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sillypunk's review against another edition
5.0
Absolutely amazing but does make me feel a bit ill about my adopted country :(
nicstar's review against another edition
4.0
"Human rights empower the vulnerable and irritate and inconvenience the mighty."
With the passing of the UK's "EU (Withdrawal) Bill" or "Repeal Bill" last night, and threats that the Government wants to replace the "Human Rights Act (1998)" with a "British Bill of Rights," the issue of human rights is at the forefront and matter now more than ever.
Shami makes a powerful case in "On Liberty" for our fundamental human rights to be protected at all costs, before they are eroded by the Government and it is too late.
With the passing of the UK's "EU (Withdrawal) Bill" or "Repeal Bill" last night, and threats that the Government wants to replace the "Human Rights Act (1998)" with a "British Bill of Rights," the issue of human rights is at the forefront and matter now more than ever.
Shami makes a powerful case in "On Liberty" for our fundamental human rights to be protected at all costs, before they are eroded by the Government and it is too late.
nobodyatall's review against another edition
4.0
Very informative and well argued without being overbearing though maybe a bit dry.
Well worth reading, I came away much better informed than i was from just reading political spin in newspapers.
Well worth reading, I came away much better informed than i was from just reading political spin in newspapers.
gtf21's review against another edition
5.0
This is by far one of the most important books out there at the moment. Shami Chakrabarti writes in engaging prose (on what some may consider a somewhat dry topic). The case she makes for Human Rights (the ECHR and Human Rights Act especially) is thoughtfully laid out, with a clear thesis but well debated points.
I shall certainly be recommending this book to everyone and anyone in the next few weeks!
I shall certainly be recommending this book to everyone and anyone in the next few weeks!
joanniesharpie's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
extemporalli's review against another edition
5.0
A brilliantly argued, knowledgeable and concise little book about the war on terror and consequential depredations of human rights in the UK. Shami Chakrabarti is a star, weaving together legal and rights-based analysis with anecdotes of her experience as director of Liberty and her personal life.
It's also remarkable, given the thinness of the book, how Chakrabarti manages to cover so much so quickly: state surveillance, detention without charge, torture, anti-social behaviour orders, children's rights, gender, the death penalty and the history of anti-terrorism legislation. All this while including relatable moments like this:
I have a great deal of admiration for Shami Chakrabarti and this book has definitely cemented it: her energy, her capacity to keep caring and keep working in the face of wave after wave of dispiriting setbacks to human rights and the rule of law, her sense of humour (I've seen her talk in real life and yes, she really does keep referring to the Home Office as 'Mordor'), etc. That being said - I don't agree with everything she says, particularly the infrequent references to Britain's 'noble legacy' (the Magna Carta and democracy), all the more jarring as she refers often within the same chapter to the crimes of colonialism and imperialism. As my friend so aptly says, she's a bit of a soft lefty. That being said, she's one of the best soft lefties there is out there.
It's also remarkable, given the thinness of the book, how Chakrabarti manages to cover so much so quickly: state surveillance, detention without charge, torture, anti-social behaviour orders, children's rights, gender, the death penalty and the history of anti-terrorism legislation. All this while including relatable moments like this:
My own horror at the death penalty began my personal human rights journey. For this I have my father to thank. As an eleven-year-old girl watching the TV news in my parents' North West London semi I remember being transfixed by the seemingly endless updates in the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper. One evening, especially unnerved by the coverage, I said something about what they should do to 'this animal' or 'monster', or something like that, when he was caught.
In my dad's first and perhaps last Atticus Finch moment, he asked me to consider that no justice system capable of human design or operation can ever be perfect. What would it feel like, I remember him saying, to be the one wrongly convicted person in a thousand or million walking to the gallows or electric chair or lethal injection? What would it feel like when every due process appeal was exhausted and when even your own family no longer believed you - yet you went to your death knowing that you didn't do that terrible thing for which you were about to be executed?
That evening my father's words captured my imagination and turned my stomach and it makes the hairs on my neck stand up even today as I write. I duly reconsidered and never looked back. If I went on in adult life to become the bug-bear of so many authoritarian men, they only have one of their own number - my dear old dad - to blame.
I have a great deal of admiration for Shami Chakrabarti and this book has definitely cemented it: her energy, her capacity to keep caring and keep working in the face of wave after wave of dispiriting setbacks to human rights and the rule of law, her sense of humour (I've seen her talk in real life and yes, she really does keep referring to the Home Office as 'Mordor'), etc. That being said - I don't agree with everything she says, particularly the infrequent references to Britain's 'noble legacy' (the Magna Carta and democracy), all the more jarring as she refers often within the same chapter to the crimes of colonialism and imperialism. As my friend so aptly says, she's a bit of a soft lefty. That being said, she's one of the best soft lefties there is out there.
qa31's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 (still waiting on my half star Goodreads!)
I guess it was appropriate that I finish this book on the same day that I went to see the Human Rights and Human Wrongs exhibition at the Photography Gallery. Shami Chakrabarti takes us on a a path and demonstrates how, during her time at Liberty (a day before 9/11), our government (both Labour and Conservative led) has done its very best to chip away at our civil liberties and make it easier to criminalise the most vulnerable in our society.
It is a shame that despite the history of the world so many of us need constant reminders that human rights are important.
I guess it was appropriate that I finish this book on the same day that I went to see the Human Rights and Human Wrongs exhibition at the Photography Gallery. Shami Chakrabarti takes us on a a path and demonstrates how, during her time at Liberty (a day before 9/11), our government (both Labour and Conservative led) has done its very best to chip away at our civil liberties and make it easier to criminalise the most vulnerable in our society.
It is a shame that despite the history of the world so many of us need constant reminders that human rights are important.