I was encouraged by the Law Lords ruling today which came down decisively on the side of the foreign terror suspects detained without the prospect of a trial. This quote from Lord Hoffman (paragraph 97, p.53 of the ruling – see below for link) pretty much sums up my feelings on the subject: this kind of draconian measure is tantamount to giving up all that we value about our society, essentially conceding victory to the terrorists. If we can’t defeat them without dangerously compromising our values, what are we fighting to protect?

In my opinion, such a power in any form is not compatible with our constitution. The real threat to the life of the nation, in the sense of a people living in accordance with its traditional laws and political values, comes not from terrorism but from laws such as these. That is the true measure of what terrorism may achieve. It is for Parliament to decide whether to give the terrorists such a victory.

The full text of the ruling is available in PDF format (383kb) from the BBC website.