Very interesting article

Homelands: Should nations stay within their historical boundaries? @CharlesCrawford in Aeon today: http://t.co/mjWm0ZqFny

— Aeon Magazine (@aeonmag) September 5, 2013

There are only two questions in politics: who decides? and who decides who decides? Every country solves these questions in its own way, be it through democracy, autocracy or dictatorship. But however it answers, the same dilemma emerges again at a deeper level. Who gets to say what is or is not a country?

Robert Bolt:

Roper: So now you’d give the Devil benefit of law!

More: Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?

Roper: I’d cut down every law in England to do that!

More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned ’round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country’s planted thick with laws from coast to coast– man’s laws, not God’s– and if you cut them down—and you’re just the man to do it—do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake.

A Man for All Seasons

Thanks to http://www.ministryoftruth.me.uk/2013/07/24/cameron-porn-advisors-websit... for the reminder...

Last para of Entick v Carrington 1765 http://t.co/NQ1P5xfFdm shows how jealous of our liberties we once were. Now we shrug shoulders at GCHQ

— Mark George (@Mark_George_QC) June 23, 2013

Wanting to be safe from terrorists does NOT req that we surrender our rt to privacy. This DOES matter http://t.co/4ScSeJe1fM These powers...

— Mark George (@Mark_George_QC) June 23, 2013

The News International #notw story has probably been done to death - though I remain concerned that the big issues are being lost in the 'hacking' of phones (which of course wasn't hacking at all).

Seems to me that the real issue is privacy and ownership of data and we're reaching a tipping point where hopefully we might get some proper rights for once!

In the meantime - I loved Hugh Grant's comments in the Guardian which to me hit the nail firmly on the head

Two more interesting letters today from:

The ricin plot continues to thicken slowly from

So, the News of the World phone hacking saga drags on.... and then reading about Andy Gray being a sexist pillock you come across:

He just wanted to go home from work - you'd think the police would have been happy to help him with that.

Instead they (at least) obstructed him, failed to help him, assaulted him and then lied about him and the people who helped him, and then he was autopsied by a pathologist not on the list, not qualified to be on Home Office list and under investigation, but that's ok with the CPS apparently. 

So, fail to protect a member of the public going good from work, beat a member of the public for on reason, fail to render him assistance that's all find with the CPS. But tip someone off about a search warrant

A policewoman has been charged after being accused of tipping off a person about a potential raid by officers.


Pc Grania Hale, 34, was suspended from her duties with Sussex Police after being charged with misconduct in public office.

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