Another step down the 'benign' authoritarian road

The government has published its list of people banned from entering the United Kingdom, based on the views they have publicly expressed. As I said once before when Dutch MP Geert Wilders was denied entry to the UK, I am becoming more and more concerned at the ease with which this government rolls over the established tradition of free speech in favour of some 'benign' - they think - authoritarianism.

OK most decent people dislike the views of homophobes, ranting racists and so on but hasn't it always been a part of our democratic system that we absorb those with views we don't like and only take action when a specific offence has been committed?

Since 2005, the Home Office has had the power to expel or exclude people from the UK if they are considered to hold views which are likely to inflame. In whose view? The view of the government of course and this is a very dangerous road we are on. Jacqui Smith has already announced, last October, that there will now be 'a presumption of exclusion'. In other words, the British government makes up its mind it doesn't like the cut of your jib and then you have to prove them wrong. And there are inconsistencies and omissions. Why for example did they ban American lifestyle guru Martha Stewart? OK she had been jailed for lying about shares in her company but hardly a threat to the safety of the UK. A lot of this is nonsense and incredibly intolerant.

The current legislation and its enactment cuts across all the principles of British principles and behaviour and it worries me greatly that the government is so easily prepared to go down this road wearing such a morally self-righteous stance as it does so.