The wrong question
I hope I was not the only person from a mainstream political party who was very uncomfortable with the question Keith Vaz MP, chairman of the Commons Home Affairs select committee, asked Home Secretary Theresa May today about the delays in deporting Abu Qatada to Jordan.
Not because I disagree that both the present government and the previous one were right to seek his deportation. I share Mrs May's "frustration" at the delay it has taken since the last government started deportation proceedings around a decade ago, to get a satisfactory result.
But, but, but, and again but (as Ian Fleming might have written)
This is a better country to live in because we have independent courts. However annoying and infuriating we may often find it when a court makes what we may think is the wrong decision, I would rather live in a country where ministers of whatever party have an independent check on their ability to act which insures that they don't have total power.
And when a politician asks the question Keith Vaz asked today, "who is to blame" over a court decision he doesn't like, I feel uncomfortable. Even when I don't like that decision either.
Not to mention that there is plenty of blame to go round - as mentioned above, governments involving all political parties have been trying to put Qatada on a plane to Jordan for around a decade and for most of that time Mr Vaz's party was in power.
The price we pay for a free society is that sometimes our enemies use those freedoms against us. Yes, let's work to put that right - but through the proper channels. Don't let the terrorists and their sympathisers trick us into pulling down the very freedoms and safeguards which make us the free society they so hate.
Not because I disagree that both the present government and the previous one were right to seek his deportation. I share Mrs May's "frustration" at the delay it has taken since the last government started deportation proceedings around a decade ago, to get a satisfactory result.
But, but, but, and again but (as Ian Fleming might have written)
This is a better country to live in because we have independent courts. However annoying and infuriating we may often find it when a court makes what we may think is the wrong decision, I would rather live in a country where ministers of whatever party have an independent check on their ability to act which insures that they don't have total power.
And when a politician asks the question Keith Vaz asked today, "who is to blame" over a court decision he doesn't like, I feel uncomfortable. Even when I don't like that decision either.
Not to mention that there is plenty of blame to go round - as mentioned above, governments involving all political parties have been trying to put Qatada on a plane to Jordan for around a decade and for most of that time Mr Vaz's party was in power.
The price we pay for a free society is that sometimes our enemies use those freedoms against us. Yes, let's work to put that right - but through the proper channels. Don't let the terrorists and their sympathisers trick us into pulling down the very freedoms and safeguards which make us the free society they so hate.
Comments
Man that coffee smells good, are you awake yet can you smell it?
Article 50 it's the only way to go.