Product Description

Since 1997 the government has launched an unprecedented assault on our most basic rights.

Liberty protected?

Under the false pretext of protecting the public, New Labour has pawned off our fundamental freedoms, turning Britain into a surveillance state which now boasts the largest number of CCTV cameras in the world. Extensions to pre-charge detention mean that suspects can be locked up for longer in Britain than Zimbabwe.

In the name of security?

Yet in the past eleven years, the terrorist threat has risen, police-recorded violent crime has increased by 80 per cent and Britain today has the worst anti-social behaviour record in Europe. This is now a country set for the largest and most expensive ID database in the world looked after by people incapable of keeping records safe.

Democracy defended?

At the same time, a myriad of novel human rights have been conjured up in court rooms, far from the control of elected law-makers, fuelling a growing compensation culture and undermining social responsibility. The state now persecutes shop keepers who sell in pounds and ounces, but the Human Rights Act lets dangerous criminals negotiate their release from prison to go on to kill.

In a country where common sense has been turned on its head, The Assault on Liberty is an exceptional and necessary polemic that asks one of the most urgent questions of our time:

What Went Wrong With Rights?

 ‘With literary verve and philosophical insight, Dominic Raab tears into a justice system which has turned Britain’s liberal values upside down. A book that could make Gordon Brown vote Tory.’ Nick Cohen

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11286 in Books
• Published on: 2009-01-19
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 280 pages

Independent
'A feisty and refreshing attack on human-rights orthodoxy.'

Review
'As useful a guide as you could want to the consequences...of a prolonged absence of proper parliamentary oversight or opposition.'

Review
`With literary verve and philosophical insight...[it] tears into a justice system which has turned Britain 's liberal values upside down.'

Customer Reviews

Everyone who considers themselves "free" should read this
Taking historical, political, humanitarian and practical viewpoints, Dominic Raab lays out clearly what it means to be a citizen, not a suspect, in the UK.
If you need a clarifying view of the corrosive effects of the overt and stealth legislation that is gradually stripping every Briton of their hard-won liberty and historic freedoms, this is your reference work.
Raab's political bias is clearly stated, but his arguments are balanced, precise and convincing.

Refreshing
I found this book particularly refreshing as it lays out the cold hard facts and exposes the truth about how our liberty has been assaulted on an unprecedented scale. Raab also talks about the implications of the nefarious 'Regulation and Investigatory Powers Act', 'the Anti-Terrorism Act' and the spurious E.U. 'human rights' and how rather than benefiting and protecting society, these new statutes and leglislations turn the very concepts of 'innocent before proven guilty', 'criminal justice', 'liberty', on its head. He shows how these acts have created a culture of criminalising the public for the most petty of misdemeaners meanwhile dangerous criminals continue to be treated with a 'softly softly' approach from the legal system, ultimately escaping any real justice. Raab exposes the shocking fact that Tony Blair effectively introduced a new 'law/statute/leglislation' for every single day he was im power for the entire duration of his being in office. Because all these draconian and oppressive new laws have been introduced drip by drip, the public failed to notice the implications. It is only now the reality of living in a totalitarian police state is dawning and that we need to act, fast - before our last remnants of liberty are snatched away.

An eye-opener
A fair and reasoned assessment of the salami-slicing of the freedoms we have long accepted as being part of being British. Although the author points out that The Labour Party is not totally to blame for all this, equally it is the reason for much of it. A vitriolic lambasting of Jaqui Smith, Jack Straw, Gordon Brown, Tony Blair and so on it is not; however the kid gloves remain off... A very interesting and thought-provoking read.