Society

When the spooks think matters have got out of hand then, you know, they’ve probably gotten out of hand. The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) was passed in 2000 to regulate the way that public bodies such as the police and the security services carry out surveillance. Originally only a handful of authorities were able to use RIPA but its scope has been expanded enormously and now there are at least 792 organisations using it, including hundreds of local councils. This has generated dozens of complaints about anti-terrorism legislation being used to spy on, for example, a nursery suspected of selling pot plants unlawfully, a family suspected of lying

Michael Gerson, formerly George W Bush’s chief speechwriter, has been to the Congo. As you might imagine, it’s pretty grim there. So, naturally, Gerson has this to say: Security in eastern Congo is the prerequisite for political progress. Nkunda will continue to push until someone effectively pushes back. The Congolese army is incapable of defeating him. While the U.N. peacekeeping force is the reason that Goma was not taken, it does not have the political will and the capabilities to contain Nkunda. It lacks rapid-reaction forces and night-fighting capabilities. This leaves one alternative — a capable, hard-hitting European military force, supported by the United States, which would stabilize the situation,

I knew someone would call me out on this. And sure enough, commenting on this post, faithful reader Sam G writes: First paragraph: “gotten”? O tempora, O Mores indeed. To which I say: hooey. To begin with, there’s much to be said for the vigour of American English. Plus, as you know, gotten is merely an ancient form that, though out of fashion in the old country, was preserved in the new world. As is so often the case, we turn to the Sage of Baltimore for guidance. Here’s Mencken: Whatever the true cause of the substitution of the preterite for the perfect participle, it seems to be a tendency