Taking Liberties

Anthony Barnett (London OK): Two events in London last night pointed to awakening alarm at what is happening to our rights and liberties in Britain. Both suggest there is a growing strength and depth of the arguments. There is also a feeling in the air that resistance will be strong and effective, not least because the alliance is now stretching from the streets to the Tories. In the sharply raked lecture room of University College London, Robin Lustig chaired the annual Bindman’s debate. Later in the evening Vanity Fair hosted an early preview of Taking Liberties at the Soho Hotel, a must-see film in the Michael Moore, Al Gore documentary mode. At the UCL/Bindman debate, which was on a human rights culture to an audience mostly familiar with the arguments, Francesca Klug laid out the tension between the fundamental achievements of human rights law over the last decade; the need to recognise their international, humanitarian basis; and the dangers of an inhuman black-letter litigiousness that can exploit them Bert Massie talked about disability and human rights and Rabinder Singh QC spoke of his client the Iraqi Baha Mousa who was beaten to death by British troops. All this was powerful but familiar. What gave it the twist was that the first speaker was the Conservative Party’s shadow Attorney General Dominic Grieve. He was at ease with the issues and looked forward to our own Bill of Rights that would improve upon the European Convention. Klug upbraided his leader’s call for a British Bill of Rights with its implication of national prejudice rather than universal values, But Grieve seemed confident that he was looking for a politics of justice notably missing from Labour’s approach. Taking Liberties, directed by Chris Atkins and a young team, shows graphically how much has been taken. The film memorably contrasts the reality of police intimidation with the hyper-pious rhetoric of the Blair years. It has many of the features of a classic hairy protest - and none the worse for that. But then, every so often, up pops Boris Johnson or Ken Clarke to drive the point home. Everyone should try to make sure the film is shown in their area, its website shows how you can help. It goes on release on 8th June. Introducing it, Henry Porter said that the Blair regime could be taking us back to 1604. There will be much more on the anger and energy behind the film, which so far has not connected to the constitutional debate.