Never has the Libertarian Party been so popular with the media – they actually want to know what our collective opinions are !

Three National radio appearances in one day. Starting with Andrew Withers on Radio 5 live at 9am, and again on Radio London’s ‘Drive time’ at 5pm, and Tim Carpenter giving some sterling responses over an hour on Talk Radio at 10 pm.

The subject – Nick Clegg wanting to know our opinion on what oppressive Laws should be abolished in the forthcoming ‘Freedom Act’,  scheduled for the Autumn of this year.

Let the public run with this as they did on Radio 5 Live this morning, the people phoning in were just compiling list after list of Authoritarian measures introduced under the last Labour Government, only one person wanted something to be banned, and that was Horses!  Most people on the phone-in had a fairly obviously disconnect between how they perceived Britain as a fair, open minded, tolerant liberal society with the brutal reality that the State is in our pockets, our bedrooms and in our fridges seeking to regulate our lives. All policed by the clipboard man.

So is the Clegg Freedom Act a media stunt or a genuine attempt to have a ‘bonfire of the vanities’?

For a genuine attempt I give it three out of ten for trying. Do I believe they will succeed in rolling back clipboard man and the State?  I very much doubt it. Turkeys just do not vote for Christmas.

The ‘savage cuts’ that are only going to scale back the growth of  State spending, not actually reduce it,  shows that the age of spin is still with us. So I believe it will be with the ‘Freedom Act’. Therefore my cynicism leads me to conclude that this is indeed a Political Stunt.

A serious radical Politician in the light of the expenses scandal, the illegal Iraq War, the banking disaster, the authoritarian measures that have spewed out of Parliament since 1997, would have announced that the Freedom Act would confirm our Liberties, not turn into a gameshow like the X factor.

Nick, get serious!  The Freedom Act should pave the way for a new constitutional settlement within the life time of this Parliament.

The Freedom Act should call for a wide ranging commission to make proposals for a written Constitution that confirms Magna Carta, that confirms the 1688 Act of Settlement, and confirms our individual rights protecting us from the State.

Try as I might I still cannot better the Constitution penned by Colonial Englishmen in 1780, founded on the Common Law, Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights

Then the Supreme Court can work its way through the Statute book, throwing out all Acts that are deemed unconstitutional without this unedifying media circus.

I am staggered that Simon Cowell or Lembit Opik  are not involved.

Andrew. P. Withers

ivan July 2, 2010 at 16:03

It has to be a stunt, after all there is the Great Repeal Bill already
available http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Great_Repeal_Bill

I might go further and say it is a con, a con to divert people away from
realizing the great cuts are nothing of the kind – they should be at least 50%
of ALL public departments to have any substance. As they stand the amount of
money the government spends is going up over the term of the parliament, not
down.

So why shouldn’t hippies
be burned? July 2, 2010 at 13:48

Total sham. These days every time I hear ANYTHING about enhancing /
increasing freedom that emanates from our lords and masters I feel the
handcuffs tightening. Freedom is slavery etc.

Beware Greeks bearing gifts, I say.

Alan July 2, 2010 at 13:11

I’ll say political stunt. The abuses of authority Labour introduced do not
need another public stamp of dis-approval to remove. We did not vote for a
Labour Government. Both constituent parts of this coalition Government have
previously talked up a serious reduction in the scope and power the State has
over us. They could just get on and do it.

More than that, any individual MP could have proposed this in Parliament
long before now. Have they? Did none of them even want to make a bit of a name
for themselves by routinely proposing to repeal even the most potty of
legislation? This stunt is either displaying their ignorance or an
illustration of their lack of values. They don’t know or don’t care what is
and isn’t an abuse of authority, what is needless legislation, what is good
legislation. Being an MP matters more than being a good MP. Protecting the
State matters more than protecting the People.

There are easy cases to make for repealing or amending legislation
pertaining to detention without trial, control order, bin monitoring, the
statutory burden of promoting diversity and equality that Labour placed on
public bodies, the pernicious use of penalty charges in place of actually
prosecuting someone, etc etc. What are they waiting for?

On Newsnight last night the presenter and his two guests were chortling at
one suggestion being abolishing the ban on marrying a horse. Admittedly the
thinnest end of the wedge but surely such nonsense legislation is a starting
point. The behaviour of the Government will be to try and stage manage the
shaving of a few minor bits and pieces. Were they actually committed to
freedom and liberty and all the good that encourages they would break the
system down quickly and set about doing it right. Then me and Mr Ed can be
happy.

Eleanor July 2, 2010 at 11:47

It stuns me that most of us, well, me anyway, were/was totally unaware of
most of this junk.

I haven’t lived in Britain for sixteen years now, although it is really no
excuse. But what could we have done about it, meaning all you others, since I
don’t have a vote?

Bucko July 2, 2010
at 10:21

It did take 13 years to reach the sorry state of affairs that we are in
now. I know we would all like it to be put right in a heartbeat but that isnt
going to happen.

The over-nannied population needs to be weaned off the socialist idea.

Maybe this rubbish website is something that will appeal to those types. I
would be happy for the great repeal bill to be debated on the Jeremy Kyle
show, providing it acheived some results.