I would like to frame this mornings disjointed & rambling tome with the words of Rev Martin Niemoller upon his release Dachau in 1945:

“First they came for the Communists & I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews, & I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics, but I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, & by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.”

Not so long ago, I would have pontificated at not inconsiderable length that in the legal traditions held dear in merry Albion would never allow this sort of thing to happen here – yet changing my tune quicker than the government has changed its position of the publication of certain dossiers, I cast a bloodshot eye over the destruction of rights & freedoms that go back nearly 800 years.

No, I haven’t suffered a Road to Damascus style conversation & started snacking on fairtrade pumpkin seeds & dolphin free yoghurt while adorned in this seasons must have Icelandic lesbian tie dye smock. But even I believe strongly that even the worst terrorist scumbag has the right to be found guilty by a jury of twelve stout bulldogs … & then marched outside & shot … definitely on camera & preferably at prime time. This would make more compelling viewing than those mongs on Big Brother & the commercial possibilities would be endless. I can assure you that FMTV would certainly bid for the exclusive worldwide TV rights & as a part of the deal, there would be a lot of errrr sponsorship & product placement deals to be stuck.

We now have a government that is talking about ‘secret pre-trail hearings’. Now I am not all together sure what on earth these would comprise of but I am getting a mental picture of something akin to a cross between the Spanish Inquisition & one of Jeremy Paxman’s ‘Newsnight’ interviews. Now this is fine if it’s a Monty Python sketch or indeed BBC2’s Newsnight programme, but we used to have a concept in Blighty of justice being seen to be done & being seen to be done, in public - & as ideas go, not only is it a pretty good one, but it has stood the test of time.

However, Mr Blah has already introduced a trial system where the defendant is not told of all the prosecutions evidence & instead is represented by a security cleared ‘special advocate’. From this, it is only a very very small step to court procedures that were last seen at the last witchcraft trails in Cornwall, during the mid 1970’s.

Regular readers will know of my loathing for both the Judiciary & the wider legal profession; but at the moment I have to side with the enemy. The moment that politicians start telling judges to ignore the law & just do what the government wants, we as a nation have much much bigger issues than a few rag’eads blowing themselves up on London transport.