So, the British government wants to extend the length of time they’re allowed to hold terror suspects without charge from 28 to “about 50″ days. When questioned, the Security Minister, Lord West, acknowledged that a previous attempt to increase the limit to 90 days was “far too long”.

Apparently we’re to believe that three months is way over the top, but two months? Well, that’s probably OK. You have to hand it to the government; they’re audacious. They know this isn’t going to be popular, but they’re trying to muscle it through anyway.

Anyone who knows me at all, already know what I think about this, but I’m going to be unequivocal here: there is no OK length of time for the Government to lock people up without charge. We are talking about the government granting itself the right to pull people off the street and lock them away for anything up to two months without even having to accuse them of anything. I’m sorry Lord West, but the reason you’re “not sure” how to convince critics that this is the right thing to do, is because you can’t. Because it isn’t. This is wrong, pure and simple; you know it; we know it. Of course you’d like to be able to lock potentially dangerous people up without having to go through all that pesky due process, but that’s not the way it works in a civilized, free society; you actually have to show that someone is a threat before you lock them away. It is most profoundly not OK to slap someone behind bars on the off-chance and then apologise later if you were wrong. This is not Soviet Russia, it’s not Iran and it’s not China; it’s Britain, and while we may be called subjects, we live in a free society and we have rights.

Well, we used to, anyway.

The other two major parties have both made the usual opposition statements that they don’t think it’s a good idea unless there’s new evidence to support it. Well, that’s not good enough either. This isn’t about evidence, it’s not about balancing the merits of a couple of competing ideas; it’s about principles. At it’s most basic level, it’s about one fundamental question: “Do we control the government, or do they control us?” Because if you think a government is beholden to an electorate they’re able to lock up without reason, I’ve got some Burmese monks I’d like to introduce you to.

OK – so here it is. I’m stating publicly, here and now, that I, as a subject — and member of the electorate — of Great Britain, do not support any measures resulting in the peacetime detention without charge of any human being. Furthermore, the first political party to come out and state, on the record and credibly, that they would never support such measures, for any reason, is guaranteed my vote at the next general election.