George Monbiot explains here how a glut of barristers at Westminster has led to a crackdown on dissent.

"Some of the most illiberal laws of recent years - the 1986 Public Order Act, the 1992 Trade Union Act, the 1994 Criminal Justice Act, the 1996 Security Service Act, the 1997 Police Act and the 1997 Protection from Harassment Act - were drafted by the Conservative party. Blair has supplemented them with all manner of pernicious instruments (such as the 2000 Terrorism Act, the 2001 Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act, the 2001 Criminal Justice and Police Act, the 2003 Anti-Social Behaviour Act, the 2004 Civil Contingencies Act and the 2005 Serious Organised Crime and Police Act). But this illiberal trend long pre-dates him."

"I think it also reflects something else, seldom discussed by the press: the over-representation of lawyers in British politics. Lawyers have an instinctive love of new laws, as this is how they derive their power over the rest of us. In this respect, Blair differs not a jot from Margaret Thatcher, Howard, Jack Straw and the other barrister-legislators. When you elect lawyers, you get laws."

Amen.