I’ll tell you what worries me most about these proposed ‘preventative’ anti-terror laws.

It isn’t that they are unconstitutional.

It isn’t that they are open to abuse.

It is that we are now open to penalisation not for our actions, which we can control, or our beliefs, which are to some extent our choice (although I would argue that beliefs should never be legislated anyway), but for what other people think our actions or beliefs may be now or on some future occasion.

This kind of legislation means that it is not enough simply to obey the law. One must also be seen to have the appearance of someone who would not consider disobeying the law.

I, for one, am terrified.