Do we learn the lessons of history, or are we for ever condemned to repeat our mistakes? I believe human rights to be as much a way of looking at the world as a box of legal protections for the vulnerable against the powerful when all else has failed.
On 10 September 2001, I came to Liberty to help transform a first-rate law centre into a broader modern campaign. I had barely 24 hours before the twin towers atrocity robbed me of any opportunity for “blue sky thinking”. The challenges of the coming years were to be set elsewhere.
Two years later, I became director – a privilege I will soon hand on. The lessons of the intervening period have been surprisingly simple. When fear stalks the land, blank cheques become all too easy and ever more dangerous.