Good Night and Good Luck

I am confused; with the resignation of David Davis on his self-proclaimed point of principle (and to be clear, I have no reason to believe that it is not a point of principle) over the potential erosion of civil liberties encapsulated in the successful third reading of the Counter Terrorism Bill, there seems to be an assumption, which I have noted before, that it is remarkable for a right-of-centre politician to worry about civil liberties. The assumption seems to be a slightly odd reaction that suggests all Tories are authoritarian, whilst the left are somehow libertarian.

Admittedly in the New Labour era, boundaries have somewhat blurred as Blairism made Labour electable largely by cherry-picking the more centre right policies of the mid to late 90s Tory Party and garnishing them with a rosy range of moderate, happy clappy centre left policies from the Lib Dems and even a couple of their own. Historically, though, Labour have been the party of state control, of nationalisation. They are the party who traditionally have tried to move responsibility from the individual to the nanny state.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the politics of the centre; I’m not a fan of the extremes in either direction. I don’t like New Labour because they are essentially dishonest. I disagreed with much of the traditional Labour Party’s agenda, but that was a disagreement based upon conflicting views. My distaste for the modern Labour Party is based upon the way it has abandoned the essential honesty of its core beliefs.

I digress: the essential point that baffles me reading friends’ views is that they seem to assume that support for the left, the traditional home of monolithic statism, is support for civil liberties and yet they keep picking up quotes from Tories that warn against the erosion of freedom and bandying them around in shock. This against a background of repeated and sustained attempts to squash our freedoms by the very people they cheerily assume to support liberty.

I’m not sure where, if anywhere, I am going with this, so I shall end with a couple of quotes from two heavy weight historical left wingers:

"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is
the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves"
-- Pitt the Younger (Nov. 18, 1783)

"There are more instances of the abridgment of freedoms of the people
by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent
and sudden usurpations."
-- James Madison (June 6, 1788)

Inserted to be just a little more recent: "When all the objectives of government include the achievement of equality - other than equality before the law - that government poses a threat to liberty." -- Margaret Thatcher

Good night and good luck.

Good Night and Good Luck

I am confused; with the resignation of David Davis on his self-proclaimed point of principle (and to be clear, I have no reason to believe that it is not a point of principle) over the potential erosion of civil liberties encapsulated in the successful third reading of the Counter Terrorism Bill, there seems to be an assumption, which I have noted before, that it is remarkable for a right-of-centre politician to worry about civil liberties. The assumption seems to be a slightly odd reaction that suggests all Tories are authoritarian, whilst the left are somehow libertarian.

Admittedly in the New Labour era, boundaries have somewhat blurred as Blairism made Labour electable largely by cherry-picking the more centre right policies of the mid to late 90s Tory Party and garnishing them with a rosy range of moderate, happy clappy centre left policies from the Lib Dems and even a couple of their own. Historically, though, Labour have been the party of state control, of nationalisation. They are the party who traditionally have tried to move responsibility from the individual to the nanny state.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the politics of the centre; I’m not a fan of the extremes in either direction. I don’t like New Labour because they are essentially dishonest. I disagreed with much of the traditional Labour Party’s agenda, but that was a disagreement based upon conflicting views. My distaste for the modern Labour Party is based upon the way it has abandoned the essential honesty of its core beliefs.

I digress: the essential point that baffles me reading friends’ views is that they seem to assume that support for the left, the traditional home of monolithic statism, is support for civil liberties and yet they keep picking up quotes from Tories that warn against the erosion of freedom and bandying them around in shock. This against a background of repeated and sustained attempts to squash our freedoms by the very people they cheerily assume to support liberty.

I’m not sure where, if anywhere, I am going with this, so I shall end with a couple of quotes from two heavy weight historical left wingers:

"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is
the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves"
-- Pitt the Younger (Nov. 18, 1783)

"There are more instances of the abridgment of freedoms of the people
by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent
and sudden usurpations."
-- James Madison (June 6, 1788)

Inserted to be just a little more recent: "When all the objectives of government include the achievement of equality - other than equality before the law - that government poses a threat to liberty." -- Margaret Thatcher

Good night and good luck.

Stepping back from the brink...

...to something far more mundane: what is everybody's honest opinion of the performance of Thunderbird as a mail reader? I am getting sick of unannounced socket errors on Outlook Express that come and go like passing strangers, but which manage too to outstay their welcome by a number of hours.

I tried Thunderbird some years ago and gave up on it. Is the more modern version any better?

Assuming there is a more modern version.

I really like Firefox as a browser (despite the annoying memory leakage), but Thunderbird...

Stepping back from the brink...

...to something far more mundane: what is everybody's honest opinion of the performance of Thunderbird as a mail reader? I am getting sick of unannounced socket errors on Outlook Express that come and go like passing strangers, but which manage too to outstay their welcome by a number of hours.

I tried Thunderbird some years ago and gave up on it. Is the more modern version any better?

Assuming there is a more modern version.

I really like Firefox as a browser (despite the annoying memory leakage), but Thunderbird...