How fortunate for government that people don’t think

Alan Pearce has worked as a journalist, broadcaster and author for thirty years. He has covered conflicts around the world and whilst the BBC Afghanistan correspondent im 1996 he was seriously injured covering the Taliban takeover of Kabul. He lives in France.

I am trapped in the plot of ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’. I can see what’s going on all around me but everybody else is too busy watching ‘The X-Factor’ or ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ to notice. This government can now pass any law – no matter how appalling – and no one will say boo.

To my mind, they crossed the Rubicon this month with the latest Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, signing a law that allows a host of town hall officials, quangos and agencies from the Royal Mail to the Rural Payments Agency - even civilian investigators - to force their way into our homes, seize cash, freeze assets and confiscate property to recover minor fines.

In one of the most audacious acts of ‘function creep’, laws aimed at confiscating the yachts and villas of the masters of the criminal underworld are now been turned against the ordinary citizen should they fail to pay a parking fine or fall behind with their council tax.

To make matters worse, those collecting the debts will get a share of the proceeds which makes a mockery of our independent legal system. Will anyone be surprised if they now set their sights on the easy targets?

This government has already introduced 430 laws allowing officials to enter our homes. Debt collectors and bailiffs have remarkable powers allowing them to determine the amount of violence necessary to recover debts. And woe betides the house-holder who tries to stop them, with fines of up to £2,500 and a year in prison.

It amazes me that while our troops are apparently exporting democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan, we sit by and allow a minister to smash down the doors to our private castles by amending the Proceeds of Crime Act with a Statutory Instrument – effectively a flick of the pen that allows for no Parliamentary debate.

Even the chairman of the Police Federation, Paul McKeever, drew a sharp breath when he likened the move to the new terror and surveillance powers being turned on ‘bin criminals’ and potential school catchment cheats by junior council staff.

When I mention to people that next year (2010) they will need to apply for an exit visa to leave the country, they look at me in amazement. ‘What, Britain?’ they ask. Yes, the very same place that hosts the Mother of Parliaments, the cradle of modern democracy, etcetera.

According to legal publishers Sweet & Maxwell, around eight new criminal offences are added to the list every day. People are so numbed by the tsunami of legislation that they have entered the twilight zone and are happily oblivious to the changes around them. As Hitler put it: “How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don’t think.”

How fortunate for today’s establishment – and especially for the police – that so few can be bothered to notice let alone think. We need to remember that our greatest successes on the road to democracy have been achieved through public protest, not by the flourish of a minister’s pen.

Without the Suffragettes, the women of Britain would not have secured the vote when they did. You can go back as far as you like. King John was held captive at Runnymede until he signed the Magna Carta – and that act of kidnap is today seen as the cornerstone of our democracy.

With this latest intrusion, I wonder if there is no limit to what we will accept. Would we draw the line if they tattooed all of our forearms? Or would we accept it to safeguard our ‘freedom’?

The time has come to take matters into our own hands again because the government can no longer claim to be acting in our best interests. We must now ask:

Whose Side Are They On?

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Comments

[Mark]

When I mention to people that next year (2010) they will need to apply for an exit visa to leave the country, they look at me in amazement.

Is this really true? (Not that they look at you in amazement - I can believe that. I mean is it really true that people will need to apply for an exit visa to leave the country next year. Details would be much appreciated, thanks.)

[Jax]

It's not just that we don't think, I think about it an awful lot. I don't know what we are supposed to do to stop them. I've never voted for this lot, I've campaigned against some stuff (there's so much of it it's difficult to know where to start) atm I'm involved in campaigning against the Badman review on Elective Home Education, as flimsy a bit of evidence manufacturing as you could ever wish to see.

What else can we do? Will the conservatives guarantee to roll any of this stuff back, or have we had it until we finally manage to wake up the rest of the population, rebel and chuck the whole lot of them out?

[Helen Lambert]

When I mention to people that next year (2010) they will need to apply for an exit visa to leave the country, they look at me in amazement.

Interesting - I haven't heard anything about this. Do you have a link or reference? I've just Googled, but can't seem to find what you're referring to.

But yes, overall it's worrying indeed. A few months ago at Police State UK we started working on a running list of repressive, misused and "police state" style legislation. We haven't been able to keep up with it - new laws keep slipping through faster than we can count them.

Even protest is no longer a safe method of expressing discontent - the police have made sure of that.

[Dylan Sharpe]

Helen/Mark - This was a guest post by Alan Pearce so I'm not up to speed on all his facts, however I believe he's referring to the e-borders scheme. More details are here: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/aboutus/workingwithus/transportindustry/ebordersrequires/

[tony]

not sure about the exit visa info

you can see what the Prime Minister proposes at
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/DG_069433

The way forward is electronic screening of all passengers as they check in and out of our country at ports and airports - so that terrorist suspects can be identified and stopped before they board planes, trains and boats to the United Kingdom.

[Elizabeth]

Have you seen that Ofsted has suggested having a mandatory CRB check for parents who want to home educate their children?
http://tinyurl.com/yehzsjj
paragraph 3.2.3 nnn

[Baz]

A terrifying quote taken straight from the Home Office page mentioned above:

"The e-Borders programme will collect and analyse information on all passengers and crew intending to travel to or from the United Kingdom, or in transit through the United Kingdom. All air, sea and rail carriers will be required to collect this information"

So, coupled with tracking of car number plates, your complete movements can be tracked.

[Alan Pearce]

Permission to leave, please

ANYONE wishing to leave the country will have to give the government 24-hours notice or face fines up to £5,000 under the e-Borders scheme that comes fully into effect in 2010.
The UK Border Agency wants passengers to supply credit card details, email addresses, holiday contact numbers and detailed travel itinerary as well as listing all previously missed flights.
People leaving Britain will be forced to hand over 53 separate pieces of information when they pay for their ticket. Details will be shared between police, HM Revenue and Customs and domestic and foreign security services.
Those failing to complete all the questions or anyone deemed ‘suspicious’ will be prevented from leaving.
All airlines, ferry companies, rail operators and travel agencies will be obliged to provide comprehensive information on every passenger which will then be stored on a new database and be used to ‘profile’ suspects.
Even swimmers attempting to cross the Channel and their support teams will be subject to the rules along with weekend sailors, sea fishermen and day-trippers. The owners of light aircraft will also be brought under the system, which will eventually track 250 million journeys annually, with an initial budget of £1.2 billion.
It is unclear if people who deviate from their travel plans will face prosecution.
“The UK has one of the toughest borders in the world and we are determined to ensure it stays that way,” says immigration minister Phil Woolas. “Our high-tech electronic borders system will allow us to count all passengers in and out and targets those who aren’t willing to play by our rules.”
In an early sign of function creep, ministers also want to prevent people leaving the country if they have any outstanding fines. The details have been outlined in an ‘explanatory memorandum’ to the Immigration and Asylum Act prepared by the Home Office.
Officials say the e-Borders scheme could help recoup millions of pounds of unpaid fines – including those for ‘bin crimes’ and motoring offences - and make it easier to confiscate criminals’ assets by barring them from leaving the country.
From 'Whose Side Are They On'

[Mark]

Right. So it's not true that you will need an exit visa to leave the country after 2010. Thanks for clearing that one up.

[Alan Pearce]

Not so. If you want to leave the country, you must provide 53 pieces of information to the State via your booking agent. If they are not happy with the answers you cannot leave. That is an exit visa! What else can you call it?

[Steve Shepherd]

Stuff 'em. Cross to Northern Ireland and fly from there.

[Alan Pearce]

Cross to Northern Ireland and fly from there

Sadly, that won't work. We already have an "internal" border in operation.

[Spartan]

Really? ... there are borders between UK mainland and NI? What next ... Scotland and Wales? (actually wouldn't mind Wales ... can't stand the place).

l left UK a few years ago and now live in Bulgaria. Maybe l should get a new ID here ... doesn't cost that much. Now what name shall l have? ;-)

Seriously though, do they really expect this to work considering all the private boats and private planes that operate across to NI? The whole thing is a farce. lf you want to enter UK illegally ... or leave, it is realitively easy.

[Alan Pearce]

Private boats, including anglers, light aircraft, even cross-Channel swimmers will all be subject to the e-Border scheme. I have been trying for weeks to get answers from the Home Office as to how this will all work in practice but they will not respond. Internal flights are also being targetted for enhanced checks.

[Alan Pearce]

This just in from the Home Office:
"Data mining will allow for the analysis of operational data in order to identify trends and patterns to recognise and analyse data trends and patterns. This will provide valuable intelligence information and inform the definition and further refinement of profiles. The objective of automated profiling is to identify passengers meeting certain behavioural characteristics from data contained in other passenger information submitted by carriers. Where a profile match is identified an alert will be issued to the relevant agency for them to take appropriate action."

I'm still waiting for them to confirm a range of other points, but this is bad enough.

[Steve Shepherd]

Thanks for that Alan. lt's a sad state of affairs when my wife (Bulgarian)says that the UK is worse than when she lived under Soviet rule pre 1989.
She was stopped twice in London by the Anti-Terrorism Police for stop and search. Fortunately she is very astute and so just spoke Bulgarian to them (she is fluent in English and Russian) ... so they just let her go both times. Seems you have to be British to get the full monty!

Excellent article by the way.

[Che nah just kidding RR]

And this is the one reason I can tolerate our second amendment on this side of the pond. It will be much easier for us to rebel when the time comes, and I know we are following right behind you guys into this hell we've made.