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back to article Geldof backs Davis 'For Freedom' by-election

Popstar turned humanitarian Bob Geldof has thrown his unkempt weight behind David Davis' by-election campaign. Geldof’s announcement adds just a pinch of stardust to Davis’ effort to turn the by-election into a debate on the erosion of civil liberties in the UK. However, it will get up the nose of Gordon Brown, whose efforts …

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  1. alistair millington
    Thumb Up

    When he quit parliament

    I vaguely remember stating "one down 600 more to go."

    Now he has a spine and is standing up for freedom,

    Perhaps it is "1 down, 600 more to go."

    Labout not standing, they lost to the BNP, so I think we know there reasons.

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    erck

    not Geldof - I hate that wanker.

    As an aside - due to Labours cowardly stance the by-election is nothing but a farce (alot like labour at the moment to be honest.)

    Labour don't want a debate on this issue becouse they all know it's wrong and they'er all lying through their teeth (yeah right no deals were offered my arse.)

    Lying, cowardly, thievings, basterds.

    Not that I think the tories are any better, but as the old addage goes, opposition parties don't win elections, incumbants lose them.

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  3. Warhelmet
    Black Helicopters

    Wish I could be like...

    David Icke.

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  4. Marvin the Martian
    Unhappy

    I'm pretty new here: "favourite boomtown rat"?

    So who are the less-favoured ex-boomtown rats? How much more do we like SirBob than the others, is there a close second, are they all distant or is there a really-disliked one?

    If possible on a visual or metric scale. It seems friday is unitintroductionday (as the "chorus girl's wingspan" was introduced as unit of circumference apparently), so please help us understand.

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Neil Glass, author of SQUANDERED, is also a candidate

    Political writer and author Neil Glass (a.k.a. David Craig) is also standing, he claims that the research for his book 'Squandered' that explores how "Gordon Brown has wasted over one trillion pounds of taxpayer's money" is the reason he is running.

    I've read 'Squandered' (currently #21 in Amazon's Government & Politics section) and agree with most of the Amazon reviewers that it's readable and entertaining but terrifying that this much money can be wasted in ten years.

    Doesn't mean that he'll be a good candidate, but his book is certainly a good read for El Reg readers.

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  6. Martin Milan

    Cowards

    Come off it Gordon...

    The only reason labour won't field a candidate in Howden is that they don't want the *debate*. If Davis wins un-opposed, they can turn around and say "So what was the point of that?" - as opposed to actually engaging in the civil liberties argument, which even they can't be so stupid as to dream they might win...

    Martin.

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  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Davis for PM

    A man that believes something and is prepared to take a stand on it. Despite a newspaper poll? That's *leader* material, not follower material.

    So many Prime ministers are led by the polls, and the irrational fears of dysfunctional old women, streaming arguments on daytime television,... they're not leaders, they're just looking for the next issue to follow. The next headline to tackle.

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  8. Eponymous Cowherd
    Joke

    "So What" politics

    ***"If Davis wins un-opposed, they can turn around and say "So what was the point of that?""***

    But the official record will say "So weak was the point of that"

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  9. Steve Bennett
    Flame

    Rational hatred rant time…

    I wish Bobbie G, would stop riding off the back of one hit and bloody band aid and just disappear.

    Doe’s anyone out there say ‘OMG “Dr” Geldof is supporting this. I must sit up and listen.’?

    Don’t get me started on Bono :-s

    Mine the one with Midge Ure on the front. We know you were the brains to Bob’s ugly façade.

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  10. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Banana republic???

    Isn't that the name of one of Geldof's daughters.

    Mines the one with zipper which won't release for 42 days.

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  11. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

    Re: Rational hatred rant time…

    Oh yeah. Personally I think anyone who's ever had another career or interest should be banned from anything remotely resembling political engagement. Musicians especially are all entirely self-centred morons by definition, and should stay true to themselves by sitting at home counting their money and going "pfft, not my problem" whenever it comes to their attention that bad shit is happening in the world.

    I mean, that whole 'attempting to use your influence for good' charade - what bollocks!

    Mind you, an interesting aside - if being a musician automatically disqualified you from future involvement in international politics, there would have been no Tony Blair PM. Discuss. Or! Don't.

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  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    if Labour won't have the debate, take it to them!

    i suggest a "save our freedoms" march down whitehall...

    ...ooh, too late. you already live in a police state. (the 51st.)

    echelon echelon echelon oh gotta go, knock at the door

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  13. Steve Bennett
    Thumb Up

    Re: Re: Rational hatred rant time…

    Come on... Just because someone has a little fame on their side that means that we should all jump up and down and follow? Why should his backing of a subject such as this matter at all.

    Im all for people doing good. So do good, and then give someone else a turn.

    Take these huge concert events. There are thousands of people behind the scenes at these things that are working their nuts off, but because Bob is the front man he gets the knighthood/*BE/honorary doctorate, whatever. It's media whoring at it's most blatant, and there are somepeople that make a lot of money from these.

    The difference with Tony the 'guitarist', he was elected... We chose to put up with him..

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  14. Chris Adams

    Re: Re: Re: Rational oh you get the idea.

    Steve, whatever Mr Geldof's views on civil liberties, his personal opinion of David Davis, the Tory party or whether or not you can eat an after eight mint *before* eight o clock, the fact remains that his high media profile will bring the issue-du-jour to the attention of a wider audience than it would normally.

    Nobody gives a monkeys about a bunch of stuffed up politicians sat posturing round a table pretending to move money around and discuss "targets" but the minute you get a Sleb telling you that, hey, this is a good chance to tell the blokes that run the world what we really want them to do, then you get millions of people interested in the G8 Summit.

    It's the same here. "Boring old Tory Minister stands in by-election, big deal" suddenly becomes interesting to a whole lot more people if Rockstar Man shows up to explain it to the masses and draw more attention to it. By doing this it ensures that Labour cannot maake it a non-event simply by not contesting it and so avoiding the political debate.

    Sure, he and Bono might get on your tits by turning up on telly at the merest sniff of a cause, but I'm glad they do if only to draw attention to that cause.

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  15. Elmer Phud
    Flame

    Waste of time, waste of my money.

    So he still insists on wasting away a few grand of taxpayers money on a pointless exercise. He knows he'll win and the other candidates are just in it for the publicity.

    As for St Bob -it's good to see our celebs flying all over the planet going on about climate change and food prices going up due to oil prices.

    Nah, as The Special A.K.A. once sang "It's all a load of bollocks, and bollocks to it all".

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  16. Chris Adams

    Re: Waste of money

    I disagree. I think that this is exactly what taxpayers money should be used for - an elected opposition MP standing up to the Goverment and using the electoral system to make his point and allow the public, if not a vote outside of his constituency, at least some representation.

    Yes, it's not a proper election in as much as the constituents won't get a lot of choice of candidates, but it's got a very real "point" to it.

    Christ, given all the other ways our politicians have of wasting our money, this most certainly doesn't meet the criteria.

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  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    <no title>

    Supporting the resistance against loss of civil rights is one thing. Supporting some foolish guy who, having already become an MP, and in the shadow cabinet, opted to resign and waste everyone's time and money trying to get elected again; is quite another.

    Of course the government didn't allow him to pull their strings and dance to his tune, so it's no good he or anyone else belly-aching over it. IMO Davies is an embarrassment to civil right supporters, not an asset. Acts like his need discouraging not encouraging. Sooner he is out of the limelight, the better.

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  18. Burch
    Thumb Down

    "What terrorises the terrorists is our civilisation,"

    What a fatuous thing to say, similar to "they hate our freedom", an utter nonsense.

    Also, Davis has never before been interested in civil liberties, this is entirely ego-driven.

    Empty gesture politics lapped up by the dim.

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  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    srBob and nu labour - a reverie

    Ahhh see the Rats (well, one of them) leaving the sinking ship SS NuLabour... it will be the slowest sinking in history or film. Slowmo'd over the next 2 years. The swirlings and the suckings and the steamings and the ominous cavernous noises (not to mention the stern ends) that accompany these things still have the potential to cause much havoc and destruction of this sceptred isle. There is nothing more dangerous than a cornered rat, unless it's a nest of cornered rats. Yet is there not in the land a means to dispose the vermin, as handed down in noble tradition, and still kept alive in places the animal cruelty jobsworth does not venture? - some terrier or other ferocious brute to end their miserable existence? Who'll let the dogs out?

    BTW, I think you will find it is srBono, even if one's not allowed to say so.

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  20. Svantevid
    Unhappy

    @ Burch

    "Davis has never before been interested in civil liberties"

    As The Register says in http://tinyurl.com/5jogu4, Davis has been interested in civil liberties and privacy issues for years.

    I've spent the first 19 years of my life in a Communist-ruled country and have seen propaganda identical to the one NuLab spews today. So I applaud Davis for trying to stop Britain sliding into a sad parody of Khruschev-era USSR I know from my father's stories... us Yugoslavs laughed at paranoia our tourists have frequently encountered when visiting Russia, and wished our (more lenient) political system could be more like Britain. Today, it seems it's better to avoid USA/GB and stay at home or visit Russia if I want a hassle-free holiday.

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  21. Dodgy Geezer Silver badge
    IT Angle

    Has nobody noticed...

    That Davis resigned on a Magna Carta point of principle against imprisonment without charge for 42 days. Good for him!

    But he also voted for, and STILL strongly supports on his blog, imprisonment without charge for 28 days. Err...Hiss, Boo..?

    I'm confused. Either he's a principled politician (in which case he does NOT support imprisonment without charge for one day), or he's a pragmatic politician who feels that 42 days is too long, but 28 days is about right. There isn't an in-between!

    I'm fine with him being either one, but I think it's a bit naughty for him to claim that he's both, and it's a bit naughty for El Reg to support him in this....

    The IT marker, because all this malarky is almost certainly about giving the police time to get their hands on a suspect computer system and see what they can make of it. No-one seems to appreciate this, and it would be nice for the Reg to do a piece on how long it might reasonably take to search the average protected computer. That would be a useful addition to the discussion....

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  22. Steve Woods
    Alert

    Singers

    Whenever the likes Geldof or Bono open their mouths, I'm afraid I'm reminded of the wise words about singers from the KLF's tongue-in-cheek guide to making a Number One single, i.e.:

    "Singers - good or bad - are invariably a problem... they also tend to confuse their role as singer of songs with that of would-be world leaders."

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  23. Stewart Haywood
    Thumb Down

    Bob The Gelding

    If Gelding has come to save us, I think that I'd rather do the 42 days!

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  24. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Politician=Eunuch

    Why do we see so many celebs "doing politics" - easy, because the politicians themselves have become so grey. At least in the Thatch, Kinnock etc times (pre-Bliar) you knew who these folks were. Now MPs have become so addicted to middle ground/rule-by-soundbite that they're all the same. Someone was remarking to me the other day that they couldn't name more than about five ministers and a deal less of their opposition "shadows" - you'd pass them in the street and not know!

    So DD maybe a self-serving, publicity-whore (hence the icon) but at least you'd recognise him now, (although - like "DodgyGeezer" said - I'd like to know his opinion on the 28 day det-without-charge issue)

    Anyone fancy putting up a "Sarah Bee for PM" candidate? I'll pass around the collection tin for the deposit...

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  25. Burch
    Stop

    @Svantevid

    Yeah, Russia, pretty much run by ex-KGB. Your opinion is clearly worthless.

    Davis wants publicity for his inevitable leadership contest, oh what a risk he's taking, standing again in an extremely safe Tory seat. It's not that I disagree with his objection to the law, but this will prove nothing, you could elect a pig in his constituency if it wore a blue rosette.

    #

    But hey, morons see it as some sort of stand. I hope he's prepared to pay for the cost of this waste of everyone's time.

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  26. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    oh god

    Geldof is such a t***t,,if there is one party that did more to harm freedom of speech it was the CONservatives..if your going to tell a lie tell a big one..for those who have a freaking short memory it was them who introduced CCTV!

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  27. John P
    Alert

    re: Davis for PM

    "A man that believes something and is prepared to take a stand on it. Despite a newspaper poll? That's *leader* material, not follower material."

    Tony believed that Iraq was right and took a stand against the whole country on it, inspite of the polls saying that the vast majority of the population didn't want another war. That kind of unstoppable belief and determination is a double-edged sword.

    For every man who uses it for good, there are 10 who don't

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  28. Stephen Jenner
    Happy

    A man of huge character.

    If David Davis is prepared to put his ministerial career on the line, it demonstrates that he has a spine.

    Effectively, he has called a local referendum on whether his constituents support this anti-terrorism legislation.

    Unless it has changed, the majority of the "hang-em-and-floggem" press supports Brown's 42 days sh*te, so he has taken a big risk.

    Now... Imagine a situation where one hundred plus Conservative and Labour MP's resigned and put themselves up for re-election over the lack of a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty?

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  29. I. Aproveofitspendingonspecificprojects
    Black Helicopters

    Please State...

    How long we should be allowed to spend in prison and what conditions therein. I would like to have sum idea if I am allowed to speak to anyone if I get clinked.

    Would I be in solitary? How many hours banged up per day? What access to a lawyer, family and WTH else, just so the police can maintain the right to ask me.... whatever the hell they might want to ask me or not as the case may be?

    I'd rather they were given the right to ask me questions after producing the body. I'd still have the right to STFU, I presume?

    I presume too that exorcizing the right to STFU is what is being tortured the hell out of me?

    BTW, did that religious persecution thing in Orkney a few decades ago ever get resolved? I'd hate to think what would happen if the monkey worshippers ever opened a Church of the Accidental Improvement.

    (Imagine the anarchy the police would have to put down if the Atheists ever got organised! It would be enough to turn a Muslim oriental.).

    AFT!

    Where the hell are they finding space to put suspects when they can't afford to lock up serious crims?

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  30. TeeCee Gold badge
    Happy

    Cause and Effect.

    Cause: Davis endorsed by Bob Geldof.

    Effect: The Official Monster Raving Loony Party order a few cases of Dom Perignon.

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