Because it is a Bank Holiday

I spent longer than usual in bed this morning and listened to the BBC propaganda machines recitation of Chris Mullin's diary. Now I have a thing about politicians who sell off their scribblings about the time when they were supposed to be working for the people who put them intom office, but all I can do is refuse to read their memoirs.

But listening to this I was struck by two things. First of all there was the vanity of Mullins, which was lirttle different from most politicians. Contrary to their view of themselves, an MP is not an uber-mensch; they simply persist to achieve a goal (being elected to parliament) that most people could not be bothered about. Mullins was also most indgnant at losing his cabinet post. Well, politics is a rat race with more rats than prizes. Getused to it.

But the other point that struck me was the sheer callousness of Blair when it came to the legislation about the detention of terrorists without trial for 90 days. According to Mullins, Blair called a meeting of Labour MPs to tell them why they should support the measure, but all the arguments were about wrong-footing the Conservative Party. I have no great issue about politicians playing their childish party games, but I object to them using our civil liberties as a political football. Of course nearly 300 Labour MPs were happy to play the same game.

It is easy to see how the psychology of a politician who is quite happy to mess with our personal freedoms can decide to go to war simply as a political expedient.