[BBKing]

vociferous bunch of people of certain political leaning that will defend the most bizarre activities in the name of †œcivil libertiesâ₠¬Â

I disagree that they're of a 'certain political leaning', whatever that may mean (left-wing, presumably). Quite a lot of them are judges, who aren't usually card-carrying communists, being overwhelmingly middle-aged white males who went to good schools and universities*.

I think the defining feature isn't political leaning, rather an awareness of why the rule of law is necessary (to provide a peaceful way of resolving disputes and stop vigilante justice, for starters) and why, in order for this necessary environment to come about, the law has to apply to everyone equally, or no one. That this includes the dregs of society is regrettably necessary, unless someone would care to propose a better solution?

I could throw a large cat amongst the pigeons by pointing out the existence of a vociferous bunch whose historical and political education is lacking to the extent that they want to use a few examples puffed up in tabloid newspapers to chuck out millennia of British legal history, apparently dismissing the correct operation of the law as passed by the Mother of Parliaments as 'bizarre activities'. What tends to amuse me is that such radical thinkers often think of themselves as 'conservatives'. Anarchists would be more appropriate.

* Mind you, that was where the KGB used to recruit...