Protection of Freedom

A "maverick Conservative peer", which in the present context could mean anything from somebody afflicted with occasional independence of mind, through a mediocrity who was once caught in bed with an Airedale, to an ultramontane birch-and-rope wog-bomber with Maastricht engraved on its heart, is pushing a bill to cleanse Britain's forced-entry laws of excessive Britishness. Baron Selsdon has managed to eliminate the more outdated provisions of the 1980 Bees Act, which entitles people to claim a share of the honey made from pollen taken in their own garden as long as they can follow the trespassing bee back to its hive; and despite being a member of the Conservative Party he appears more or less au fait with the outdatedness of the 1950 Distribution of German Enemy Property Order. Nevertheless, in keeping with the New Labour spirit of Daveybloke's cuddly modernisers, the Baron has taken care that his Protection of Freedom Bill does not unduly restrict the liberty of ministers to trample over civil rights whenever the mood takes them. An all-party constitutional committee thanked the Baron for his efforts, but noted optimistically that future governments may be less benign than the present one.