Obviously running a bit scared following their one vote win in the recent terrorism bill debate, the government have decided to ask us for our views on fighting terrorism.
Except, being “New Labour” they can’t bring themselves to ask a straight question that might get an answer that they don’t like. The key point in this debate is about changing the length of time a suspect can be held without being charged. Currently it’s 14 days, but the government wants to extend that to a ridiculous 90 days.
So if they are interested in canvassing our opinion on this you might expect to see a question along the lines of “how long should police be allowed to hold a suspect without charging them?” Something like that would address the key issue here. But no. What does the Home Secretary ask? His question is:
Do you think police should have the time and opportunity to complete their investigations into suspected terrorists?
Bloody stupid question. Of course I want the police to have time to complete their investigations. But giving them three months to fo it is taking the piss. Of course, opinions like those don’t fit into the Labour Party’s view of the world so we don’t get a chance to say things like this.
Most of the other questions are just as biased.
In a few days, maybe a week or so, the Party will present the results of this “consultancy” and they’ll be happy to report that everyone agrees with them. But only because no-one was given the chance to disagree.
Update: There was no way this was going to go unnoticed. More on the same subject from Chicken Yoghurt, Talk Politics, Consider Phlebas and (of course) Bloggerheads.
Oh my word! Those questions are *special*, and loaded, and there’s no disagreeing option (because what do you say? Either ‘yes, do all your bad legislation now, please’ or else ‘no, please let the terrorists explode me, and also stop the police from investigating it, ta’).
Great bit of spinning that will make. Interesting how they try to defeat oposition by using exactly the tactics that people are opposing! Dumb? Or dumber?