Britain’s current PM came to power wrapping himself in anti-big-government rhetoric. No surprise that once in power he talks a bit differently:
In an emergency meeting of the House of Commons, David Cameron indicated that the police could be given powers to shut down social networks during times of unrest, and widen officers’ remit to compel people to remove face coverings.
Remember how the Western political establishment spoke in a unified voice of condemnation when governments in Egypt and Iran shut down social media networks like Twitter in an attempt to prevent protestors from coordinating? Double standard, anyone?
“This is a time for our country to pull together,” said Cameron, praising those who had taken to the streets to defend their communities from thugs.
Cameron’s praise for those who “had taken to the streets to defend their communities from thugs” seems a bit selective. After all, the riots began as protests against murderous thugs in police uniforms; but I doubt that Cameron meant to be praising the protestors – or encouraging his subjects to take to the streets to defend free communication against Cameron’s own thuggish plans for censorship.
The only current British politician whom I knew was wrapping himself in anti-goverment rhetoric was Nick Clegg. I don’t know whether he still is true to the platform he campaigned on last year but he sounded pretty sincere. (Of course, they all sound sincere, don’t they!)
What ever happened to David Davies, I wonder? He got my attention when he brought the issue up of how many days the police could hold someone without charges several years ago. Was he just a one-issue MP?
“Britain’s lack of a revolution is everywhere in evidence.” – Patrick Keiller
I just learned the other day that it is illegal in the UK to use footage of Parliament for satirical purposes. I kid you not.
Off topic: am reading David Graeber’s “Debt: the First 5000 Years”. It seems to have important implications for left-libertarianism. I was wondering if you were familiar with it, and if so what your thoughts were.
San Francisco’s government joins the thugs.
I think that ship sailed a long time ago!
See also: http://reason.com/blog/2011/08/11/theres-a-hashtag-goin-on
His true colours have been clear for a long time, but one of his more explicit statements of his real self come from 2008:
http://www.conservatives.com/News/Speeches/2008/10/David_Cameron_Conference_Speech_2008.aspx
“My values are Conservative values. Many people wrongly believe that the Conservative Party is all about freedom. Of course we care passionately about freedom from oppression and state control. That’s why we stood up for Georgia and wasn’t it great to have the Georgian Prime Minister with us here, speaking today? But freedom can too easily turn into the idea that we all have the right to do whatever we want, regardless of the effect on others. That is libertarian, not Conservative – and it is certainly not me.”
Hmm.
The most entertaining reaction to the riots IMO has been Iran. They offered peacekeeping troops and asked when the no fly zone would come in to play.
More on Cameron.