The 51st British Prime Minister Anthony Charles Blair is preparing to resign after a decade in power on June 27th. During his term in office, he has presided over a series of sweeping legislative and social changes. Many of these fundamentally alter our relationship to the state. They will have dramatic consequences upon our freedom to speak, think and act, far beyond the length of his tenure.

The 2001 Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act gave the Home Secretary the power to detain any foreign national indefinitely - without charge, or trial. Ironically in 1993, Anthony Charles Blair said - "deprivation of liberty should be through the courts and not through politicians."

The right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty has been severely weakened. The right, not to be punished for a crime, unless a court of your peers has proven your guilt beyond reasonable doubt has also been compromised. Law Lord, Lord Nicholls, said - "indefinite imprisonment without charge or trial is anathema in any country which observes the rule of law."

Over 3000 new criminal offenses have been created. The country has staggered under a welter of ASBO's, prevention orders, pre-crime proposals and Summary justice initiatives. Fixed penalty notices have been introduced; some Britons have already fallen foul of them, merely for wearing the wrong t-shirts, or using relatively mild and passive forms of profanity. It doesn't matter if you're guilty of an actual crime anymore, such things are determined on the spot by a police officer.

Personal privacy has been eroded - Britons are now the most surveilled people on earth. There are upwards of 4.2 million CCTV cameras in Britain and the government is continuing to trial more. Behavioral analysis systems, X-ray surveillance software, CCTV that listens to your conversations and shouts orders at you - all are being tested and implemented...

A massive database state is growing up, populated by tracking systems, RFID chips, GPS satellite and thermal imaging technologies, DNA profiling and identity databases. Richard Thomas, the UK's 'Information Commissioner said - "The pervasive use of surveillance undermines or destroys the inter-related trust relationships that are fundamental to the operation of the state."

The 2003 Extradition Act, allows British citizens to be extradited (kidnapped) to face criminal charges, torture and indefinite imprisonment in United States prisons, such as Guantanamo Bay. This despite a lack of hard evidence needed to support a case against them here in the UK.  Amnesty International referred to Guantanamo Bay as - "A Gulag for our times."

Strangely, it seems that the majority of British people have failed to grasp the magnitude of the changes taking place, they are prepared to passively support them because they believe them necessary in combatting the threat of terrorism.

We have lost the freedom to demonstrate peacefully outside Downing Street or The Houses of Parliament; unless our demonstration first has the written approval of the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. In 2002 Tony Blair said - " Every day I see protesters outside Downing Street... I may not like what they call me, but I thank God the can... That's freedom."

Thomas Jefferson once said that - "Liberty is to the collective body, what health is to every individual body. Without health no pleasure can be tasted by man; without liberty, no happiness can be enjoyed by society."- In the ten year period that he has been Prime Minister, Anthony Charles Blair has ensured that the liberty of the British people has become increasingly invisible. We may not yet be living in a police state, but in ten short years of Blair, we have edged and an awful lot closer to one.

Apologies for the lack of recent content posted on this site. I've had a challenging month or two. I lost broadband access for about 4 weeks, then took a planned trip to Venice with my wife's family.

Recently, my family is dealing with a major illness affecting my Mum. There will be new content soon, but for the moment, my priorities are elsewhere.

Thanks for your patience.