Taking Liberties on DVD

I forgot to mention, last week, that Taking Liberties (the movie), which I wrote about at length earlier in the year (see HERE), is now available on DVD.

Although it got a huge thumbs up from the critics, a cheap as chips, documentary style film highlighting the way civil rights are being abused in Britain was never going to be major box office.

With Tony Blair consigned to history, it would be easy to dismiss Taking Liberties as yesterday's news. That would be a mistake. John Kampfner's article in the Telegraph on Friday (HERE) reiterated many of the points that were made in the film. Issues such as ID cards, CCTV cameras, freedom of speech and the right to protest will not go away.

The truth is, Taking Liberties barely scratched the surface. As director Chris Atkins admitted in the summer, there was so much more they could have included, but they had to draw a line somewhere. Nevertheless, it was a brave effort and I recommend the DVD.

The question is - apart from a handful of newspaper columnists and a smattering of lobby groups, who is going to take up the baton and run with it? As Kampfner put it:

The issue of liberty cuts across all parties. Labour's steady path to authoritarianism is a matter of shame for anyone such as myself. It also presents a tailor-made opportunity for its political opponents, one that they should have the courage to pursue.