On Liberty - Softcover

Chakrabarti, Shami

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141976314 ISBN 13: 9780141976310

Publisher: Penguin UK, 2015

Synopsis

On Liberty is the story of today's threats to our freedoms and a highly personal, impassioned plea in defence of fundamental rights, from Shami Chakrabarti, Britain's leading human rights campaigner On 11 September 2001, our world changed. The West's response to 9/11 has morphed into a period of exception. Governments have decided that the rule of law and human rights are often too costly. In On Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti explores why our fundamental rights and freedoms are indispensable. She shows, too, the unprecedented pressures those rights are under today. Drawing on her own work in high-profile campaigns, from privacy laws to anti-terror legislation, Chakrabarti shows the threats to our democratic institutions and why our rights are paramount in upholding democracy. 'Probably the most effective public affairs lobbyist of the past 20 years' - David Aaronovitch, The Times 'The undaunted freedom fighter' - Observer 'The most dangerous woman in Britain' - Sun

About this title

About the Author

Shami Chakrabarti is Britain's leading human rights campaigner. Labour's Shadow Attorney General and a member of the House of Lords, Chakrabarti is an Honorary Professor of Law at the University of Bristol and the University of Manchester, an Honorary Fellow at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge and Mansfield College Oxford and a Master of the Bench of Middle Temple. Chakrabarti was the Director of Liberty, the National Council for Civil Liberties from 2003 to 2016 and the Chancellor of the University of Essex from 2014 to 2017. She is the author of On Liberty, an impassioned defence of human rights, published in 2014.

Review

That rarest of things, a history not overtaken by fast-moving events but enriched by them; a book that gains deeper meaning and urgency from the things it did not actually foretell... There is an elegant legal mind at work here, but one still in touch with emotional reality... you will read few clearer statements of the battle lines, and why they matter. This is an important book. Fingers crossed the new attorney general reads it -- Gaby Hinsliff * Guardian * Chakrabarti holds power to account with poise and quick intelligence... This vital book should be read by all our citizens. But read critically and judiciously, not as a sacred text. I hope it gets Britons excited, exercised and argumentative and that they start to care about the rights they have accumulated since the Magna Carta - before it is too late -- Yasmin Alibhai-Brown * Observer * She writes with eloquence and wit; the book is often moving and almost every sentence is deeply heartfelt. Chakrabarti joined Liberty on September 10 2001. It hardly needs to be said that the world changed the next day. This is her personal account of a battle against hasty and authoritarian anti-terrorism measures, ID cards, ASBOs, torture, cuts to legal aid and so on, introduced in moments of panic and political expediency. All these issues are explained and debated cogently and with conviction -- Ben Wilson * Daily Telegraph * On Liberty is a fascinating look at the tumultuous first 14 years of this century, and will leave you riveted and intellectually fired up * Stylist * On Liberty makes a powerful case... There are glimpses of real passion here and the unmistakable glimpse of steel too * Scotland on Sunday * Probably the most effective public affairs lobbyist of the past 20 years -- David Aaronovitch * The Times * An undaunted freedom fighter * Observer * The most dangerous woman in Britain * Sun *

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin UK
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0141976314
• ISBN 13: 9780141976310
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 256