Talk at Observer leader conference turns inevitably to Charles Clarke's draft anti-terror bill published yesterday.
The bill says:
(1) A person commits an offence if -
(a) he publishes a statement or causes another to publish a statement on his behalf;
(b) the statement glorifies, exalts or celebrates the commission, preparation or instigation (whether in the past, in the future or generally) of acts of terrorism; and
(c) the circumstances and manner of the statement's publication (taken together with its contents) are such that it would be reasonable for members of the public to whom it is published to assume that the statement expresses the views of that person or has his endorsement.
(You will be allowed to exalt terrorist acts that are more than 20 years old except when the Home Secretary says you can't. Parliament can overturn the Home Secretary's decision.)
Coupled with the absence of any clear definition of terrorism this makes for a pretty serious piece of legislation, dangerously close to creating thoughtcrime. Although thankfully it stops short of outlawing statements that justify suicide bombings as acts of desperate resistance.
