A POOR PROPOSAL

IT is often said that “the law is an ass” and sometimes it seems that that those who administer it share that characteristic. The proposal by the Appeal Court judge Sir Stephen Sedley that the DNA profiles of the entire UK population should be kept on the national criminal database certainly seems to bear out that possibility, especially since Sir Stephen later said in a BBC interview that foreign visitors to Britain should be included. If the slow baggage delivery at Heathrow does not deter foreign visitors we can be sure that having to make their DNA profile available would most certainly relieve the crowding. Perhaps Sir Stephen was only trying to point out the logic of the direction in which existing legislation is leading us. If so he performed a valuable function because this is the point at which most people will say “enough is enough” and agree with the instant reaction of Shami Chakrabati, director of the human rights organisaton Liberty, who described his idea as “a chilling proposal, ripe for indignity, error and abuse.” Unfortunately the responsible Home Office minister, Tom McNulty, minced his words rather than speaking plainly as Ms Chakrabati had done. He said he was “broadly sympathetic” to the idea but that there were “huge practicalities, logistics and civil rights and ethics issues.” So why is he “broadly sympathetic”? Sir Stephen's proposal should be filed away and never heard of again.