42 days decreed by the gods

[hat-tip Liberal Conspiracy]

Marcel Berlins in the Guardian:

…

The police, who have led the demand for it, have provided hypothetical examples of circumstances which would justify the 42 days, but have not gone as far as to claim that any terrorist has escaped justice because 28 wasn’t enough whereas 42 would have inculpated him.

If the security services know something they can’t tell us, we could have been told that, without divulging any secrets. We haven’t. Just about every respected, objective figure who knows about these things – except those who are obliged to toe the government line – agree that there is no evidence backing 42 days.

But that is to be logical, and 42 is not logical. It is, though, symbolic. It represents all the government’s excessive anti-terrorist legislation; detention without charge or trial; the steady erosion of the rule of law; and the nibbling away of civil liberties. The resistance of the Labour rebels is not based on a calculation of how many weeks is appropriate. It is a statement encompassing the whole of Labour’s anti-terrorist policy. Enough is enough.

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