An important piece from Nick Cohen on Labour's cynical opportunism as it destroys efforts to pass a bill amending the UK's absurd libel laws:
If it dies, the bill's proposed ban on corporations, following the example of McDonald's, suing individual activists will die with it. If it dies, the proposed limits on the libel tourism racket that have allowed Russian, Ukrainian and Saudi billionaires, Icelandic bankers and African dictators to punish their critics in London will die with it. If it dies, the new public interest defence for contested speech, which is essential for bloggers and small publishers as well as investigative journalists, will die with it. If it dies, the planned defence of "honest opinion" that would have allowed the Simon Singhs of the future to criticise alternative health quacks without risking a £500,000 bill will die with it.
Labour doesn't care. "It is playing incredibly opportunist politics," said Michael Harris, spokesman for the Libel Reform Campaign and himself a Labour councillor. They party just wants to embarrass Cameron about his failure to agree with everything Leveson said. That's all that matters to them. So there you have it. Labour is prepared to break a manifesto commitment, weaken its adherence to the Human Rights Act and destroy the hopes of all those who want to use the freedom of the web to argue and publish without fear of disproportionate punishment. For what? For a handful of headlines in the papers. For a slot on the rolling news.
The absence of serious principle tells you much about the modern Labour party....
Worth reading in full.
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