Positive DNA ruling!

A small step has just been taken by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to rein in the authoritarian tendencies of the British government by ruling that DNA samples and fingerprints taken from persons who are not subsequently charged or convicted cannot be retained on file. This runs a coach and horses through Labour's apparent desire to have the DNA of everyone in the country in a database, just in case.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith opines she is 'disappointed' at the ruling. For its part the ECHR has ruled that keeping the information:

"could not be regarded as necessary in a democratic society"

Is the UK, in the fullest sense, still a 'democratic' society or has it morphed into some kind of Dystopian nightmare society? I am angry, embarrassed and scared that I can no longer, in all honesty, answer that question with a resounding and unequivocal 'Yes, the UK is still a democracy'.

Meantime, back at 'stately Wayne Manor' (i.e. the House of Commons) the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has just been reporting on that other little local difficulty - the row resulting from the arrest of Damian Green MP and the searching of his parliamentary office on obviously spurious fears of terrorism as a cover for the government's embarrassment about 'leaks' which have nothing to do with terrorism. Dominic Grieve MP has just sat down after making his response and now Ms Smith is speaking again - more later.