At the second of the Orwell Prize's events at the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival 2009, Shami Chakrabarti and Nick Cohen discuss civil liberties, and in particular the Human Rights Act, a British Bill of Rights, freedom of expression , religion and libel. Chaired by Jean Seaton. The event celebrates the 60th anniversary of Orwell's classic dystopian novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four. In this part, Shami Chakrabarti opens the discussion.
Shami is aware of Orwellian language at home, but seems to swallow every Orwellian euphemism and lie when describing politics abroad.
hexag1 2 years ago
"there wasn't really a modern idea of universal human rights before WW2"
WTF?
She must have read the US BoR. Why doesn't she think it counts. The constitution distinguishes between citizens and human beings more generally (it says "persons").
richardcadbury 2 years ago
I'm a huge supporter of Shami.
clchoicl 2 years ago 2