Gilliver's Travels
Peripatetic
If only Baker hadn't decided to oppose the stadium, people on here would probably be cheering him to the rafters...
Look at last Wednesday's exchange between Baker and our Prime Minister...
Norman Baker (Lewes, Liberal Democrat)
Under this Government, millions of innocent people have been added to the DNA database, which is the largest in the world. People are locked up without trial for 28 days—the Prime Minister wanted 90 days. Free speech outside Parliament has been banned, children are routinely fingerprinted in schools and there are plans to curb trial by jury and force ID cards on us. Yet, last year, the Prime Minister said:
"I don't want to live in a police state or a Big Brother society or put any of our essential freedoms in jeopardy."
Is it not time the Prime Minister showed some consistency between what he says and what he does?
Tony Blair:
I gather from that rant that the hon. Gentleman is not entirely in favour of my position on those issues. I caught at least part of it, about the DNA database. Let me explain why it is an important policy for the country and for fighting crime. As a result of the DNA database, we can now match samples, sometimes several hundred and even several thousand a month. Consequently, we are solving murders, rapes and some of the most serious burglaries and assaults. It is essential to use new technology, such as CCTV and other things, to ensure that we make our country safer. The idea that, by doing that—and thereby, for example, solving some of the unsolved murders from years ago—we are creating a police state shows how far the Liberal Democrats are out of touch with reality.
How can Baker have got it so wrong?
Look at last Wednesday's exchange between Baker and our Prime Minister...
Norman Baker (Lewes, Liberal Democrat)
Under this Government, millions of innocent people have been added to the DNA database, which is the largest in the world. People are locked up without trial for 28 days—the Prime Minister wanted 90 days. Free speech outside Parliament has been banned, children are routinely fingerprinted in schools and there are plans to curb trial by jury and force ID cards on us. Yet, last year, the Prime Minister said:
"I don't want to live in a police state or a Big Brother society or put any of our essential freedoms in jeopardy."
Is it not time the Prime Minister showed some consistency between what he says and what he does?
Tony Blair:
I gather from that rant that the hon. Gentleman is not entirely in favour of my position on those issues. I caught at least part of it, about the DNA database. Let me explain why it is an important policy for the country and for fighting crime. As a result of the DNA database, we can now match samples, sometimes several hundred and even several thousand a month. Consequently, we are solving murders, rapes and some of the most serious burglaries and assaults. It is essential to use new technology, such as CCTV and other things, to ensure that we make our country safer. The idea that, by doing that—and thereby, for example, solving some of the unsolved murders from years ago—we are creating a police state shows how far the Liberal Democrats are out of touch with reality.
How can Baker have got it so wrong?
