U.K.: The Right to Remain Silent

I used to be an anglophile, but my affection for good old England has turned into exasperation and, sometimes, disgust. Here's the latest reason why.

Police are considering asking ministers for more powers to impose "instant justice" for anti-social activities. The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) is consulting members on whether to seek the authority to punish people without going to court. It has heard plans from one police chief for powers to ban teenagers from city centres and gangs from meeting up. 

Ah, Britain. Where you can be fined for saying 'fuck' in a private conversation. Where every single child will soon be fingerprinted. Where all people will be ordered to carry an I.D. card at all times, to be swiped every time they withdraw a fairly small amount of money from the bank, buy an airline ticket, apply for a fishing license, purchase property, apply for a library card, get a prescription filled, and so on. Where the government wants to make the possession of "abusive porn" a crime. Where you can be sentenced to 80 hours of community service for wearing the wrong T-shirt. Where having a pen knife in your car can get you arrested. Where being too fat can get you carted off to a mental institution. Where government workers will come to your home to verify you're not using too much electricity, and to note whether or not you smoke. Where all vehicles' whereabouts will soon be monitored by satellite 24/7. Where you'll get fined for using a pencil instead of a pen when filling out a form. Where people are captured by video surveillance cameras some 300 times a day. Where officials tell you how to go to the bathroom.

And on, and on, and on. It's the slow creep of officialdom at its pettiest and nastiest, the steady drip-drip-drip of busybody fascism. Under Tony Blair, the rights of the British people are gradually being reduced to one right only: The right to remain silent.

Comments

[fish]

Hey....this sounds like a great plot for a movie! A once great nation known for championing individual liberty and the rule of (Reasonable for the most part) law succumbs to fear; falls prey to demagoguery.....and lapses into totalitarianism! Curfews, summary punishment etc. follow! Now we just need a title. 1984........? ......V for.....? Curious George........? No thats not it!

Nevermind! Too farfetched....nobody would ever believe it!

[Martin Owens]

You're right Rogier.

It's a crying goddamn shame what is happening to Britain.

If we give up our guns here in the USA, the parasite intelligentsia will do the same to us- hell, what am I talking about? They're trying hard to do it when we still have them.

Watch the shadows, and run like hell from a man who announces he means to do you good.
' Cause that's what'll happen: He'll do you, but good.

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know if it's the "intelligentsia" so much as the people who *think* they are at the top of the intellectual food chain, so to speak. Most of the avant-garde crowd, philosophers, professors, and so on seem to be just as opposed to this sort of nonsense.

As much as I hate to even mention her name, Ayn Rand had it right. For that matter, so did Orwell.

[Matthew Brown]

It does sound like I left the UK at the right time (end of '97) before things went from bad to worse.

And while you have the right to silence, it's no longer absolute either. Witness the newer miranda-esque police statement: it's no longer simply 'You have the right to remain silent, but anything you do say will be taken down and may be used in evidence against you.', which is what it was for a long time.

It's now 'You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention, when questioned, something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.' which says quite a lot, doesn't it?

Thanks, Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.

[Nick]

You don't think that already happens here? What do you think a SWAT raid is all about? It's about inflicting as much damage immediately as possible in order to punish the "criminal" immediately.

[George Arndt]

So, it not just the Islamists and the Christian Right who are afraid of freedom..

[Mark S.]

Don't forget fined for not having a television license.

131.50 pounds for a color television.
44 pounds for a black and white.

[Lucy]

Maybe you should try living over here in the UK you'll find that most of articles you post are simply one offs normally of political correctness gone over the top, I think we still have more freedom than most of the rest of the world. as for TV licences it just nice to be able to watch a 1 hour TV program that last an hour instead of an hour and a half to make way for all the advertising.
L