42
It's been another rough week for
Gordon Brown. The 42 day
detention vote was passed by a
mere nine votes, and looks
unlikely to pass through the
Lords unscathed.
The
42 day detention vote was
important both legally and
politically.
The vote shows that a majority
of the Commons think it's fair
for someone to be detained for
42 days without either being
charged with an offence or
released. The arguments in
favour are that terrorist plots
are becoming more and more
complex, and more time is needed
to question suspects to get
sufficient evidence to charge
them. The arguments against is
that innocent people could be
detained for a six weeks without
any charge or consequence, and
by passing such a draconian law
the state is taking away some of
the freedom it's meant to be
safeguarding against terrorism.
On one side, the government and
the police were in favour; in
some ways, 42 detention was also
a popular issue, with the Sun
getting behind the proposal.
Crucially in terms of numbers,
the nine strong Democratic
Unionist Party also backed the
plans. On the other hand, a
coalition of SNP, Plaid, all
Tories bar one, the Lib Dems and
backbench Labour rebels were
against, as were a number of
legal experts; the Lord Advocate
in Scotland, the Director of
Public Prosecutions and the
former Attourney General, Lord
Goldsmith, among others.
Politically, it was a showdown
for Gordon Brown. After weeks of
being attacked for dithering and
incompetence, the 42 day vote
was almost a vote of confidence,
and a chance for the PM to big
himself up as the Alpha Male;
show himself as being the
strong, populist protector of
the nation and unbowed in the
face of opposition from a bunch
of lefties, wets and nats.
Likewise, it gave Brown's
enemies in the Labour Party a
golden chance to bring him down
and do a bit of chest beating of
their own.
Did it all go to plan? Well, no.
It looks like a bit of a state
from where I'm sitting.
Thirty
six of the Parliamentary Labour
Party have shown that either
their belief in civil liberties
and/or their desire to get shot
of Brown is stronger than any
loyalty they have towards the
government. That's not good for
the PM. Brown has had to rely on
an unlikely alliance of
government ministers, the DUP,
Anne Widdecombe and the sole
UKIP MP to get a flagship policy
through the Commons. The
Northern Irish element is a
reminder of the dying days of
the Major government when Ulster
MPs could swing the vote in the
Commons; except Major's majority
then was far lower than Brown's
should be on paper. Furthermore,
the government has had to make a
range of concessions to
backbenchers and the DUP over
the vote, in a process dubbed a
"grubby bazaar" by Pete Wishart
MP.
The law still has a long way to
go, and it's still doubtable
whether it will get onto the
statute books. Brown might have
bought himself a bit of time,
but it seems unlikely that the
vote being so tight will do much
for his authority in the long
run. It seems unlikely that
he'll go before the next General
Election, and even more unlikely
that Labour will be the next
government afterwards. Anything
can happen in two years, but
they look like being long and
unhappy years for the PM -
unable to let go of the power
he's wanted for so long, but
hurtling towards his political
demise. It's almost enough to
make you feel sorry for him...
On the telly
There's
trouble afoot at the BBC, with
the publication of the
Impartiality Report by an
academic, Prof Anthony King. The
report examines how well the BBC
has covered news reporting in
the years since the creation of
the Scottish and Northern Irish
Parliaments, and the Welsh
Assembly - including if it
informs viewers of whether or
not the news item they watch
relates to them, if the news is
covering a policy item which is
now devolved. No surprises that
the report found
"Very occasionally (the BBC)
stated explicitly that a story
applied to the whole of the UK
when it did not. More often,
they simply assumed that a story
applied to the whole UK when it
did not. Very often, it was left
unclear to which parts of the UK
a story applied and to which it
did not."
Earlier in the week, a think
tank called "Future of the
Union" (bit of an oxymoron
there!) concluded that English
and Scottish media are pulling
apart; Scottish news - and also
news from the English regions -
rarely makes papers based in
London. Scottish media outlets
concentrate more on the Scottish
Parliament than what's going on
at Westminster.
The impression is that different
media outlets are keeping up
with political and social change
at different paces; the BBC is
struggling at the back of the
pack. The solution - or at
least, part of the solution - is
a Scottish Six. Some more
regional coverage on BBC 24
wouldn't go amiss either.
Midgefied
I was at a public meeting
recently where a Labour
councillor went off on a rant
about how the SNP needed to
legislate on dog poo. I thought
we'd moved away from the idea
that legislation in itself would
solve problems, but evidently
some people are struggling to
keep up.
Something
really wish we could legislate
away are midges. I was down at
Glen Trool last weekend on a
camping holiday, and the site
was heaving with them. It was at
that really unpleasant level
where the air was so thick with
them that you breathed them in,
and no amount of repellent was
going to work for any length of
time. I got hit moderately
badly, but my husband Craig was
much worse; almost a week on
he's still covered with angry
red bites. (From the midges, not
me!).
My parents, who are keen
campers, are claiming that the
midges are worse this year than
other years; I'm not so sure. I
remember childhood holidays
where they were just as
energetic. Midges are a constant
prescence through pre-devolution
days, the Scottish Executive and
the SNP government, and will
doubtless be with us on
independence day and beyond.
Although, such is the state of
the Labour party at the moment
that I wouldn't put it past them
to identify midges as a hot
political issue and do at least
two of the following:
Blame the SNP (well, that's a
given)
Petition the parliament on the
issue
Claim that midges
disproportionally attack
vulnerable two year olds
Say that midges are worse
because of the concordat and
"local government cuts"
Argue that midges that are
currently exempt from council
tax will be penalised by the
introduction of local income tax
Alledge that the SNP are
secretly breeding midges to set
on foreigners at the border
...and so on. Surely it can't be
long before a press release is
issued?
The
claim came in a joint statement after a meeting today between 
In
his speech, Jamie Hepburn said: 