Abu Hamza Found Guilty

Originally posted by Grey@Feb 8 2006, 02:00 PM
Betsmate, if that were true, what would be the purpose of elected government?
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Grey - what a strange post? Surely the government fulfil some other roles? Unless you are suggesting that the secret service could run our schools and healthcare?

As I said above, it is the balance/combination of the two which is needed - in the appropriate arena - and thankfully that is what we have got. It has often been said that even the most staunch critics of British Secret Service would, upon being elected to power, realise the potential power and worth of these forces to themselves, and would be most unlikely to relinquish them.
 
PDJ might very well welcome the notion of MI5 running the schools! :D The deploy of SAS prefects in the hallways might bring a marked change of attitude.
 
The lack of constancy in the security services here is easy to demonstrate by looking at when the left or the right held sway in 5 and 6

In the USA the various arms of the security services - and there are more than just the CIA and FBI - are constant in one thing, for sure: their internal war with each other.
 
Originally posted by BrianH@Feb 8 2006, 02:36 PM
In the USA the various arms of the security services - and there are more than just the CIA and FBI - are constant in one thing, for sure: their internal war with each other.
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No, it's all ok now - they have a Joint Intelligence Task Force...
 
Originally posted by betsmate@Feb 8 2006, 02:41 PM
No, it's all ok now - they have a Joint Intelligence Task Force...
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Yes, and like cabinets and company boards they all agree with each other 100% of the time and indulge in regular love-ins.

A bit like internet forum moderators...
 
QUOTE (Grey @ Feb 8 2006, 02:00 PM)
Betsmate, if that were true, what would be the purpose of elected government?


Grey - what a strange post? Surely the government fulfil some other roles? Unless you are suggesting that the secret service could run our schools and healthcare?
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I don't find it such a strange question, especially when you consider all the military dictatorships that exist around the world, and the many more that used to exist.

If a body of people consider themselves to be the true guardians of a country's destiny it's not surprising if at times they try to influence the course of domestic politics and even to take over the remaining levers of power if the electorate fails to behave itself.
 
Originally posted by Grey@Feb 8 2006, 02:09 PM
I don't think secret services are a particularly modern idea and certainly predate the modern era of parliamentary democracy.
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Indeed - I do believe that Odysseus of Ithaca supposedly formed one of the earliest network of spies in ancient Greek times!
 
Originally posted by Shadow Leader@Feb 8 2006, 02:55 PM
Indeed - I do believe that Odysseus of Ithaca supposedly formed one of the earliest network of spies in ancient Greek times!
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But surely your own favourite spymaster from times past must be Sir Francis Walsingham?
 
Absolutely, the man was very good at it. I'm a fan of Odysseus too - he was exceptionally wily and was up to his tricks around two and a half thousand years earlier!
 
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