Some people’s taste in music can be pretty bad, but criminal??

A jazz musician in Wales was arrested by armed police as part of a major anti-terror raid. Victor Frederick had been aware of police surveillance days before his arrest.

From WalesOnline, via Cory Doctorow on Boing Boing:

Victor Frederick, 63, was arrested and strip-searched just yards from his home, just moments after his partner Andrea Heath and their daughter had infra-red sights trained at them and were told they would be shot if they moved.

No charges were ever brought against Mr Frederick…[who told how] police interpreted soundproofing equipment and wiring from his musical studio as a potential sign of illicit activity.

Mr Frederick was informed he was being arrested on suspicion of making explosives, but later during questioning, police told him they had found nothing.

So finally, the Home Office is to be split into two. Great news; we’ve been calling for it for years, and though we’d prefer the Cabinet Office to co-ordinate counter-terrorism efforts, the Ministry of Justice is welcome.

One big caveat, though: why the rush? The whole thing is to be completed by May 9th - just 41 days away.

There couldn’t be a link to the upcoming departure of one Tony Blair, could there? A desire to have the split set in stone before Gordon can get his feet under the table?

There may be other reasons, too, that we can’t talk about yet. But remember over the next week or so just how eager John Reid was to have set the ball rolling on his counter-terrorism reforms.