[nicholassmith]

It's interesting, I'm not actually overly surprised Lord Falconer spoke out over this as whilst he's was repeatedly hammered over the fact that Section 7 was a clear affront to civil liberties he maintained a consistent line that it was for a very specific purpose. I imagine he's enjoying the opportunity to hoist the Conservatives and repeat his line of "we never made it for this".

Alternatively he might be angry that the overly broad legislation that he was involved with has been used an imperfect way and justified the criticism that it received. I lean a bit further toward getting one over on the Tories though.

[coopdog]

If he was a part of 'overly broad legislation' that 'could be used inappropriately but shouldn't be', then he's an idiot, or naive.

Put specific cases in which the law is applicable into the law itself, and specifically exclude as many applications as you can see that it shouldn't be applied for.

Giving broad powers to police and trusting them, just like trusting any human with broad powers, is a recipe for disaster. But then again we all knew this, I'm glad it's been an eye opener for him.

[jacquesm]

I remember the way he spoke during the Kelly affair and that stands out more than anything for me. Contrasted with that to speak out like this in the Guardian no less is completely out of character. He's as much a chip of the old block as there ever was and even though he no doubt doesn't mind grilling the Tories he is going far further than would be required for that.