UK Govt. democratic legitimacy in doubt

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/183888.html

The most senior Anglican Church priest has questioned the democratic legitimacy of the British government, condemning its terrifying policies “for which no one voted”.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said the coalition's reforms to education, NHS and the benefits system have left the public in a state of “fear”.

He said the “Big Society” plans pursued by Prime Minister David Cameron are a “painfully stale” slogan slamming the government for blaming every difficulty the nation is facing on the deficit it inherited from Labour.

"It isn't enough to respond with what sounds like a mixture of 'This is the last government's legacy,' and 'We'd like to do more, but just wait until the economy recovers a bit'," he wrote in an article for the New Statesman magazine.

Williams said in the article that voters are feeling “anxiety and anger” because the coalition has not sought “proper public argument” on its policies.

"Government badly needs to hear just how much plain fear there is around such questions at present," Williams said in the article.

He said part of the “widespread suspicion” is fueled by the Big Society plans that do not specify how voluntary organizations would “pick up the responsibilities shed by government”.

Williams added that the coalition policies on the NHS have resulted in “bafflement and indignation” among the public.

“With remarkable speed, we are being committed to radical, long-term policies for which no one voted,” he said.

“At the very least, there is an understandable anxiety about what democracy means in such a context,” he added.

Williams also hit out at the “punitive responses to alleged abuses of the [welfare] system” saying such comments along with the cuts in the welfare system are a "quiet resurgence of the seductive language of 'deserving' and 'undeserving' poor".

He then said an “open probing” is required in the education following the hasty approval of the government's free-school reforms through the parliament last summer and the tripling of university tuition fees.

He said Britain needs a long-term education policy "that will deliver the critical tools for democratic involvement, not simply skills that serve the economy".

As for the real intention behind the government's plans, Williams said Cameron's Big Society proposals are an “opportunistic” cover to enable the coalition to push ahead with its cutbacks.

'British medics should spy on patients' – UK Govt.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/183748.html

The British government will instruct doctors to identify patients at risk of being drawn into violent extremism as part of its strategy for combating terrorism.

Home Secretary, Theresa May is due to spell out the controversial move, which could threaten patient confidentiality, the daily The Independent reported.

The controversial “Prevent” strategy will also tighten the government and its spying apparatuses' grip on the nation with adding medical professionals to other groups who are spying on ordinary people in a “police state.”

“So doctors will be spying on us and deciding if we have the potential to be a terrorist, and neighbors can spy on us, and teachers can spy on us, and work colleagues can spy on us,” says an ordinary British.

The strategy also includes guidelines to strongly tackle the spread of Islamic teachings all across societies, particularly in prisons, where many Muslims are holed up on accusations of preaching extremism, according to the report.

The conservative-led government has already launched attempts to crackdown on all Muslim groups in the British community to bring them in line with its so-called “British mainstream values.”

Britain, itself, has been accused of abusing human rights by the UN Human Rights Council for bringing in three striking laws against online free speech.

Based on the laws adopted by Britain, France and New Zealand one can be booted off the Internet for repeated copyright infringement.

Frank La Rue, the UN special Rapporteur for human rights has said he is "deeply concerned" about proposals to create a centralised system for cutting people off from Internet access in those countries as a punishment for copyright infringement.

“Cutting off Internet access as a response to copyright infringement is disproportionate and thus a violation of article 19, paragraph 3, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights," he said.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister David Cameron has gone too far in labeling Muslims who follow the Sharia law, the basic rules of their faith, as extremists who need to be tackled.

Cameron had already announced his intention to abolish the term “state multiculturalism” altogether, meaning there should be two groups of people in the society.

“Those who are with us, we advocate and those who are not, they have no place in the community,” this belief is implied in the core of the British Prime Minister's strategy.

The so-called "Prevent" strategy also implies that “all convicted terrorists will have their beliefs countered while in jail and other offenders who could have fallen foul of "preachers of hate" will be tracked after their release.”

Police demand stop and search power

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/157909.html


The British police have demanded that the government allow them more power by law to stop and search people even without suspect evidence.

Senior police officers in Britain have suggested that a new 'stop and search' bill as a counter-terrorism measure should be approved by law-makers for them to be able to better protect the public.

The Home Secretary Theresa May ruled out Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which allows counter-terrorism stops without suspicion, after European judges issued a verdict about a related case that was deemed against human rights.

However, the Metropolitan force officers who lead the UK fight against terrorism, say that a more powerful 'stop and search' legal permission is necessary, especially during specific periods when the public is in greater danger from terrorists.

They have mentioned that such periods concern events such as the 2012 London Olympics, state occasions such as trooping the colour, and major summits such as the G20 when held in the UK.

Currently, section 43 of the Terrorism Act allows searches, but an officer must have reasonable suspicion for the stop to be lawful.

The 'stop and search' power issue is a very controversial one since it could breech the rights of ethnic minority Britons, which in turn would boost racial discrimination in the UK.

It is believed that Section 44 fell into disrepute because it failed to lead to the capture of a single terrorist after 100,000 stop-and-searches, and it was used in some cases against protesters and photographers, the Guardian writes.

"Where officers have the maximum discretion that is where you have the greatest racial discrimination in the way the police have used their powers. We would want to be absolutely certain that police are not targeting ethnic minority communities for unfair stops and searches," said Ben Bowling, a professor of criminology at King's College of London and founding member of Stopwatch, which campaigns against alleged police abuses of stop and search powers.

Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, the civil liberties pressure group, said, "It must target specific places, not classes of people, on the basis of intelligence and risk for narrow windows of time, with adequate authorisation and transparency. Then it will satisfy proportionality and equal treatment whilst providing a rational, flexible aid to anti-terror policing."

But senior police officers have said that they are hopeful to win UK ministers' support on the issue.