[ 21:54 monday 19 november – piscita, isola di stromboli ]

on my desktop as i write i’ve got a live video stream from the uk house of commons. the government’s emergency anti-terrorism bill is being debated. the discussion is passionate and at moments surprisingly moving.

for anyone who’s interested the feed is always available at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsa/live/parliament.ram

representatives observe that britain already has more official secrets than any other state in western europe. that this new bill goes a long way to creating the conditions of a police state. that it contains provisions which represent significant constitutional change (removing the fundamental right to trial, permitting persons to be imprisoned indefinitely at the instruction of the secretary of state, creating an unprecedented mechanism by which all future decisions made by the european union home affairs committee will automatic pass into uk law without normal parliamentary debate) yet is being rushed through the house without time for proper scrutiny.

i cannot recall having heard such discussion in parliament during my lifetime. these people have some understanding of what they are in the process of doing.

the bill is being presented as emergency legislation which removes it from the normal requirements of parliamentary debate. though it is a long bill, only three days of debate have been allotted. it is scheduled to reach the statute books by christmas. with the government’s huge majority there is not the slightest chance that it will be stopped or significantly amended.

therefore, in seven weeks, this will be the law of the united kingdom. those who like me are citizens of that nation had better get used to the fact that this is now the kind of society of which we are a part.

the full text of the bill is published at
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/pabills.htm. typically it is written in a way which makes it hard for the ordinary citizen to see its significance. i draw people’s attention to two clauses in particular:

– section 21 : suspected international terrorist: certification
this lays out the basis on which the secretary of state may “certify” that someone is a “terrorist”, after which they may be imprisoned indefinitely. there is no need for any crime to have been committed. there is no need for a trial to take place. the suspect has no right to know the accusation against them. the suspect has no right to see the evidence against them. there is no limit to period for which they may be imprisoned.

– section 29 : exclusion of legal proceedings
this explicitly cancels the authority of any court to challenge decisions of the secretary of state.

over the past four years a succession of bad bills have passed onto the uk statute books. a mental health act which permits indefinite incarceration and treatment without trial if a single qualified psychiatrist pronounces a citizen to have a “serious personality disorder” likely to lead tham to commit a crime. an anti-terrorism bill which makes the possession of information likely to be useful to terrorists an offence in its own right. a regulation of interception powers bill which creates a presumption of guilt for those who receive encrypted messages unless they can prove they are unable to decrypt them.

i have observed these and other measures passing into law and felt an inexorable progression towards the sort of bill being debated tonight. the moment i heard of the atrocity in new york i knew the conditions existed in which that progress might continue to its logical and grim conclusion. i fear greatly for the bills we shall see in the months ahead.

beverley hughes, parliamentary secretary representing the home office, makes a gloriously chilling slip in replying to concerns from the floor. “we understand how serious these questions are and we’ve taken ten minutes… er, i mean ten weeks… to consider them.” a little later she expresses the view that “we cannot draw a line between crime and terrorism” which certainly represents the thrust of legislation over the past two years. the consequences of such a view are worth pondering.

[ 23:45 ]

the anti-terrorist bill passed by 400 votes to 5. the house is now debating a “derogation” of the european convention on human rights. the government adjudges that britain currently faces a risk “which threatens the life of the nation” and thus claims emergency powers to over-rule the part of the convention on human rights guaranteeing the right to a fair trial. it is worth noting that no other nation in europe has felt it necessary to do derogate this clause.

if i interpret the technicalities correctly it is irrelevant what conclusions the house comes to in this debate. the measure has been introduced by executive order and has already come into force.

since magna carta, 800 years ago, every person suspected of wrong-doing in britain has been accorded the right to a trial before their peers. in one and a half months that right will cease to exist. what’s happening?

: cH

[ 21:55 saturday 17 november – piscita, isola di stromboli ]

as i wrote the header i wondered when i wrote my last despatch so i looked in my mail archive and checked the date stamp. one month, to the very same minute. uncanny!

enough spookiness. i’m sitting on the wall in front of my and landon’s house in the darkness. powerbook on lap, caving torch on head. i’m connected to the internet via an 802.11b wireless link, and thus able to listen to a splendid arabic web-radio channel as i sit and write.

it’s been a perfect day here in the islands. clear sky, soft fragrant air, strong sun. everyone’s been drifting round with a dreamy look on their face. just a week ago there were two-metre-high waves crashing over the quay and 120kmh winds. every day is different, i love it.

i spent just over a week in london, but that was an eternity ago. i felt great apprehension at making the journey. perhaps i expected to find the city under martial law with machine-gun-toting storm-troopers at every street corner. but from the moment i arrived at rome airport and found things as lackadaisical as ever my anxieties were confounded (yes sir, take anything you like on the plane…). i looked out of the windows during the descent into london to see a fine autumn evening with trees casting long golden shadows on the grass, possibly the first time i’ve ever returned to britain and not found it saturated in soggy greyness.

arriving on the heathrow express (a chillingly efficient service) into paddington actually provoked a small thrill of excitement. the sense of bustle and commotion remains very much like all those victorian paintings of grand stations. really this set the tone for my time in london. i stayed with mark and celyn in oval and enjoyed being in the city tremendously, all the more so for its unexpectedness. there was a little more tension in the air but nothing overwhelming.

my main mission was to gather together everything landon and i need for the next six months, pack it up safely and get it despatched to stromboli. predictably this was all rather hectic. new equipment to buy, old equipment to gather, several million lira to arrange, courier services to organise, clothes to sort out, lots of packing. bit by bit it came together until on friday 26 october six boxes were collected from my old home in shoreditch and loaded into a parcelforce worldwide van, which came complete with its grumpy-cockney-with-a-philosophical-side driver. it seemed like an excellent service. guaranteed delivery anywhere in europe within four days, door to door.

this afternoon, 22 days later, five of my boxes arrived here in stromboli. the sixth box arrived last week, in london. nobody has quite been able to explain why. my dealings with parcelforce have plunged me into a horrifying nether world of spatial indeterminacy and circular bureaucracy. rarely have i come across an organisation quite so flagrantly incapable of discharging the humble function it professes to serve. i would go to quite phenomenal lengths to avoid further engagement with them, ever again, ever. i pray their compensation regime will cover a few months in therapy.

thankfully this torment has been offset by some excellent news. i came here to stromboli, and moreover dragged landon from a good job in seattle, without having managed to secure a single penny of funding for our work. this gives some indication how determined i am that these projects shall be undertaken. but last monday we heard that we will have £13,500 from the uk community fund over the next six months. and yesterday news arrived that the gulbenkian foundation has awarded us a further £10,000 (bless them all). it’s not a lot, and it’s taken a ridiculous amount of effort by james smith and me to get it, but it will be sufficient and that’s the only thing that matters.

landon knows neither that messrs gulbenkian have smiled upon us nor that the boxes have arrived. having spent a solid month on the island and completed the first piece of development he left yesterday morning for a week in amsterdam, relaxing and getting a fix of urban culture. it does seem very quiet here without him.

my aunt clare arrived to visit last monday and departed this afternoon, on the same hydrofoil which delivered my boxes. having lived for three years in italy, principally in florence, she put my stumbling italian wholly to shame. her first days here were wet and stormy but these last two days have been serene. the volcano performed well for her. she too received good news on thursday, informing her that she had succeeded in getting southwark council to reject an ill-conceived planning proposal. having visitors is definitely a good marker of the transition from being a tourist to being a resident. i look forward to welcoming others in the coming months.

now it is time for me to silence the audio stream, close the powerbook, extinguish my lantern and turn my eyes to the brilliant stars. tonight is predicted to be the peek of intensity for the leonid meteorites. viewing conditions could not be more perfect.

: cH