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Five Ideas to Fight For: How Our Freedom is Under Threat and Why it Matters
― Human Rights
― Equality
― Free Speech
― Privacy
― The Rule of Law
These five ideas are vitally important to the way of life we enjoy today. The battle to establish them in law was long and difficult, and Anthony Lester was at the heart of the thirty-year campaign that resulted in the Human Rights Act, as well as the struggle for race and gender equality that culminated in the Equality Act of 2010.
Today, however, our society is at risk of becoming less equal. From Snowden’s revelations about the power and reach of our own intelligence agencies to the treatment of British Muslims, our civil liberties are under threat as never before. The internet leaves our privacy in jeopardy in myriad ways, our efforts to combat extremism curtail free speech, and cuts to legal aid and interference with access to justice endanger the rule of law. A fierce argument for why we must act now to ensure the survival of the ideals that enable us to live freely, Five Ideas to Fight For is a revealing account of what we need to protect our hard-won rights and freedoms.
― Equality
― Free Speech
― Privacy
― The Rule of Law
These five ideas are vitally important to the way of life we enjoy today. The battle to establish them in law was long and difficult, and Anthony Lester was at the heart of the thirty-year campaign that resulted in the Human Rights Act, as well as the struggle for race and gender equality that culminated in the Equality Act of 2010.
Today, however, our society is at risk of becoming less equal. From Snowden’s revelations about the power and reach of our own intelligence agencies to the treatment of British Muslims, our civil liberties are under threat as never before. The internet leaves our privacy in jeopardy in myriad ways, our efforts to combat extremism curtail free speech, and cuts to legal aid and interference with access to justice endanger the rule of law. A fierce argument for why we must act now to ensure the survival of the ideals that enable us to live freely, Five Ideas to Fight For is a revealing account of what we need to protect our hard-won rights and freedoms.
- GenresNonfictionPoliticsLaw
256 pages, Paperback
First published June 7, 2016
23 people are currently reading
328 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 19, 2016
I received a free copy of this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.
For the record, the Five Ideas are:
Human Rights
Equality
Free Speech
Privacy
The Rule of Law
Lord Lester reviews the state of these ideas in the British Commonwealth, and their ebb and flow during his career in the House of Lords -- one bill at a time. As an American, I found the story enlightening, in an academic way; I would recommend the book much more highly to readers in the United Kingdom.
For the record, the Five Ideas are:
Human Rights
Equality
Free Speech
Privacy
The Rule of Law
Lord Lester reviews the state of these ideas in the British Commonwealth, and their ebb and flow during his career in the House of Lords -- one bill at a time. As an American, I found the story enlightening, in an academic way; I would recommend the book much more highly to readers in the United Kingdom.
August 24, 2017
Important subject matter, and the author had very important points to make, but I got a bit fed up of the underlying 'look, I'm brilliant, me' tone. 3 and a half stars really...
October 17, 2024
The best part of this book is the final paragraph:
'The achievements of the past fifty years now stand seriously threatened. There is much to defend and fortify and undo - and so much need for your active involvement in the pursuit of justice. Now over to you.'
Partially because it was finally done, partially because I genuinely like the sentiment.
This is not the most well-written book. However, it is bursting with information. If you want to familiarize yourself with the history of these Five Ideas to Fight For in the UK, this is a great book — even better if you want to know about Anthony Lester's career and the trials and tribulations he encountered while advocating for human rights (for much of the information is largely based on Lester’s personal experiences).
'The achievements of the past fifty years now stand seriously threatened. There is much to defend and fortify and undo - and so much need for your active involvement in the pursuit of justice. Now over to you.'
Partially because it was finally done, partially because I genuinely like the sentiment.
This is not the most well-written book. However, it is bursting with information. If you want to familiarize yourself with the history of these Five Ideas to Fight For in the UK, this is a great book — even better if you want to know about Anthony Lester's career and the trials and tribulations he encountered while advocating for human rights (for much of the information is largely based on Lester’s personal experiences).
June 14, 2020
I wanted to read non-fiction but this is honestly quite dry. It was a good informative read but not interesting enough to grip me. Nonetheless, an important book that has the ability to introduce you to the 5 core ideas of human rights. The book is similar to a collection of essays detailing the author's opinions and experiences. He is a lawyer, dealing mostly with cases on human rights. I love the beautiful cover!
December 31, 2023
Five Ideas to Fight For: How Our Freedom is Under Threat and Why it Matters by Anthony Lester looks at five important ideas related to the law, and more particularly, public law and the constitution. These ideas include Human Rights, Equality, Free Speech, Privacy and The Rule of Law. Lester explains each one of these ideas, as well as the relevant history behind each idea, and a number of examples are used throughout to illustrate his points. Lester has also looked at the reform of the five areas.
For my full review please visit- https://cembookportal.blogspot.com/20...
For my full review please visit- https://cembookportal.blogspot.com/20...
May 8, 2024
I purchased this book from Big Bad Wolf Books in 2018 and managed to finish it in 2019. As a human rights lawyer, I used to be excited about what this book talks about. Now, in the middle of my career (if I could say so), this book is still important. However, what's next in the human rights movement? When the Global North's gaze has ended and multilateralism is able to work as mandated for all of this ideas, or we currently fighting with each other rather than fight for this set of ideas? Human Rights ― Equality ― Free Speech ― Privacy ― The Rule of Law It's clear how we see a book differently with each chapter of our lives. I rate it 3.5/5 for Anthony Lester and his piece.
January 11, 2021
Not as interesting, as i hoped it would be, quite disapointed.
August 29, 2024
Very interesting and worthwhile read
July 24, 2016
Five Ideas to Fight For is Anthony Lester's case for continuing the fight for five essential ideas which together constitute the foundation of any society that claims to care about it's citizens. Lester has long been engaged in the fight and has been instrumental in many of the changes in British law.
While the ideas and history is told primarily from a UK perspective the arguments and progress (or lack thereof) pertain to all of society and actually closely parallel progress in some other countries. The takeaways from this book are the foundational nature of these ideas to freedom, how they have come under fire in recent years and why they are important for every generation to vigilantly protect, defend and fight for. These concepts are not restricted by international boundaries though the battles will certainly be different in every nation.
The writing is quite good, almost too good in that it can easily be read and understood at a rapid reading pace, yet these ideas should be pondered while reading as well as revisited after reading. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in what falls under the largely abstract concept of freedom, and it also would be of particular interest to those interested in recent UK political and legal history and how things have gotten to the point they have.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program.
While the ideas and history is told primarily from a UK perspective the arguments and progress (or lack thereof) pertain to all of society and actually closely parallel progress in some other countries. The takeaways from this book are the foundational nature of these ideas to freedom, how they have come under fire in recent years and why they are important for every generation to vigilantly protect, defend and fight for. These concepts are not restricted by international boundaries though the battles will certainly be different in every nation.
The writing is quite good, almost too good in that it can easily be read and understood at a rapid reading pace, yet these ideas should be pondered while reading as well as revisited after reading. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in what falls under the largely abstract concept of freedom, and it also would be of particular interest to those interested in recent UK political and legal history and how things have gotten to the point they have.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program.
April 19, 2017
It's well written but Lester has quite left-wing views, the moral rectitude of which he takes as a given rather than feeling the need to justify. All 5 ideas are worth fighting for but Lester doesn't seem to acknowledge the perspective of his ideological take on how these ideas should be approached. He's unabashedly frank about his role in CARD, the Coalition Against Racial Discrimination which he describes 'a febrile coalition of Marxists, Maoists, Trotskyists, Soviet Communists etc' - the fact that he doesn't seem to need to justify or put perspective on his association with people with such abhorrent ideological positions is quite telling.
It's a good history of rights issues over the last 50-60 years, and a good explanation of the legal frameworks involved, and a good account of Lester's stance, but in my opinion, not a balanced approach to the subject.
It's a good history of rights issues over the last 50-60 years, and a good explanation of the legal frameworks involved, and a good account of Lester's stance, but in my opinion, not a balanced approach to the subject.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews