THE whole country has just been remembering all those who gave their lives to defend the freedoms that we, the still living, now enjoy. Yet those very freedoms are under sustained attack from the very people who should now be defending them ? the Government in power. Although not a Labour supporter, I was glad when Labour won the 1997 election. I never doubted that they were committed to a fairer and more just society. Now what we are seeing nationally is our basic freedoms and what we thought were our rights, under attack. Without exception, our Labour Councillors and MPs are either actively supporting this attack, or they have been so neutered as to not oppose it in public. Nationally, we are seeing Labour propose detention without charge for anything up to three months. This is not just a simple detention but during that time the detainee will not even be told what crime he or she has been accused of. It was less than five years ago when the time limit the Police could hold someone before charging them, or seeking a magistrate?s approval for a longer period, was 48 hours. It?s already gone up to 14 days and it looks as if it is now going to increase again to at least 28 days. Labour is also proposing to make it a crime to walk in any street unless you carry a special piece of plastic with your name on it. You will also have to pay anything up to £130 for the privilege of getting that card in the first place. Maybe I?m wrong. Maybe in answer to this letter there will be a Labour Councillor or MP who has the courage to oppose the threats to this country?s hard won freedoms. But then again I fully expect history to repeat itself and there to be nothing other than a deafening silence; or even worse, a defence of the erosion of our civil liberties from the party that used to believe in and defend those liberties. Brian Salt Buckland Monachorum