Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

I want to get my predictions on the record before the event. A little bit of ego, but mostly as a test of how well I have understood the events, the submissions, and the workings of the Inquiry. Others may want to make their own test.

Sir Gerard pointed out, as did others, that it may be that when we say we are willing to compromise our freedoms, we may mean that we are "willing to compromise the human rights of others, believing that the laws and practices we have accepted will have no impact on ourselves".

So the jury deliberated, over 21 days, working its way through the evidence, and in the end arriving at a set of verdicts that are, probably, about right. Benbrika, the mastermind, convicted on all charges. Some convicted, some not. Some convicted on some charges and not on others. One they couldn't decide on.

"In 1984, as you move up the hierarchy of the Party the role of doublethink becomes more conscious, complicated and significant. The proles don't have much need for doublethink. They aren't concerned with Party doctrine, and not expected to think, so mostly it is a simple matter of reconciling their own experience with the news reports. For ordinary Party members it is a bit more complicated, as they are concerned with doctrine, and their work is commonly (as it is for Winston) concerned with the mechanics of doublethink. But they are just doing a job, and higher authority must know what is right." Mark Sergeant