The left must think beyond the state

Thursday 23 July 2009,  Henry Porter's blog, guardian.co.uk

To live on the left is to live optimistically, writes my colleague Polly Toynbee. This may be true of Polly, whose smart idealism no one can deny, but I am afraid you couldn't say the same of New Labour, which has exhibited a profoundly pessimistic view of society since it came into power 12 years ago.

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Labour's killjoys must back down

Wednesday 22 July 2009,  Henry Porter's blog, guardian.co.uk

Where does the joylessness come from? Is there some central authority co-ordinating laws that result in the banning of musicians, artists and poets from British territory, the removal of unregistered tutors, entertainers and writers from contact with British children, or the perfectly nonsensical – and originally racist – form 696 that requires London music venues to give the names, private telephone numbers and addresses of all musicians appearing?

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Gemma Atkinson: Standing up for our rights

Tuesday 21 July 2009,  Henry Porter's blog, guardian.co.uk 

This afternoon Paul Lewis has an interesting update to a story I wrote about in April: "Abuse of police powers is unexceptional". You may remember Gemma Atkinson, who was detained for filming a police search of her boyfriend – today her lawyers have launched a high court challenge against the police.

Click here to read more at guardian.co.uk

 

 
What's the truth about the taxman and ID cards?

Monday 20 July 2009,  Henry Porter's blog, guardian.co.uk

A critical issue concerning ID cards is the possibility that the tax authorities will be able to access the national identity register to inspect the spending habits of individuals, revealed by their history of identity verifications.

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A toxic culture of suspicion is souring our children's lives

Sunday 19 July 2009,  The Observer

Adults will find it hard to interact with young people if hysterical paranoia means they are all viewed as potential abusers

 

Read more...
 
The war on street photography

Thursday 16 July 2009,  Henry Porter's blog, guardian.co.uk

Photographer Alex Turner has been arrested by Kent police for being "too tall" in an action which must cast further doubt on the collective sanity of Kent Police (see Kingsnorth) and which also suggests that some police forces are now really behaving as if we lived in police state, a phrase that I have been reluctant to use.

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Stopping culture at our borders

Saturday 11 July 2009,  Henry Porter's blog, guardian.co.uk

There are no words in the thesaurus of insult that quite do justice to the UK Border Agency and the minister for borders and immigration, Phil Woolas. So let's just agree that new rules barring artists from visiting this country and so enriching our culture are some of the most contemptible ever devised, even by this narrow-minded apology for a government.

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Phone hacking, policing, Lords reform and Afghanistan

July 9 2009,  Politics Weekly Podcast, guardian.co.uk   AUDIO 33:13 min

Nick Cohen and Henry Porter join Allegra Stratton and Tom Clark to discuss the week in politics

Listen at guardian.co.uk...

 

 
News of the hacked

Wednesday 8 July 2009,  Henry Porter's blog, guardian.co.uk

If Murdoch's papers really believe in public interest they should disclose all details of illegal phone hacking

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The policing of protests has to change

Tuesday 7 July 2009,  Henry Porter's blog, guardian.co.uk 

Today's report shows that, following G20, police don't just need to change their tactics but their whole attitude to political protests.

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Why is Alan Johnson reviving the asbo?

Monday 6 July 2009,  Henry Porter's blog, guardian.co.uk

If you want a symbol of all that is vindictive and, frankly, dumb about New Labour it is the asbo. Until Alan Johnson became home secretary, this key Blairite response to antisocial behaviour looked as though it was quietly being allowed to die.

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Will EU law stop the e-Borders scheme?

Thursday 2 July 2009,  Henry Porter's blog, guardian.co.uk

Evidence presented to the home affairs select committee on Monday suggests that Britain's plans to use airline, ferry and train operators to collect 53 pieces of information from everyone leaving the country may be illegal under EU law.

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