Henry Porter

Friday 12 February 2010, liberty central blog, Guardian

In trying to justify the retention of DNA of innocent people, the Home Office attempted to use the same case study twice

The Telegraph's toxic attack

Thursday 11 February 2010, liberty central blog, Guardian

For a newspaper that is consistently against torture, Con Coughlin's vitriolic article about Binyam Mohamed is shocking

Macho and excessive armed policing

9 February 2010, The Guardian

Although violent crime is down, the police are increasingly using guns to make bungled, inaccurate and potentially deadly raids

Dark thriller in an Orwellian police state

February 7 2010, Anna Mundow interviews Henry Porter, Boston Globe

Henry Porter, political columnist for The Observer and UK editor of Vanity Fair, is the author of five novels including “Brandenburg Gate,” which was set during the fall of the Berlin Wall. Porter’s new novel, “The Bell Ringers” is a dark counterpoint to that previously optimistic vision. This superb political thriller depicts England in the near future as a place where fabricated security threats, state surveillance, and antiterrorist legislation advance political ambitions and control. Porter spoke from his home in London.

Read more at The Boston Globe...

Only a bill of rights can save our liberties

Friday 5 February 2010, liberty central blog, Guardian

Despite Francesca Klug's claims, lawyers armed with the Human Rights Act are not enough to defend our freedoms

Patrick Anderson reviews 'The Bell Ringers' by Henry Porter

February 1, 2010, By Patrick Anderson, The Washington Post

English journalist Henry Porter's "The Bell Ringers" (published in England last year as "The Dying Light") is one of many novels that have attempted to update "Nineteen Eighty-Four" -- and one of the more impressive. But while Orwell offered a worst-case scenario of what could happen 35 years in the future, Porter is writing about what, as he sees it, is already starting to happen... This is a sophisticated, engrossing and important political thriller. Porter wants us to see that the same technological tools that can be used to fight terrorism or to make government more efficient can also, in the wrong hands, be used to destroy freedom.

Read more at The Washington Post...

The dangers of state surveillance

Monday 1 February 2010, liberty central blog, guardian.co.uk

Encouraged by terror laws, the authorities are increasingly using surveillance techniques in trivial circumstances

Disbar the war lawyers

Wednesday 27 January 2010, liberty central blog, Guardian

From Tony Blair to Lord Goldsmith, the rush to war was led by politician-lawyers, and the most culpable should be disbarred

What price liberty?

Tuesday 26 January 2010, liberty central blog, Guardian

Saturday's debate in Cornwall proved two things: senior police are intelligent people, and the public embraces open debate

Gatwick policing looks ugly

Monday 25 January 2010, liberty central blog, Guardian