Andrew Blick (London, Democratic Audit): I just heard Jacqui Smith's statement to the House on the recent terrorist attacks. Beyond a bald statement of the facts, it was interesting for what it omitted. There was no rhetoric about changing the 'rules of the game' (for which read 'standards of due process') or the need for the judiciary to 'get it'. Indeed there was no immediate claim that if only we could deport people to human rights abusing regimes the terrorist threat could be minimised. Rather than participants in a 'war', terrorists were described as 'criminals' - denying them the status of heroic combatants. This is not to say that none of this nonsense will resurface later, but it is a good start.
It was also good to see a reference to a Bill later in the year - provided it is the long-promised Consolidation Act - to bring together the existing laws and iron out some of the problems, not another raft of badly thought-out measures. I hope that Lord Carlile - who has been an excellent practical critic of government activity in his role as Reviewer of counter-terrorist legislation - has genuine influence as an adviser to the government. But it may be necessary to go further than he has proposed in his reports and look more radically at the basic definition of terrorism in law, from which many problems with government counter-terrorist activity stem.
