Sleepwalking to 42 day detention

[AboveTheSalt]

A 'mass sleepwalk' will take place through the streets of Leeds tonight as Amnesty International attempts to wake people up to the erosion of civil liberties as shown by the UK Government's plans to extend detention without charge to 42 days (Link (http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=17900)).

In response to the obvious question Why Leeds?Amnesty International said it had chosen Leeds to launch its campaign because it was targeting MPs who voted for a 42-day limit in June, but who voted against Tony Blair's earlier plan for a 90-day limit. (Link (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/7666253.stm))Based on past experience, it may also be that Amnesty International were unable to get permission for a protest in Central London?

[chumpychops]

Maybe they realised that Leeds is full of retards and the unemployed who have nothing better to do with their time than to protest against something that isnt going to be passed regardless.

[NokkonWud]

Leeds is great...

[chumpychops]

Leeds is great...

Yes, in the way that a septic tank is great. You can admire its construction, how it looks, and all the great features it has.

ANd then you remember that inside it is several thousand gallons of what can only be described as ****.

[chumpychops]

Sorry for taking the thread OT....

[Mark]

Looks like the bill just sleepwalked out of town. For now. Whether its zombified remains will turn up at a later date is another matter. I would suspect not - at least not this side of an election - unless there's another major attack.

[AboveTheSalt]

Looks like the bill just sleepwalked out of town. For now. Whether its zombified remains will turn up at a later date is another matter. I would suspect not - at least not this side of an election - unless there's another major attack.Yup, excellent news:Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has told MPs that plans to extend terror detention to 42 days will be dropped from the Counter-Terrorism Bill. It follows a heavy defeat for the government in the House of Lords, which threw out the plan by 309 votes to 118. Ms Smith said instead the measure would be in a separate piece of legislation to be brought to Parliament if needed. (Link (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7668477.stm))I'm quite sure that things would have gone the way they did in the Lords whether the Leeds protest had happened or not. I also very much suspect that once the bill was rejected in the Lords, the Home Secretary would have made the announcement that she has made.