Whether one agrees with him or not, Brian Haw has deservedly won the right to continue his protest outside Parliament. That badly drafted legislation rather than civil liberty and freedom of speech was the primary instrument of his success is less comforting.

Unlike most Fridays at the end of the month, tonight I won’t be joining Critical Mass and so I won’t be passing Mr Haw if the ride passes round Parliament Square. That said, depending on how the 2005 Serious Organised Crime and Police Act is interpreted, neither may anyone else observing Mass after August 1st if permission is refused and the half-mile exclusion zone enforced.

Related posts:

1. See your freedom erode…
2. Stand alone, with some other people
3. Welcome to Mandela’s new statue: scrap SOCPA
4. Save the parliament anti-war guy
5. Parliament Square… WTF?