Sunday, November 06, 2005
The day Blair abolished elections
With thanks to Nick Barlow. It is a spoof but it is a very effective one:
Mr Blair said that the police had advised him that elections would be dangerous. "They would divert attention from the war on terror", he said. "If the public chose a new government, that would be a victory for terrorism. We must not take that chance. Holding elections would be contrary to the strong advice given to us by our security services and our police, and I am simply not prepared to do it."
Of course when Labour seek to promote their agenda with dodgy questionaires such as this then it is clear that they are capable of anything. Questions such as "Do you think police should have the time and opportunity to complete their investigations into suspected terrorists?" are so open-ended and subject to many interpretations that you just know that they are going to use the results to support measures that they haven't asked about. As Lynne Featherstone says, the obvious answer to the question is 'yes' but that does not necessarily mean that we will support 90 days detention without trial. It would be far more honest if they just asked about the specific measures in the Bill.
Update: Recess Monkey says that the Labour website questionaire is a perfect example of 'astroturfing', the art of generating a fake grassroots campaign. He suggest some questions that didn't quite make the cut:
1. "Do you think the police should unlimited powers to make sure the enemies of the civilised west can't eat your babies?"
2. "Do you think the Home Secretary should have the power to keep baby eaters and suspected baby eaters in prison as long as he likes?"
3. "Do you think any MP who votes against the Baby Eaters Bill should be detained indefinitely for incitement to baby eating?"
Mr Blair said that the police had advised him that elections would be dangerous. "They would divert attention from the war on terror", he said. "If the public chose a new government, that would be a victory for terrorism. We must not take that chance. Holding elections would be contrary to the strong advice given to us by our security services and our police, and I am simply not prepared to do it."
Of course when Labour seek to promote their agenda with dodgy questionaires such as this then it is clear that they are capable of anything. Questions such as "Do you think police should have the time and opportunity to complete their investigations into suspected terrorists?" are so open-ended and subject to many interpretations that you just know that they are going to use the results to support measures that they haven't asked about. As Lynne Featherstone says, the obvious answer to the question is 'yes' but that does not necessarily mean that we will support 90 days detention without trial. It would be far more honest if they just asked about the specific measures in the Bill.
Update: Recess Monkey says that the Labour website questionaire is a perfect example of 'astroturfing', the art of generating a fake grassroots campaign. He suggest some questions that didn't quite make the cut:
1. "Do you think the police should unlimited powers to make sure the enemies of the civilised west can't eat your babies?"
2. "Do you think the Home Secretary should have the power to keep baby eaters and suspected baby eaters in prison as long as he likes?"
3. "Do you think any MP who votes against the Baby Eaters Bill should be detained indefinitely for incitement to baby eating?"
