The prophecy of 1994

Protesters warned that measures from the criminal justice bill would be turned against the wider population. We were right

This article by Ally Fogg, writing in The Guardian 21 July 2009

Fifteen years on, there is little pleasure to be gained from saying “we told you so”. But the manner in which a law designed to prevent the wholesale mayhem of Castlemorton can now be used to foreclose a birthday party should serve as a stark warning to those currently considering a raft of other illiberal legislation, from the coroners and justice bill to the various ID card proposals. Those who deride the contributors to liberty central when they warn about the incessant creep of police powers, or who scoff at “slippery slope” arguments around civil liberties, should bear in mind that we stood at the top of one of those slopes only 15 short years ago, and we have slid a long way down it since.

When legislation gives excessive powers to the state, those powers will eventually be used. When hard-won liberties are stripped away with a stroke of the monarch’s pen, they may never return.