In less than two hours the House of Commons votes on whether to pass legislation allowing terror suspects to be detained for 42 days without charge.

I fear the Government will win the debate but as has been mentioned by many the debate has become a test of strength of Gordon Brown. Labour's worse Prime Minister since Ramsay Macdonald is claiming that it is all about saving the country from terror and that the police and security services want the extra time.

That as with so much of what Gordon Brown says is a lie. The security services have not said that they want extra time and many policemen say that it is unnecessary. Sir Ken McDonald, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service, says that it is unnecessary. Former attorney general Lord Goldsmith says that it is unnecessary.

Acpo, the Association of Chief Police Officers, the unelected cabal of top coppers says that it is required but then if you ask them if they wanted 90 days, 180 days, a year, 42 years - they would say yes. Acpo always wants more and more power.

One might ask why 42 days is necessary in Britain when 14 days is sufficient in so many other "civilised" countries.

The Government promises safeguards but it also said that the RIPA powers would only be used to prevent terrorism. More than 150 local councils have so far used the powers for such heinous crimes as dog fouling, putting too much rubbish in a bin and trying to get a child into a particular school. Who authorised that?

If you give politicians and the police powers they will always, always, always abuse them.

As a sop Gordon Brown has said that people held after 28 days and not charged will receive compensation. So that's all right then. The police arrest an innocent man and hold him for more than 28 days and the taxpayer ends up paying... again.

This legislation is unnecessary and the sooner it is put in the bin the better.

Wedding pictures breach data protection rules...

At my time of life I seem to be attending more funerals than weddings - still, I remember the photos taken as the happy couple sign the register.

Now, that looks like becoming yet another thing of the past as this government seeks to interfere in every aspect of our lives.

A number of local councils are refusing to let couples be photographed signing the register because it "breaches data protection rules" and, get this, "There is also a high risk of damage to the register with a fountain pen when the bride and groom are looking at the camera and not the pen".

Naturally, the health and safety of the register must be paramount - after all, if these regulations save one book from being damaged...

Is there no aspect of life in this country that Labour and its prodnose apparatchiks feel is exempt from their meddling?