The Chant of the Barbie Dolls

Melanie Phillips was on the moral maze the other night "discussing" the issue of how far you can take civil disobedience. I never thought I'd say it, but I was reminded of Captain James Tiberius Kirk, as he sails around the Galaxy, paying dutiful lip service to Star Fleet's (Fleet Street's?) Prime Directive (mis-Directive), and blithely ignoring it whenever it suited his, or the plot devices purposes. Suffice to say, "the rule of law" must be paramount, unless there's some sort of fundamental malaise at the heart of British law (if the outcome is wrong).

Here's just a couple of examples of where in "liberal democracies" (funny how only the right ever seem to use that phrase), even democracy and due process wasn't enough:

- the abolition of the GLC

- the nullification of the referendum on Scottish independence

- the Irish rejection of the Lisbon treaty

- the 1918 general election had essentially the same suffrage as Britain today. 75% (an "overwhelming majority") of all Irish parliamentary seats were won by the separatist Sinn Fein party. Far from holding up their hands to acknowledge due process, the rule of law, and the triumph of democratic will on display, the British Government went to war to defeat the democratic outcome of the election.

- the Chagossian Islanders have won the right to return to their land from the highest judicial bodies in the UK, having legally pursued their case through the appropriate avenues, yet still have not been allowed to return, even just to die there, never mind live. Where is the rule of law there?

- in international law, due process and the rule of law that demands Israel return to it's 1967 borders (uncontroversially, incidentally).

How do you like them apples?

And these are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head - some one that can string a half decent argument together, unlike me, could probably do a hell of a lot better than this.......