42

for douglas adams 42 is the meaning of life, the universe and everything.
for gordon brown 42 was a political virility test.
for david davis 42 is a matter of principle.

the labour government recently won the vote on the extension of the period a person can be held without charge from 28 days to 42 days. they wanted this extension not because they needed it right now, but because they might need it in the future. the reason being that terrorists were becoming more and more sophisticated and more skilled at using their computers to hide what they were doing, unlike gary glitter and pete townsend.
as yet the current allowance of 28 days has only been used on a handful of occasions, in some cases those detained were innocent.

by the skin of it’s teeth the government got what it wanted: there was a yes vote on the extension to 42 days. this doesn’t mean it has won. the house of lords is likely to vote against it, this bringing it back to the house of commons. still early days.

there is a lot of harrumphing about how the 42 days proposal is undemocratic, yet polls show that the majority of people are in agreement with the proposal. how odd for gordon brown to be on the side of the public opinion.

david davis has been an outspoken critic of 42 days. he is an outspoken critic of the much-heralded decline in civil liberties that have been taking place in recent years. he lost the debate in the house of commons. his solution? resign and force a by-election.
over the last couple of days much praise has been heaped on davis for his principled stand, so unusual for an mp cry one and all.
if only it was such.
davis talks about the attacks on civil liberties, but seems quite happy to flaunt the rules of a democratic parliament by throwing his toys out of the pram: “i didn’t get the result i wanted so i am going to scream and scream until i do…”

the by-election davis tells us will be fought on the single issue of civil liberties. he challenges the government to defend their position in his local constituency. his argument goes that if they are so certain that they are right then they will win the vote. the liberal democrats are not going to stand a candidate as they agree with david davis.
ah if everything in the world was so simple.
at the general election the labour party came a weak third. it is very doubtful that the campaign can be kept to the single issue, and even if it could be it is unlikely that the electors are going to be able to think of it as anything but an anti-government vote or a pro davis vote because they have admired his work as their local member of parliament.
in short he is going to win. when you are onto a certainty it is easy to stick by your principles.

this isn’t to say that gordon brown’s attachment to the 42 days is a good thing. the argument has not really been won. so far there has been no hue and cry from the police or intelligence service for 42 days to happen (although a good case could be made that they don’t have to say anything as the government is making all the running on this). so far the experience is that 28 days is more than adequate.
in order to get the bill through various amendments have been made which almost render it pointless (such as having to come before parliament to ask for permission to extend the incarceration period), additionally those that are held beyond 28 who are found to be innocent will be compensated at the rate of £3000 a day, perhaps that money could be better spent in getting more computer literate intelligent service personnel so that you didn’t have to keep someone banged up for 48 days.

while it is true that a majority of people are in favour of the 42 days extension we don’t always elect our members of parliament to do what we want, we often want them to make the hard decisions for us – which is why we don’t have the death penalty here.

the worst part of all of this is not the encroachment on civil liberties but the utter waste of political energy and capital that gordon brown is making on this issue.
assuming that he is not turfed out by the labour party, it is probable that brown only has until 2010 as prime minister, and probably much less time when he has the power to make a difference, as there will come a point when he no longer has control over labour members of parliament.
instead of doing what he really wants to do: make a difference to poor and working class of the country he has gotten himself caught up in a bizarre piece of macho posturing. instead of trying to build his own legacy he is busy trying to finish off a mess started by tony blair.

in the end neither brown or davis is right over the issue of 42 days, douglas adams comes closest: what matters is making sure you ask the right questions, at least then you have the chance of getting an answer that makes sense.