
Originally Posted by
Tribesman
Oh well , a full and uneqivocal apology from the Party chairman .
But no explaination of the use of the Anti-terrorist legislation to silence dissent within the party .
Of course , no one has to worry about the legislation if they are not terrorists

Very disturbing indeed. There is a very good article (well, at least I find it pretty impressive) about the affair on the BBC web site. It addresses all sorts of related issues: the Labour control freakery, stupid new anti-terror measures, freedom of speech being threatened by upcoming laws. One passage in particular says a lot about the political culture in our so-called 'age of communication', which is really an 'age of information' in which messages are mainly sent from the top down and not the other way round.
Previous leaders of all parties once believed dealing with hecklers was all part of the job and having the skill to do so with some panache was seen as a distinct personal plus. No one liked it, but all accepted it was one of the downsides of free speech.
Those days are long gone and everything is now about control and eliminating every opportunity for the rogue heckler or unscripted and unvetted member of the public getting through to the leader.
This from a broadcasting corporation that is under constant fire from Blair's control freaks as well. I must confess that I never liked Tony Blair in the first place and I am glad that His Glibness hat shot himself royally in the foot by having his minions manhandle a Jewish escapee from the nazis. I also appreciate that Mr Wolfgang, far from being a post-modern whiner, shrugs off his own five minute fame and tells us where it is really at:
Mr Wolfgang, being welcomed back into the conference by apologetic Labour bosses, has described his treatment as trivial compared to the big "mistakes" of invading Iraq or holding nuclear weapons. "You cannot stifle debate by hiring heavies. A party has got to be open to the world. The Labour party must get back to its culture of being open to argument. Let's hope this is a step on the way back," he said.
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