Authorities in the UK have acquired surveillance powers that would make Americans shudder. Security cameras are ubiquitous; invasions of privacy are on a par with Singapore. Sarah Lyall reports for the New York Times.
Authorities in the UK have acquired surveillance powers that would make Americans shudder. Security cameras are ubiquitous; invasions of privacy are on a par with Singapore. Sarah Lyall reports for the New York Times.
Chief Justice Roberts and Associate Justices Scalia and Breyer have traveled to Britain to commemorate the establishment of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. However, although the name is similar, the constitutional powers of the new court will not be the same as those of its American counterpart. A British lawyer notes: “In the U.K., we want our politicians to decide issues like abortion, not the judges.” A point well worth pondering….
George Osborne, the British Conservatives’ Chancellor-in-waiting, is making a reputation for himself with his frankness about the austerity measures he deems necessary, should his party form the next government. His views were covered extensively by the British papers during the recent Tory party conference, and Landon Thomas Jr. has a similar story in today’s New York Times.
Of course, it is far from obvious that austerity during a recession is the optimal course of action. A researcher at a British think-tank says: “The City wants Labour out, but there is trepidation. If we cut spending right now it would be a lot worse.” Of course, Labour politicians have also made the point.
Granting for the sake of argument that at some point an austerity program might be necessary, it is noteworthy that it would be much more difficult to implement such a thing under our system than under a British-style parliamentary system. With our system of checks and balances, bringing with it the opportunity for politicians to carry out blocking maneuvers, any such thing would be easy to veto. Ever since the Reagan administration we have been wont to cut taxes without corresponding spending cuts. We may be on the verge of reforming health care while putting off a decision about how to pay for it until a later time — and it may indeed be necessary to do that. In any case, we have been hearing for decades now we are approaching a reckoning — while the features of our political system incline us to follow the path of least resistance.
We sometimes hear from Britain that some people there want constitutional reform to reform their “parliamentary dictatorship.” That sort of “dictatorship” simply means that the government of the day gets to carry out its program — with the electorate able to pass judgment on it at the next election. Somebody perhaps should tell them to watch out for what they wish for — they might get it. Our lack of such a “dictatorship” has enabled us to put off dealing with a laundry list of important issues….