Umm, would you mind if we borrowed your DPP?

from boingboing

Finally a public official has the courage to speak sense.

"London is not a battlefield. Those innocents who were murdered on July 7 2005 were not victims of war. And the men who killed them were not, as in their vanity they claimed on their ludicrous videos, 'soldiers'. They were deluded, narcissistic inadequates. They were criminals. They were fantasists. We need to be very clear about this. On the streets of London, there is no such thing as a 'war on terror', just as there can be no such thing as a 'war on drugs'. "The fight against terrorism on the streets of Britain is not a war. It is the prevention of crime, the enforcement of our laws and the winning of justice for those damaged by their infringement."

If this was the only sentiment I would applaud, but to see his respect for the rule of law gives me hope our nations can come through this intact.

"We wouldn't get far in promoting a civilising culture of respect for rights amongst and between citizens if we set about undermining fair trials in the simple pursuit of greater numbers of inevitably less safe convictions. On the contrary, it is obvious that the process of winning convictions ought to be in keeping with a consensual rule of law and not detached from it. Otherwise we sacrifice fundamental values critical to the maintenance of the rule of law - upon which everything else depends."

There is no right, no principle, no aspect of our 'way of life' that isn't completely dependent on the rule of law. Without rule of law every other guarantee, social contract, or bill of rights is moot - completely and absolutely unenforcable and thereby irrelevant.

Note to any political types who might read this: This is a vote swinger. The courage to respect and maintain rule of law in the face of fear is my definition of leadership, and what I am looking for above all when deciding my vote.