Starmer Builds An Israel Trap; Then It Gets Awkward

Right, so this is one of those stories where the danger isn't wearing a helmet, waving a flag, or kicking someone's door in at six in the morning. It's sitting in a Bill. Nice and quiet. Grey paper, serious title, national security sprayed all over it, but not in a nice way, more like a skunk.Starmer seems to be thinking just how much authoritarian borderline fascist policy can I ram through before handing over to Andy Burnham, and so his government is pushing a State Threats Bill, and the sales pitch is exactly what you'd expect: Russia, China, Iran, hostile powers, urgent threats, but don't worry your little heads about the wording. Yeah you, let me decide what I’ll worry about thank you very much Keith.And it’s in the House of Lords that the nasty bit of this has been pointed out.Information.Not money. Not weapons. Not formal support. Information. The thing journalists ask for, the thing aid workers need, the thing war reporting is actually built out of.And then it gets even more awkward, because the government says this whole proscription-style state-threats machine comes from Jonathan Hall's recommendation, Jonathan Hall KC and for those of us familiar with Johnathan Hall KC, the alarm bells are very much ringing. His public record on Israel, protest and terrorism law is not exactly what I’d call neutral.