UK House of Lords Rejects Anti-Terror Bill

Richard5mith writes "It looks like the UK House of Lord's still has some common sense left in them as the UK government scrambles to pass through anti-terrorism laws before Christmas in the wake of the Sep 11th tragedy. The BBC has the full story. They've already rejected seven parts of the new bill, including a part which would have allowed the state the right to commandeer private and personal information on the merest suspicion of a criminal offence unrelated to terrorism. The leader of the Conservative Lords said, 'Again the Lords has found a commonsense way forward - balancing the need for anti-terrorist powers with respect for civil liberties.' Long may it continue."

Comments

Religious "hate speech" provision

[Charles Dodgeson]

One thing that the BBC site didn't mention was that one provision (point 5) was to extend the current laws banning speech intended to incite racial hatred to include religious hatred as well. Ahteists feared that that provision could be used against people arguing against religion.

There is a long (and often contentless) thread about this on (cross-posted elsewhere as well) news:uk.philosophy.atheism. Included in that discussion recently has been a long debate about the UK constitution and the role of the Lords, and particularly the legitimacy of their action.