A Tale of Two Countries

USA

US President Barack Obama is expected to sign an executive order to start the process of closing down the Guantanamo Bay detention camp within days. http://tinyurl.com/a7n4vd

UK

Plans to exclude relatives, juries and the press from some inquests - on national security grounds - are being brought back by ministers.

They come in a new bill covering coroners, murder laws, witness protection and sentencing. Just months ago, similar plans were shelved.

The government says secret inquests, which many oppose, would prevent intelligence details from leaking out. http://tinyurl.com/8xpyv7

I've often criticised the USA in the past but it seems to me that they have some advantages that we in the UK are denied.

• They elect their President - we have a Prime Minister pushed on us whether we want them of not
• They have a fixed term of Office so that everyone knows where they stand - Government in the UK can call an election on its own whim
• They have a written Constitution outlining the rights of individual citizens - we have laws that can be changed by government whenever they choose

Under New Labour more individual rights have been abolished than by any Government before. We Brits are the most spied on nation in the world (including Communist China).

Come back Tom Paine - all is forgiven!