Fashion for fascism?

A friend e-mailed me today with this story about a French journalist:

Vittorio de Filippis, former publisher of the centre-left newspaper, Libération, was insulted and handcuffed in front of his children by police who raided his home near Paris at 6.30am. He was later strip-searched twice. One of the officers called M. de Filippis "worse than scum", using the word, racaille, once used by President Nicolas Sarkozy to describe multi-racial youth gangs.

As my friend, who has travelled the world and seen many sights: good, bad and awful, said:
"It's the fashion these days to have a police state and the EU is the template."

Those of you who listened to the Today programme this morning would have heard Nigel Farage rightly pointing out that the Lisbon Treaty will create a single area of freedom, justice and security.

For many years there have been the EU guidelines on ID cards and we will be forced to carry them. The database will be an EU database, the cards will be EU cards and the power will rest with the state.

We will lose the presumption of innocent until proven guilty and the right to trial by jury, which already appears to have vanished in the face of the police shooting people in underground stations.

The former High Court judge in charge of the London inquest into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes told the jury that they can only reach a verdict of lawful killing or an "open verdict" -- a finding of death without stating the cause.

After seven weeks of evidence in the closely-watched case, coroner Michael Wright told the jury that a verdict of unlawful killing was "not justified".

The EU already have a police force they are using in Afghanistan which includes British police officers who have previously sworn allegiance to the Queen and now are carrying out the wishes of the EU.

The MoD are switching staff away from NATO to work in the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy even though most politicians aren't aware that the service personnel used for NATO missions will be the same ones used for EU missions only without the American back up and without the need for unanimity.

The European Elections are coming up soon. Labour, Tories, Lib Dems and Greens all want to remain in the EU. That means, regardless of what they say about ID cards, Habeas Corpus, the accounts, financial regulations and employment law they have committed themselves and therefore the country should they get into power, to the measures the EU wishes.

Because the EU is going in one direction and it's a case of in it and going along with the single currency, the common justice system, the mad environmental legislation and an energy policy which would leave us dependent on rogue states, or get out and govern ourselves.

Or, for those of you who watch Spooks, it's the choice between being Connie
or Ros