Things not to worry about

As a general rule that, people who support some new policy ought to have at least one good reason to support it.

Largely on this basis, and despite the fact that this means I'm on the same side on this one as John Major and Henry Porter amongst others, I'm with the minority of people who don't agree with the government that suspected terrorists should be detained for up to 42 days without being charged.

Matthew d'Ancona, writing in favour of 42 days in the Sunday Telegraph, reveals that government ministers have taken to quoting from Michael Gove's book 'Celsius 7/7'. That's a variant on the rule above, in that anyone quoting Michael 'Melanie Phillips lite' Gove certainly doesn't have a good argument to make.

This leads on to the comments, where the 'debate' between the 'readers' pits those who think the Muslims are taking over against those who think that the government, like all socialist regimes, are creating a police state. But amidst the gloom, there is this gem, from 'AndrewG':

"As if to prove a point, it appears that the Pakistani Ambassador to Norway regards people who draw cartoons as "terrorists"

There is the danger.
How long before Brown and chums give in to pressure from outside and start declaring anyone who dare to criticise islam as a "terrorist" ?"

And so the circle is squared, and racist and paranoid libertarian can once again be united. The government wants to detain suspected terrorists without charge for 6 weeks because it wants to lock up all the people who criticise Islam. Of course.