This entry was posted on Sunday, March 23rd, 2008 at 10:29 am and is filed under The War on Stupid.


Guardian/Observer – Ban on protests at Parliament to be lifted: A controversial ban on protests outside the Houses of Parliament will be scrapped by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith this week in a symbolic victory for freedom of speech campaigners.

Really? With a simple wave of the hand? It can’t be this easy, can it?

UPDATE – Parliament Protest – The Observer: Ban on protests at Parliament to be lifted – wait for the details before celebrating: Gaby Hinsliff is the Political Editor of The Observer, and so has presumably been briefed by a suitably well placed spin doctor. Assuming that this anonymously briefed story is true, the Home Secretary does have the power to rescind or to amend the Statutory Instrument Order which sets out the extent of the Designated Area around Parliament Square under sections 132 to 138 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005. Given how untrustworthy the current Government is, we will wait to see exactly what the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith really announces in detail, before celebrating any return to the status quo ante.