now creating a similar disgrace with the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Why are they so keen to use such heavy anti-democratic legislation against ordinary members of the public.
In a different part of the world it would be viewed as the creation of a police state prior to cancelling democratic elections.
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Draconian police powers designed to deprive crime barons of luxury lifestyles are being extended to councils, quangos and agencies to use against the public, The Times has learnt.
The right to search homes, seize cash, freeze bank accounts and confiscate property will be given to town hall officials and civilian investigators employed by organisations as diverse as Royal Mail, the Rural Payments Agency and Transport for London.
The measure, being pushed through by Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, comes into force next week and will deploy some of the most powerful tools available to detectives against fare dodgers, families in arrears with council tax and other minor offenders.
The radical extension of the Proceeds of Crime Act, through a Statutory Instrument which is not debated by parliament, has been condemned by the chairman of the Police Federation.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Mass immigration was political not economic
Another key element of the "New Labour" shown to be based on falsehood and lies.
Keir must be spinning in his grave.
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Mass immigration “for political gain”, says adviser
heraldscotland staff Published on 23 Oct 2009
Huge increases in immigration over the past decade were partly driven by Labour ministers’ desire for a more multicultural Britain, a former Government adviser has claimed.
Andrew Neather, a speechwriter who worked in Downing Street for Tony Blair and in the Home Office for Jack Straw and David Blunkett, said Labour's relaxation of controls was a deliberate plan to "open up the UK to mass migration".
As well as bringing in hundreds of thousands more migrants to plug labour market gaps, there was also a "driving political purpose" behind immigration policy, he said.
Ministers hoped to radically change the country and by doing so "rub the Right's nose in diversity", added Mr Neather, but senior Labour figures remained reluctant to discuss the policy in case it alienated the party’s "core working class vote".
Keir must be spinning in his grave.
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Mass immigration “for political gain”, says adviser
heraldscotland staff Published on 23 Oct 2009
Huge increases in immigration over the past decade were partly driven by Labour ministers’ desire for a more multicultural Britain, a former Government adviser has claimed.
Andrew Neather, a speechwriter who worked in Downing Street for Tony Blair and in the Home Office for Jack Straw and David Blunkett, said Labour's relaxation of controls was a deliberate plan to "open up the UK to mass migration".
As well as bringing in hundreds of thousands more migrants to plug labour market gaps, there was also a "driving political purpose" behind immigration policy, he said.
Ministers hoped to radically change the country and by doing so "rub the Right's nose in diversity", added Mr Neather, but senior Labour figures remained reluctant to discuss the policy in case it alienated the party’s "core working class vote".
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Terrorism Act 2000 - A Labour disgrace
Climate change activist held under anti-terrorist legislation
Paul Lewis at The Guardian on Wednesday 14 October 2009 reports another example of how the serious anti-terrorist legislation is being used in direct contravention of promises made by the Labour govenment when they passed the law.
As we have seen local councils have even used the legislation to spy on how people are disposing their rubbish and the Labour Government does nothing to curtail the trivial use of the law.
We the people will suffer from this misuse now and in the future but the so-called peoples party don't give a toss. Thank you BlairBrown.
UK border police used anti-terrorist legislation to prevent a British climate change activist from crossing over into mainland Europe where he planned to take part in events surrounding the forthcoming United Nations summit in Denmark.
Chris Kitchen, a 31-year-old office worker, said he feared his treatment by police could mark the start of a clampdown on protesters, hundreds of whom are planning to travel to Copenhagen for the climate change talks in December.
He said he was prevented from crossing the border yesterday at about 5pm, when the coach he was travelling on stopped at the Folkestone terminal of the Channel tunnel.
Kitchen said police officers boarded the coach and, after checking all passengers' passports, took him and another climate activist to be interviewed under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000, a clause which enables border officials to stop and search individuals to determine if they are connected to terrorism.
The passports were not initially scanned, Kitchen said, suggesting the officials knew his name and had planned to remove him from the coach before they boarded. During his interview, he was asked questions about his family, work and past political activity. The police also asked him what he intended to do in Copenhagen.
When Kitchen said that anti-terrorist legislation does not apply to environmental activists, he said the officer replied that terrorism "could mean a lot of things". By the time his 30-minute interview had concluded, Kitchen's coach had gone.
Police are understood to be monitoring protesters on a number of databases, some of which highlight individuals when they pass through secure areas, such as ports.
Kitchen is a prominent activist who has taken place in a number of peaceful acts of civil disobedience, such as glueing himself to a statue in parliament, to call for more action to cut carbon emissions.
"The use of anti-terrorist legislation like this is another example of political policing, of the government harassing and intimidating people practising their hard earned democratic rights," he said. "We are going to Copenhagen to take part in Climate Justice Action because we want to protest against false solutions like carbon trading and to build a global movement for effective, socially just solutions.
"People who are practising civil disobedience on climate change in the face of ineffectual government action are certainly not terrorists, and I am sure that their actions will be vindicated by history."
Kitchen said police paid for a ticket for him to return to London after questioning and arranged for the coach company to give him a seat on another coach.
A Home Office spokesman said: "There has been no change in policy. Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 enables an examining officer to stop, search and examine a person at a port or in a border area to determine whether they are someone who is or has been concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.
"The exercise of the powers by the police is an operational matter for each force."
Paul Lewis at The Guardian on Wednesday 14 October 2009 reports another example of how the serious anti-terrorist legislation is being used in direct contravention of promises made by the Labour govenment when they passed the law.
As we have seen local councils have even used the legislation to spy on how people are disposing their rubbish and the Labour Government does nothing to curtail the trivial use of the law.
We the people will suffer from this misuse now and in the future but the so-called peoples party don't give a toss. Thank you BlairBrown.
UK border police used anti-terrorist legislation to prevent a British climate change activist from crossing over into mainland Europe where he planned to take part in events surrounding the forthcoming United Nations summit in Denmark.
Chris Kitchen, a 31-year-old office worker, said he feared his treatment by police could mark the start of a clampdown on protesters, hundreds of whom are planning to travel to Copenhagen for the climate change talks in December.
He said he was prevented from crossing the border yesterday at about 5pm, when the coach he was travelling on stopped at the Folkestone terminal of the Channel tunnel.
Kitchen said police officers boarded the coach and, after checking all passengers' passports, took him and another climate activist to be interviewed under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000, a clause which enables border officials to stop and search individuals to determine if they are connected to terrorism.
The passports were not initially scanned, Kitchen said, suggesting the officials knew his name and had planned to remove him from the coach before they boarded. During his interview, he was asked questions about his family, work and past political activity. The police also asked him what he intended to do in Copenhagen.
When Kitchen said that anti-terrorist legislation does not apply to environmental activists, he said the officer replied that terrorism "could mean a lot of things". By the time his 30-minute interview had concluded, Kitchen's coach had gone.
Police are understood to be monitoring protesters on a number of databases, some of which highlight individuals when they pass through secure areas, such as ports.
Kitchen is a prominent activist who has taken place in a number of peaceful acts of civil disobedience, such as glueing himself to a statue in parliament, to call for more action to cut carbon emissions.
"The use of anti-terrorist legislation like this is another example of political policing, of the government harassing and intimidating people practising their hard earned democratic rights," he said. "We are going to Copenhagen to take part in Climate Justice Action because we want to protest against false solutions like carbon trading and to build a global movement for effective, socially just solutions.
"People who are practising civil disobedience on climate change in the face of ineffectual government action are certainly not terrorists, and I am sure that their actions will be vindicated by history."
Kitchen said police paid for a ticket for him to return to London after questioning and arranged for the coach company to give him a seat on another coach.
A Home Office spokesman said: "There has been no change in policy. Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 enables an examining officer to stop, search and examine a person at a port or in a border area to determine whether they are someone who is or has been concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.
"The exercise of the powers by the police is an operational matter for each force."
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