I HAVE COME TO LOOK MOURNFULLY AT YOU FOR MINUTES ON ENDShami Chakrabarti is a tiny woman, it’s hard to tell from the tv screen but I’d say about 8 or 9 inches tall, maybe 10, and she is intensely irritating, she’s the Tinkerbell of Human Rights, always zooming and buzzing around and chucking the dust of moral obligation in your face – that sounds like fun, but she has no sense of humour, so imagine a glowering Tinkerbell with a copy of the European Convention on Human Rights under her a [...]

This book is written in the dry and unchallenging style used by many barristers; it sets out an argument in favour of Human Rights and in opposition to recent British governments of all persuasions, with supporting evidence from well known cases that have been in our news over the past decade, and in unpretentious language that aims for clarity and simplicity. It has no literary pretensions. This approach would work better if the Home Office (referred to as "Mordar" or "The Dark Tower" because o [...]

This is a fascinating analysis of the effect of human rights legislation and the erosion of our human rights since 9/11 and the implementation of increasingly restrictive legislation supposedly designed to counter terrorism. Its very factual in that the arguments are backed up by evidence of how such legislation has had a wider impact on our freedoms and how this could develop further leaving too much power in the hands of the authorities. Naturally the analysis is from Chakrabati's perspective [...]

"Human rights empower the vulnerable and irritate and inconvenience the mighty". Thought provoking read - can't wait to hear her speak on Thursday

A really great exploration of the importance of our human rights and the often difficult balancing act involved in upholding them. There was potential for Shami to get much deeper into some of the issues she raises but ultimately this would turn off many readers (possibly new to the ideas discussed) from picking the book up at all. As such, I think it is aimed just right. The arguments and style are such that novices and experts alike can appreciate the points raised for discussion and whether y [...]

Liberty, once well-known as the National Council for Civil Liberties, will be celebrating its 80th birthday next year.It is an auspicious moment for an organisation that was born in the heat of the social and economic struggles of the 1930s, bringing radical lawyers into the fray as defenders of the rights to the unemployed workers participating in the famous hunger marches of that period. With all the news about the entrenchment of low wages and the ubiquity of food banks in the life of the nat [...]

This is Shami Chakrabarti's autobiography of her professional life, concentrating mainly on her time at campaigning organisation Liberty. In it, she discusses many of the pressures that come with occupying legal posts in the Government and in the third sector, and offers genuine insight into law is practised in these different settings. I really enjoyed these bits of the book.I'm surprised to find myself saying that I enjoyed her extensive discussion and defense of Human Rights Law rather less. [...]

I picked this up when I was in Paris, where the concept of 'liberty' and 'rights' seem to be everywhere. As with all the best books, it got me thinking about life in a different way, and also got me thinking about things I had never really conceptualised before. I was shocked at how much the government has eroded our rights, but also by how little people where I live seem to value them - if they are even conscious of them at all. I am glad there are people like Shami Chakrabarti around, and it j [...]

A really important book. It tackles topics like the Human Rights Act, prisoners' voting rights and police snooping: all things I thought I had a clear opinion on, and all things that Chakrabarti either crystallised or altered in her arguments.My criticisms are few. The book isn't ambitious enough as far as I'm concerned. You can't evoke John Stuart Mill and then spend your entire word count consumed by legal matters. A little more philosophy would have been great.The writing also isn't of the hi [...]

3.5 (still waiting on my half star !)I guess it was appropriate that I finish this book on the same day that I went to see the Human Rights and Human Wrongs exhibition at the Photography Gallery. Shami Chakrabarti takes us on a a path and demonstrates how, during her time at Liberty (a day before 9/11), our government (both Labour and Conservative led) has done its very best to chip away at our civil liberties and make it easier to criminalise the most vulnerable in our society.It is a shame tha [...]

She's not a clear writer and she often misses opportunities to logically lay out the imperative for an application of a human rights framework. However, she's passionate and informative, and in many cases I underlined quotes that I both agree with and will use in the future.

Turns out that Human Rights are I thing we need. Who knew?

Chakrabarti has interesting ideas but she's not a very good writer.

I struggled a little bit to get into, and figure out the format of, this book, but it was magnificent. I can't believe the things I didn't know about the UK's battle with human rights in the 21st century, and there seems no one better to introduce it. Shami Chakrabarti expertly illustrates the case against policies that infringe on human rights, even and perhaps especially the human rights of those who disrespect others. Her case is clear and utterly comprehensive, covering every angle from whic [...]

A completely revolutionary, concise book offering an excellent account as to how our freedoms as citizens have been unnecessarily eroded in the name of the 'War on Terror.' Citing deep experience and knowledge, Chakrabarti uncovers the way in which successive governments have made us less free: whether it is looking at our messages, the cutting of legal aid or the use of torture overseas, each is explored, the reasons against such a matter coherently set out, with an allowance of people forming [...]

"Human rights empower the vulnerable and irritate and inconvenience the mighty." With the passing of the UK's "EU (Withdrawal) Bill" or "Repeal Bill" last night, and threats that the Government wants to replace the "Human Rights Act (1998)" with a "British Bill of Rights," the issue of human rights is at the forefront and matter now more than ever. Shami makes a powerful case in "On Liberty" for our fundamental human rights to be protected at all costs, before they are eroded by the Government a [...]

Not always particularly well written. Shami Chakrabarti sometimes get distracted by name-dropping or legal details.However, some of the battles with New Labour over civil liberties were written well. All these events were background noise to me growing up and so I mostly didn't notice what was going on at the time.The illusion that many Brits have that 'at least we aren't as bad as those crazy Americans' is well refuted here. We shouldn't allow ourselves to be complacent.

part human rights manifesto, part coming of age story, Shami sets out her rise to human rights superstardom. clearly irritating to some (just see other reviews) it is nonetheless interesting to hear her explanations. as ever, lawyers are high on principle and fussy on detail, but I doubt there are many that could articulate the case for human rights so clearly.

Short, and therefore without the weight that wide-ranging and in-depth examples can offer, but the passion and the power are tangible. Worth a read, particularly for its commentary on the Human Rights Act.

Pretty much reads as a propaganda piece - zero circumspection from Chakrabarti here. With that said, it's a very well-written and convincing propaganda piece.

In a time where our civil liberties are so severely under pressure, Chakrabarti delivers a uniquely clear and eloquent warning that are too often lost of the readers of other works on the topic.

This is a really hard book to rate. In fact I'm going to reverse my usual process and write my review first; hopefully I'll decide how many stars to give it by the time I've finished!So, this is a very important book, full of some big ideas about civil liberties that seem even more important now than when the book was written in 2014. The book covers privacy, anti-terrorism laws, immigration and refugees, and other related issues, primarily in a UK and EU context, and I'm very glad that I read i [...]

Shami Chakrabarti’s media appearances always win my admiration for her passionate sincerity, eloquence and the humour bubbling up beneath the intense conviction. So, I had high expectations of this account of more than a decade of employment, mostly as Director, of Liberty, formed in 1934 as the National Council of Civil Liberties in response to the brutal police handling of the Jarrow hunger marchers.The author concentrates for the most part on her work, rather than personal life, reminding u [...]

A brilliantly argued, knowledgeable and concise little book about the war on terror and consequential depredations of human rights in the UK. Shami Chakrabarti is a star, weaving together legal and rights-based analysis with anecdotes of her experience as director of Liberty and her personal life. It's also remarkable, given the thinness of the book, how Chakrabarti manages to cover so much so quickly: state surveillance, detention without charge, torture, anti-social behaviour orders, children' [...]

Dip your toes into the murky water that is the quiet war that governments around the world are waging on human rights. Narrated by former Director of Liberty and leading human rights activist, Shami Chakrabarti, this book serves as an excellent introduction for any who are not aware of how the political debate on immigration and terrorism can infringe on our most basic human rights.I'd say this is a 3.5 but I rounded up because I found some of it quite shocking and I certainly won't forget it. F [...]

I can't, in all honesty, say that I enjoyed this book, but I do think it's an important one and one that I got a lot out of. I had to read it in reasonably short doses because it would just make make angry. The behaviour of politicians and the media leaves a lot to be desired and Chakrabarti has no qualms about dipping into the mire for examples to illustrate her case.The fact that people have such short memories that they actively argue that rights accorded to a person purely for being human, w [...]

I don't read a lot of non-fiction and especially not anything related to law but I saw Shami Chakrabarti on some UK panel shows and I wanted to learn more about her stance. I really enjoyed reading this and it posed terrifying questions about how governments can dismantle our rights under other guises. I found her chapters on rendition and surveillance particularly enlightening and I don't think I will ever see the UK government in quite the same light in relation to these issues since reading t [...]

Continuing the theme if books to shake me out of my complacent middle age conservatism, this is an impassioned defence of human rights per se and a reminder specifically of the importance of the European Convention on Human Rights, which, of course, is timely, given that our present government want to get rid of it, largely to appease tabloid news editors. It isn't exactly a laugh a minute, but then why would it be? OK, so it's dull in places, but it's a good insulation against any tendencies yo [...]

This should be mandatory reading. In school and outside. It might not be prize winning literary greatness but it brings home a truly important message for all. Freedom is not free and it also isn't a frivolity. Human rights and their defence are of utmost, critical importance for any society that cares to think of itself as free. To understand how they are casually and cynically eroded by the most venal, self-serving and thoughtless demagogues, career politicians and mandarins is to feel your pu [...]

This is a short book, made even shorter by the inclusion of the full text of the Humans Rights Act 1998. In fact only just over 140 pages are given over to a defence of the Act. But that's more than enough space for Shami Chakrabarti to mount a thorough defence of having the European Convention on Human Rights incorporated in British law, showing how real the dangers to our liberty are, and how the HRA has, and should continue to, protect us from those in power who, regardless of what they might [...]