Category: Civil liberties

Government, the police and intelligence services are too easily given sweeping powers that they too often abuse

Jenny works with campaigners to defend our civil liberties

Read on for her latest posts on this topic

Your privacy and the latest executive power grab

Published on by iwin1961

The Data Protection Bill will be discussed in the Lords this afternoon and it contains a lot of sensible reforms on how we protect private information. However, it also contains a lot of Henry 8th powers giving Ministers the right to by-pass Parliamentary scrutiny if they want to change the law in the future. This is an obvious threat to democracy. Giving such Putin powers to this government is a bad idea, and it remains a bad idea if a Corbyn government takes charge in a few years’ time as the powers give the executive the ability to change the rules, and that is always a bad idea. Continue reading “Your privacy and the latest executive power grab” →

Ditch the label, end hate crime

Published on by iwin1961

Vile views spread like wildfire on the internet and are spilling out into the real world. The Home Office released statistics this week which showed hate crime has increased by nearly a third in the last year, with the biggest rises being against people who are transgender and people with disabilities. The work of Ditch the Label is extremely important in the struggle to create a more equal world that is free of bullying and prejudice. Continue reading “Ditch the label, end hate crime” →

£3.1m cost of policing Lancashire frackers

Published on by iwin1961

The Lancashire Police have asked the Home Office for an extra £3.1m to recover some of their additional expenses in policing the Cuadrilla site at Preston New Road. That is the equivalent of £8 a Lancashire household and enough to pay for 25 police officer jobs. In 2014, Sussex police got £905,000 for their operation to protect a fracking site. Continue reading “£3.1m cost of policing Lancashire frackers” →

Fewer Lords is no guarantee of improved efficiency

Published on by iwin1961

A recent report by the Electoral Reform Society says that 115 peers claim £1.3m despite not speaking in Lords for nine months. I’m happy to say that I’m not one of them. I spoke nearly a hundred times last year and as the only Green in the room (the only Green Party peer), I’m in a unique position to raise issues that are often ignored. From civil liberties to the use of pesticides, I can influence what issues are discussed. Continue reading “Fewer Lords is no guarantee of improved efficiency” →

My day at a fracking protest

Published on by iwin1961
I’ve just come back from a few hours in Lancashire, at the Preston New Road protest against fracking by Cuadrilla. The people who are protesting are a mix of locals, initially reluctantly drawn into the fracas but now pivotal organisers, and experienced campaigners who can supply the outside contacts and good advice.

Continue reading “My day at a fracking protest” →

No fracking Mondays

Published on by iwin1961

 

The fight for local democracy and basic ecological common sense continues its frontline on an A-Road in Preston, Lancashire. It is where locals and protectors from across the country have been standing up against the fracking firm, Cuadrilla, and the Government’s dash for dirty gas. Throughout August and September, Green Party members are joining the protests en masse each Monday at Preston New Road. These “Green Mondays” have seen hundreds of Greens taking direct action while promoting the ecological alternatives to fracking. Continue reading “No fracking Mondays” →

When the NHS catches a computer bug are security services to blame?

Published on by iwin1961
There is no doubt that the delays and disruption caused by the NHS computer virus could have been avoided. The government could have used a fraction of the multi-billion security budget to enable hospital trusts to update ageing software. However, instead of being focused on designing out crime as they promised to do, western security services are doing the opposite. The US government and our own, are pressuring companies like Microsoft and others to create ‘backdoors’ which open up our privacy and security to attack if they are leaked.

Continue reading “When the NHS catches a computer bug are security services to blame?” →

Are the police spying on the witnesses at the inquiry about the police spying on people?

Published on by iwin1961

It seems obvious to me that the police shouldn’t be spying on people who are key witnesses at the Pitchford inquiry into police spying. Those witnesses are gathering together a history of activism and campaigning to present their evidence, via a Barrister, to the inquiry judge. You would think it would be easy to get a reassurance from the government that these witnesses are not being spied upon by the police, as the police would clearly gain an advantage from knowing what those witnesses have prepared, but no, it is not.

domestic-extremism-database

Continue reading “Are the police spying on the witnesses at the inquiry about the police spying on people?” →

Human Rights Day Reception

Published on by jonesjb

On 10th December Jenny attended a reception in Speaker’s House hosted by Amnesty International to mark International Human Rights Day. The event was a great success with Amnesty activists, school groups and parliamentarians all taking part in the Write for Rights campaign, writing letters and other messages to individuals at risk around the world. As a result of the event, Ann Clwyd MP has secured an adjournment debate on Tuesday 13th December where she will be referring to some of the specific cases from the Write for Rights campaign as well as the wider human rights contexts in some of those countries.

humanrightsday Continue reading “Human Rights Day Reception” →