That seems to be the new line, the exact opposite (of course) of the old one. In fact, it is a case of "more poverty, less demand for the (unlicensed) wedding car hire business run out of Bob Quick's house". So the drivers will have to find something else to do all day. Expect far more "terrorism" to be "uncovered", "foiled", and such like. Tough times for all of us. Tough times, indeed.

Nir Rosen: An American journal once asked me to contribute an essay to a discussion on whether terrorism or attacks against civilians could ever be justified. My answer was that an American journal should not be asking whether attacks on civilians can ever be justified. This is a question for the weak, for the Native Americans

Meet Dr Mads Gilbert. Here he is talking about the best way to rescue Norwegian skiiers who are suffering from hypothermia. Here he is in The Times talking about his work in Gaza, during the present conflict: “We are wading in death, blood, and amputees. Many children. A pregnant woman. I have never experienced anything so terrible. Now we

A great article by Avi Shlaim which, aside from punching holes in Israeli propaganda, points out that while Israel is a "rogue state" that practises terrorism and threatens the use of weapons of mass destruction, the Palestinians have built "the only genuine democracy in the Arab world" against all odds. A point worth remembering next time one of Israel's chronically self-righteous apologists...

The problem with some laws is not what is said on the statute book but how they are applied. Over recent years, we have seen many occasions where the police and the CPS, by their practice, have stretched the laws far beyond that which Parliament had intended. I wonder when Parliamentarians were debating the anti-terrorism legislation they ever foresaw the possibility of being taken to court by Ice...

A senior Lib Dem has caused lasting damage to the party’s nice-guy image after launching an unprovoked attack on helpless individuals – actually, perhaps ‘useless individuals’ would be a better description. Transport spokesman Norman Baker, Hoon’s opposite number, was trying to peddle a story on how terrorism laws had been used to arrest trainspotters. An interesting ...

My latest column for the New Statesman has been posted on the magazine's website:"Trainspotting may be an activity of limited, and indeed questionable, appeal, but it is not a criminal offence and it is not a terrorist threat.”When did this innocent activity become such anathema? Baker would not have felt a need to be condemnatory if he had been, say, defending sadomasochists against Ja...

The Young Muslim Advisory Group (YMAG) has warned Gordon Brown that if he doesn't condemn the killing of civillians in Gaza as an "act of state terrorism", the government will jeopardise its initiative to prevent violent extremism at home. The YMAG was launched in October last year by the Government to voice the views and opinions of young Muslims in four key areas identified by the Governmen...

Lib Dem MP Norman Baker has revealed that an astonishing 150,000 have been questioned by police at railway stations under the aegis of legislation designed to prevent terrorists. The Telegraph has the full story: The Prevention of Terrorism Act 2000 has been used to stop 62,584 people at railway stations and another 87,000 were questioned under

Norman BakerFigures obtained by the Liberal Democrats reveal that nearly 160,000 people were stopped by police officers on railway property in the year between October 2007 and September 2008. Of these, more than 60,000 were stopped using counter-terrorism powers. A further 60,000 were stopped using police stop and search powers. Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Transport Secretary, Norman Bake...