Clowns who can't get their facts right, the Civil War, and our broken democracy

I seem to be surrounded by references to the Civil War at the moment. I had a look at some of the key documents the other day. This afternoon's rather lovely Saturday Play on Radio 4 was about the flight of the future Charles II to France.

Then there is this about the the arrest of Damian Green from Michael White on the Guardian's Politics Blog:

"Michael Howard, who clearly gave up history for law quite early, has likened it to Charles I's attemped arrest of the parliamentary leadership in 1641, though he admits getting the idea from the saucy-but-smart C4 TV series, The King's Whore."

The programme is of course actually called "The Devil's Whore" and very very good it is too. Although, when I heard Michael Howard mention this on the radio the other day he thought it was on ITV.

Someone else who doesn't seem to know their arse from their elbow, is Geoff Hoon. He was awful on Any Questions, particularly over the Green arrest. But what really wound me up was his statement that we shouldn't go around criticising the police because they are the people that "protect our civil liberties".

Alex reminds us today that the "Police should enforce the law, not the Government’s whim". The police are an enforcement agency. They enforce the law. They should have no other agenda. That includes that it is not their business to "protect our civil liberties". That is for the law itself, the courts, and yes, Parliament to do so. And we need constitutional safety valves to protect us from the infringement of our civil liberties by the police as much as by anyone else.

Which is why it is so worrying that an MP has been arrested for essentially doing his job.

The fact that a government minister doesn't understand this, or at least speaks as if he doesn't, demonstrates that Nick Clegg is right when he says;

"Our political system is already in deep trouble: sinking public confidence in MPs, feeble parliamentary scrutiny, a rigid culture of Whitehall secrecy, and an electoral system that hands unprecedented powers to governments freed from any meaningful scrutiny from other parties.

This unprecedented arrest is a wake-up call. We must save our broken democracy."

Influential Independents?

The theme for the LGA conference for independent councillors last month gave rise to a very clear, but somewhat unkind, thought.

Maggie Sullivan, head of the LGA’s Independent group, said: “A constant complaint is ‘how can I have more influence?’, so we decided to make it this year’s theme.”

Could I suggest joining a political party might help?

Taking Liberties: British Library Exhibition

Last Friday saw me visiting Taking Liberties the latest exhibition put on by the British Library.

The exhibition is stuffed full of some of the most important documents of British history. It is full of reminders of how our liberties, our democratic society, came about through struggle and sacrifice across the generations. It begins with a copy of the Magna Carta and an exploration of the rule of law. It then takes the visitor through the basic concepts of liberty, the right to vote, the development of ideas of economic rights, and then onto the modern concept of human rights.

Amongst the gems on display are Charles I's death warrant with Oliver Cromwell's strong signature clearly visible, actual Acts of Parliament such the 1689 Bill of Rights and the 1832 Reform Act, some wonderful Hogarth prints titled 'The Election', William Blake's notebook, and a copy of the offending magazine that triggered the Oz Trial of the 1960's.

The interpretation is very well done. The objects themselves tell the history, with video screens of interviews with academics and people like Shami Chakrabarti, Peter Tatchell, and Lord Carlisle making the link with contemporary controversies. There is also a very cleverly done interactive element which encourages the visitor think about there own reactions to the issues raised.

This is a fascinating and inspiring exhibition. It will be of great value to anyone who calls themselves a liberal and if you can I would encourage you to spend an hour or so visiting it. I think some of those who have been pontificating on the blogosphere recently about the nature of liberalism could well do with a reminder of how we got where we are.

The exhibition is on until the 1st March at the British Library next door to St Pancras Station.

No to STV for Cincinnati

I posted a while ago about the proposition to switch to the use of STV for elections in the city of Cincinnati. Unfortunately for US electoral reformers they didn't succeed.

Make My Vote Count has the details.

Cool dude Norman

Time to break another extended blog silence with some trivia. Mark Pack, through an intriguing Facebook status, pointed me to Total Politics's Daily Politico looking at Lib Dem MP Norman Baker.

I liked this. Lot's of interesting facts about cool dude Norman, including that he collects jukeboxes. I confess that scene in Casablanca always gets me blubbing too. Also thought this was very astute;

"The thing I love about politics is...

... that it is life magnified"