He should look on the bright side – at least he wasn’t in the City of London.

OT (sort of) but is anyone working on an article about the governments failure to scrap ID cards for foreign nationals? So long as even a few of these exist there’s a precident for bringing them back for all.

2 I noticed this, but haven’t had the time. You write one shatterface, its an important topic and I agree it needs to be highlighted.

Dangerous to run with a “thin end of the wedge” argument, but its still an expensive and pointless infringement on liberty and a worrying precedent to set (or not revoke).

’2 I noticed this, but haven’t had the time. You write one shatterface, its an important topic and I agree it needs to be highlighted.’

Haven’t the time I’m afraid as I’m at work but both the Haw issue and the retention of ID cards for foreign nationals show that we have to keep up the pressure to ensure the government don’t renege on civil liberties.

Not sure about the thin end of the wedge argument myself tbh, but an infringement on one group’s liberty is an infringement on all.

Just to get this right there’s no such thing as “obstruction of justice” in English law, the closest is “perverting the course of justice”. What Brian and Barbara were arrested for was obstructing an officer in the execution of his duty s89(2) of the Police Act 1996.

‘obstruction of justice’?

What a load of bollox.

But the guy is a bit of a nutter – isn’t he?

When my son doesn’t immediately do what is asked of him, I tell him he can’t play on the wii until he complies. From now on, I will call in 20 police officers to arrest him. A fair and proportionate response.

@7 Well, its not exactly hard to perform a hatchet job on him.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/3000-days-and-counting-the-lonely-life-of-brian-1773813.html
Here’s an indie article celebrating his 3000th day of protest, points of interest include the date stamp -18 Aug 2009, the fact that he has 7 children who range between the ages of 16-30(at the time of writing), and that he started his protest on 2 June 2001 against Iraq sanctions.

So 16-30 – 8 the eight years he’s been protesting = 8-22 so he left an unknown number of his seven children still of school age to begin protesting economic sanctions, and since he was essentially jobless with no income he didn’t have to make any child maintenance payments. When 9/11 occurred and the war in Afghanistan started, he then ended up becoming “the anti-war protester”, so from this I can conclude that he is in fact a feckless father and opportunistic chancer.

See? Easy.

But the guy is a bit of a nutter – isn’t he?

Hey Damon, you’re right.

Let’s lock up everyone you consider a nutter.

Easy.

“Let’s lock up everyone you consider a nutter.”

If we consider nutter as someone who given a reasonable request by the police (to search a tent erected on public land, which does not require a warrant) spends over a minute shouting at them and ignoring a clear warning that if he persists then he will be arrested, then yes, would seem sensible.

Mr Haws has every right to protest, but this does not give him the right to ignore his civil obligations, which include not obstructing the police (I know, it’s totalitarian the way you can be criminialised for getting in the way of people doing their job).

Brian Haw should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.He has given his life entirely for others as a statement of his Christian beliefs.Boris Johnson and ken Livingstone’s attitude to Brian shows how little they believe in democratic free speech and the right to protest.Is being Mayor of London basically a PR job on behalf of Uncool Brittania?I’ve only once had the privilege of meeting Brian,having been introduced to him by Brenda Williams,who runs an NHS ‘Stop the Cuts’ protest in Pond Street,Hampstead and who remains a target of Camden Council when all she does is tie laminated placards to railings,then take them home with her.Her worst enemy was the libdem councillor David Abrams,who stepped down in the recent local electiond which saw the Tory-Libdem coalition kicked out.I have appealled to the new council leader in the hope that he will end the persecution of Brenda Weilliams,who is exercicing her right to silent protest under Article 10 of the Human Rights Act.