Shami Chakrabarti joined us at The Grange Hotel, Tower Hill, on 13th October. David began by asking her how she became interested in the issue of human rights, freedom and liberty. Her engaging reply started with her parents coming to England in the late 1950s when Harold Macmillan was Prime Minister. It was at the age of 12 or 13 in the early eighties that a conversation with her father started to shape her thinking. She joked that having revealed this to a journalist once, her father teased her when reading about it in the press.
Questioned on whether accepting a CBE in 2007 made her part of the establishment, she said it didn’t and all her staff thought she should take it. Her father wasn’t sure and her now late mother told her it was well deserved and that she should accept it.
Moving on, Shami was asked if our democracy and tolerance was compatible with the country having almost more CCTV than anywhere else in the world. She felt that CCTV had a role to play but was concerned that it was being used intrusively and, at times, unnecessarily and needed to be better controlled and should be targeted not here, there and everywhere with no reason.
Asked whether the increased threat of terrorism, not just by groups but by freelance individuals, warranted increased surveillance at the expense of some personal freedoms, she said no. Even when pushed by David on the catching of the Jamie Bugler murderers and the three suspects on trial for plotting a beheading on Armistice Day over the use of CCTV and surveillance to deter and prevent crime and atrocity and apprehend law breakers, she believed their use was too indiscriminate.
She also felt that prisoners should be allowed the vote. She actually questioned whether prison was the right thing in many circumstances and if the convicted posed no threat to society, was locking them up no more than retribution?
Challenged on whether we should spend more time and energy ensuring the human rights that are well accepted are upheld rather than concerned at the slowness in establishing more, she felt that they were of equal importance and as she had several times, referred to the doctrines of Winston Churchill.
Questioned on whether accepting a CBE in 2007 made her part of the establishment, she said it didn’t and all her staff thought she should take it. Her father wasn’t sure and her now late mother told her it was well deserved and that she should accept it.
Moving on, Shami was asked if our democracy and tolerance was compatible with the country having almost more CCTV than anywhere else in the world. She felt that CCTV had a role to play but was concerned that it was being used intrusively and, at times, unnecessarily and needed to be better controlled and should be targeted not here, there and everywhere with no reason.
Asked whether the increased threat of terrorism, not just by groups but by freelance individuals, warranted increased surveillance at the expense of some personal freedoms, she said no. Even when pushed by David on the catching of the Jamie Bugler murderers and the three suspects on trial for plotting a beheading on Armistice Day over the use of CCTV and surveillance to deter and prevent crime and atrocity and apprehend law breakers, she believed their use was too indiscriminate.
She also felt that prisoners should be allowed the vote. She actually questioned whether prison was the right thing in many circumstances and if the convicted posed no threat to society, was locking them up no more than retribution?
Challenged on whether we should spend more time and energy ensuring the human rights that are well accepted are upheld rather than concerned at the slowness in establishing more, she felt that they were of equal importance and as she had several times, referred to the doctrines of Winston Churchill.
RSS Feed
