The Bewilderness

All must be banned..prizes for experts

Oh dear, another idiot. See what happens when freedom lies outside a target. What does the expert recommend?

The goal of stopping deaths on the roads has been set by a number of countries including Norway, Australia and Sweden, where the programme has been called “Vision Zero”.

But Norwegian safety expert Rune Elvik said for it to happen, policy makers should consider the radical step of banning motorbikes.

“If they are serious about these lofty road safety ambitions that have been announced then I think such a discussion is needed,” he said in an interview with Motor Cycle News.

“Motorcycling would definitely not be allowed.”

Mr Elvik, research chief at the Norwegian Institute of Transport Economics, said motorcycles are incompatible with the target of eliminating road deaths.

If freedom were valued, experts would define this an obstacle to road safety and it definitely would not be allowed. Oh yes...

Scotiish justice is taken for a ride

The Telegraph relates a story of a man who supposedly had sex with a bicycle. The newspaper does not tell us how this was achieved or what gratification was received from this implement. Yet, the circumstances are a telling reminder of Gordon Blair's Britain.

The subject admitted to sexual breach of the peace for this act. Yet, he did not commence, continue or finish this act in public. The act took place behind closed doors in his room where he was disturbed by two hostel workers who used a master key to open up his room, after knocking. For all we know he may have been practicing the moves to a rap video?

As a consequence of undertaking simulated sex with a bicycle in the privacy of his own room, the guilty party has now been placed on the sexual offenders register.

What the hell is going on here and why are Scottish courts wasting taxpayers money for activity that is committed on one's own? Does this mean that every time one gets disturbed by a hotel cleaner, that is a breach of the peace?

Still, if you get caught naked in your room by a cleaner, they can pretend to have seen you doing something naughty with the fridge, and that is equivalent to rape or kiddiefiddling. Cretins!

Radical one year, History the next

The border force announced by Brown does not include the police. The Tories have attacked the proposal as "toothless" and the Liberal Democrats disparaged it as "border force lite". The new uniformed presence is designed to be a more efficient use of existing resources, lifting a Tory policy proposal without actually dealing with the problem. Brown at work!

More worrying is the proposal that the Telegraph has picked up. Under the guise of counter-terrorism, the government would harmonise our criminal justice system with the Continent's, circumscribe jury participation further and increase the potential for miscarriages of justice.

A radical option put forward in a Home Office paper would involve scrapping the centuries-old system of British law and introducing a Continental-style approach involving examining magistrates.

The Government said: ''It would require a major shift in the way in which cases are investigated and in the adversarial system of prosecution used in this country. But given the scale of the challenge we face, we believe it is right to consider this option alongside others.''

There is no doubt that Europhile officials would work to further align our subordination to the European Union's and ditch all of the common law if this would further their goal. No doubt this will be law by 2009.

2007: Wresting Back our Liberties

There ia strong and articulate article from Henry Porter, examining 2006 in view of what he calls "late period Blair", where the politicisation of the civil service and strengthening of the executive have moved forward on all fronts. People are curbed in what they can say, how they can say it, on how they can act, and on how they can spend, due to increased taxes.

And still the nation slept, believing that in some way this frenzy of law-making was benevolent and protective rather than a menace to the rule of law. A year has gone past, but can anyone honestly say that they feel more secure after all this activity? Of course not, because the effect of late-period Blair legislation has been to extend the powers of the executive and of the police - who have got everything they wanted from him - while diminishing the individual and his rights.

There are some disturbing developments that I was unaware of, such that bailiffs are now able to break into private houese to collect civil debts. This government has traduced and removed an ever larger swathe of civil liberties, most of whom affect the poor, not the rich:

No more than one in 10 MPs could have told you how, using the Courts Act together with the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act, the government swept away a 400-year-old common law, which guaranteed that an Englishman's home was his castle and that no bailiff could break in to collect civil debts.

The Liberal Democrats talk of a general act to sweep away these impositions. The Tories are now examining the need for a Bill of Rights. Perhaps even some Labour MPs may stand up to defend our freedoms, especially as Brown has proved as assiduous as Blair in attempting to cement the executive's freedom from law and scrutiny.

RFID Precaution

Wisconsin passed a law outlawing the compulsory tagging of individuals with RFID or electronic tags.  An early but welcome precaution:

Wisconsin’s Gov. Jim Doyle in May signed into law an act making it illegal to forcibly implant an electronic tag in someone.

It says, “No person may require an individual to undergo the implanting of a microchip.” Violators can be fined up to $10,000 a day.

Save Belarus! Depose Lukashenko!

Tonight there are protests in Belarus. I have posted a longer piece on Samizdata and other updates can be found through the links on here.

However, I am quite pessimistic about the outcome. Lukashenko has the support of stagnation amongst the majority of the population. Only those whose future hopes have vanished under this regime will be in the square tonight.