Quote of the day 25th August 2014
“Laws alone can not secure freedom of expression; in order that every man present his views without penalty there must be spirit of tolerance in the entire population.”
( Albert Einstein )
( Albert Einstein )
Nick Herbert on his visit to flood hit areas of Cumbria
Please note that the post below was published more than ten year ago on 21st November 2009 Nick Herbert MP, shadow cabinet member for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, was in Cumbria this morning to see the areas affected by the flooding. He writes on Conservative Home about his visit. Here is an extract. I’ve been in Cumbria today to see the areas affected by the floods. I arrived early in Keswick where I met officials from the Environment Agency. Although the river levels had fallen considerably and homes were no longer flooded, the damage to homes had been done. And the water which had got into houses wasn’t just from the river – it was foul water which had risen from the drains. I talked to fire crews who were pumping flood water back into the river, and discovered that they were from Tyne & Wear and Lancashire. They had been called in at an hours’ notice and had been working on the scene ever since, staying at a local hotel. You cannot fail to be impressed by the
Comments
dont kill anyone - that's a law, and you can see it PREVENTS you from killing someone (not that i have ever felt the need, but you know, better safe than sorry)
Don't steal anything - thats a law, and you can see it PREVENTS you from nicking stuff, not that it matters much as decent people dont usually nick things (unless they have to for survival)
No laws allow you to do something, other than of course to punish the offender if you are the victim of a crime (like murder or theft) - but then they dont stop murder or theft, they just sort of make it known that if you do it then there is a punishment.
Laws are there, to prevent people from doing things, the magna carta for example PREVENTED the king from a lot of his "assumed power" though that was only ever "assumed" no laws ever granted such power to the king.
If you write into a law on constitution that people have the right to freedom of expression, what that usually means in practice is that you are attempting to ban people from trying to curtail someone else's freedom of expression.
But it will only work properly if the principle has something close to universal support.
Now for somthing like "dreedom of speach" you only have 2 choices, you can stand and sate your case which is in oposition to the first speaker, or you can opt not to.
to do the first is usually the best answer, you cant silence the person. Recently the Labour Party and the Green Party chose the second option, that was not to share a stage with the BNP, They hoped this would increase their voice, of course it had the exact opposite effect.
Much like the Green party trying to ban opposition speakers on climate change from parliament, they clearly dont quite understand this.
The legislation can only be enforced if it sinks into the hearts of the population - but that doesn't mean it is not worth making the effort.