> <http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,59-2001361433,00.html>
>
> Religion as a fit subject for comedy
> FROM MR ROWAN ATKINSON
>
and from Spiked...
Article9 October 2001 Fighting talk: Sir John Mortimer and David Starkey
by Brendan O'Neill
Sir John Mortimer: 'What I am terrified about is what this government is doing to civil liberties.'
'Blair's speech was completely ludicrous - he looked and sounded like a man possessed. I kept thinking to myself, "Oh Tony, do calm down, you'll embarrass Cherie".'
Sir John Mortimer, author, playwright and Old Labour supporter turned New Labour critic, was not impressed by prime minister Tony Blair's 'treading of the boards' at the Labour Party conference on 2 October. Blair might have won plaudits everywhere from the Labour-supporting Guardian to the Labour-baiting Telegraph, but Mortimer was 'agog': 'He was trying to conjure up an image for himself as Blair-as-Biggles - flying around with his scarf flapping in the wind to purge the world of sin. Not only was I not convinced by it, I'm not sure Blair was convinced by it.'
According to Mortimer, Blair's 'newfound crusade' is a convenient cover for his 'lame record' of sorting out problems here in Britain. 'It was telling that the first news item after Blair's speech was about an unfortunate man who had spent hours on a trolley in casualty and then wound up dead in a hospital cubicle. In four years, Blair has done nothing for hospitals and can't even get those ghastly overcrowded tube trains to run on time. How nice for him to forget it all and slip off to Russia to take tea with Putin and discuss all the other problems on Earth. It's a rather wonderful cover-up.'
But what has bugged Mortimer most since 11 September has been New Labour's 'horrifying disregard for liberty'. In his pre-Rumpole of the Bailey days, Mortimer was a barrister who took on precedent-setting free speech cases and became known for his dedication to civil liberties. Now, he 'watches in terror' as New Labour 'takes away even the most basic of our rights'. 'They have been doing it with a vengeance since 11 September', says Mortimer.
'What I am terrified about is what this government is doing to civil liberties. This proposal to outlaw religious hatred and people who are bigoted about religion - it may sound well and good and proper, but it's a disaster.the end of civilisation. If there is a law saying you can't be rude about anybody's religion, you would have had to outlaw people like Darwin, or people who criticised the Church of England, or atheists, or anybody who was rude and disrespectful of religion.'
Mortimer might be 'horrified' - but he is not surprised. 'What should we expect? Free speech is looked down upon with utter disdain', he says. 'There seems to be a new rule that says you are not allowed to offend anybody - you can't offend the Irish, you can't offend the Scottish, you can't even offend the Welsh anymore. And now you can't offend any religious people, even though a lot of them deserve it. It is a politically correct approach that regards free speech with suspicion - as if we all want it just so we can be spiteful and hateful all the time.'
Mortimer even goes so far as to compare the proposal to outlaw religious hatred to the laws of the Taliban: 'This religious hatred law is actually a victory for the Taliban, it's like what they have: laws that determine what you can and cannot say about religions. It is a great victory for terrorism that we are trying to change our laws to restrict freedom.'
And his alternative to the proposed religious hatred law? 'We should be allowed to be rude about anything to anybody at any time for whatever reason.'
Looking back on the past three weeks, Mortimer says events have 'confirmed his concerns' about Tony Blair - that he is 'a not very impressive politician playing at being a statesman'. Now, Mortimer would like Blair to 'stop pretending to be a mini-Churchill, to calm down, and for life to get back to normal as soon as possible'.
'That's the worst thing about all this - how we can't get on with normal life and normal politics. I lived through the Blitz, when there were buildings falling down around our ears - but everybody went about their lives as normally as possible, and that was our strength. People talk about the Blitz spirit today, but I can't see it. The events of 11 September were terrible, but can we please get back to normality now?'
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