Burhnam says: “Nothing can be accepted as inevitable. Though technology moves quickly, we can’t abandon basic principles that have stood society in good stead for centuries.” Wasn’t this the precise argument against 42 days detention!?

David Davis has won the by-election, according to Sky News, with a total of 17,113 votes. The Green Party’s Shan Oakes came second with 1,758 votes. Full results here…

On the eve of the Haltemprice and Howden by-election, a poll out today shows most people think terrorist suspects should be held without charge for no more than the current limit - 28 days. There is little support for extending it.

A more important focus is to try to increase access to the new information and opinion that is appearing online. Just as increasing literacy strengthens democracy and promote equality, so computer literacy can strengthen it too.

Sorry to butt in here, team, but thought I would take a moment to appraise you of an exchange we’ve had with our nobody Labour MP Joan Ruddock on the 42 days’ detention vote. Thought I might as well share this correspondence, so that you also could kill a few moments on a Friday savouring the kind of limp response former Labour voters get when they approach their local Brownite buttkissing MP on issues of real significance…

The Green party has put forward a candidate in the by-election against David Davis. Left of David Davis? Check. A left / progressive candidate? Check. Wants to push for even more civil liberties? Check. So the Labour and lefty bloggers must be rising up in support? Erm… well, there’s Neil Harding… and a lot of tumbleweed rolling by.

Yesterday at the Blog Nation Event, Dan Hardie gave an account of his experiences running his Iraqi Interpreters campaign. He mentioned my post on Open Source Campaigning, but said he thought that ‘open source’ wasn’t an appropriate label, because you need a heirarchy and a leader to run an effective campaign.

It’s time to stop the bullshit, we’ve now been sitting around for about a week and a half doing little more than bicker about the integrity of a single person while standing around gawking. The question now should be: what can we do, and can we do it, in a way that can unite those that support and loathe David Davis’ stance?

Word reaches me that the New Statesman editors have been looking for a candidate to run against David Davis in the by-election.

What David Davis did today was not unprecedented, but it was something quite rare. However, I would urge caution on rushing headlong to leap into bed with him and give him our support.

The only reason Gordon Brown is stubbornly going ahead the 42 days plan is because he hasn’t lost his love for triangulation. He is still obsessed with trying to make the Conservatives look bad instead of making his party look good in the eyes of its own natural base.
So, isn’t it time for the liberal left to abandon it? How else do you make it see sense?

Welcome to Casting the net, Liberal Conspiracy’s daily web review. As always, please feel free to share your own recommendations in the comments.

Brad Hicks and Meral Ece have two contrasting reactions to Hillary’s concession of the Democrat candidacy. Brad is full of righteous anger, Meral was more inspired.

The BBC reports that some MPs have realised that ID Cards could threaten privacy. In other news, the sky is blue, and the pope shits in the woods.

Over at my blog, a reminder of what we are actually talking about with the 42 days detention plan. Especially depressing in the light of the ICM poll that we reported here yesterday.

Jonathan Calder has tactical suggestions for Lib Dems on how to deal with David Cameron - we should hug him, and stroke him, and cuddle him, and sing to him, and call him Dave; PeeZedTee, meanwhile, has advice for Gordon Brown.

Lynne Featherstone, the relentless reformer, wanted to lower the voting age to 16; the Tories had other ideas.

And finally, Neil Gaiman and Philip Pullman are both getting involved with a campaign to say no to age banding on children’s books.

A Sunday Telegraph poll last night showed the public firmly behind plans for 42-day detention. Gordon Brown will refuse to offer any new concessions to Labour MPs.

The government’s concessions on 42-day pre-charge detention for terrorism suspects have left the legislation in breach of human rights law, the joint select committee on human rights will say today.

The government is preparing to offer Labour MPs a major concession to avoid losing a vote on terror detentions, the BBC has learned. It is to suggest halving the period during which police can enact these extra powers from 60 to 30 days.

Gordon Brown faces yet more pressure as rebel Labour MPs warned they will not give ground in their battle to prevent an extension of anti-terror laws. Next month’s Commons debates on the Counter Terrorism Bill will be a severe test of the Prime Minister’s embattled leadership, says the Independent.

I have a strong feeling that the government’s plans to extend pre-charge detention to 42 days, which we’ve been running a campaign against, is dead in the water.
There are two reasons for my optimism. [updated]

Medical technology is an awesome thing. It can save lives, cure terrible diseases, rebuild bodies. It can prolong and improve the lives of the chronically ill and disabled beyond the wildest dreams of sufferers even fifty years ago. It can reattach limbs, restore sight, cure depression, return the manic to health and sanity.
But can it be used to give women control over whether and when they have children? Only if male doctors and MPs say so.

A few points of interest from last night; and a list of Tory MPs who rebelled against their party, and Labour / Libdem MPs who voted to reduce the current 24 week limit.

It came down to the crunch, and after everything, not even the 200 supporters Nadine Dorries said she had bothered to turn up to vote for a reduction in the abortion limit to 20 weeks. All the hype about the vote being close turned out to be bluster, with the amendment being rejected by a majority of 142, 190 votes for to 332 against.