The Counter-Terrorism Bill 2007-08 is 90 pages long with 56 pages of accompanying explanatory notes. By the time you’ve managed to wade through it, deciphering its many sub-paragraphs and exclusionary language, the bloody thing will be law.

I’d be very interested to know how many MPs - the loyalists and placemen at least - will or won’t read all 146 pages before debating and voting. Under the whip system, I don’t suppose they really need to, voting largely being a matter of being simply allowing oneself to be herded through this or that door.

One thing of interest about the bill is that the government’s definition of terrorism is the one laid out in the Terrorism Act 2000. That is, before September 11 2001. It’s interesting to say the least that, despite the supposed changing nature of global terrorism, the government have resisted the temptation to tinker with this one fundamentals.

The BBC give a useful breakdown of the bill which is just as well because I for one am otherwsie completely defeated by the structure and wording of the bill in the raw. I wonder how many people could make a positive engagement with this legislation directly even if they wanted to.

Yet another reason to resist the hammering of the BBC. In this instance at least, it’s a valuable buffer between the public and an enforced, institutionalised ignorance created by the state.

(More on this, maybe, later…)