Friday, October 10, 2003
Independent(UK) Oct. 25,000 individuals who squeezed into the Royal Albert Hall yesterday . . .
The largest gathering of Britain's freemasons in more than a decade . . . marked the formation of a new central organisation for the capital's 1,585 lodges. . . .
To the satisfaction of many of those waiting to attend the second of the day's ceremonies, headed by the Duke of Kent, who as Grand Master is Britain's top mason, the Home Office yesterday confirmed it has dropped plans to require all freemasons in the police service and criminal justice system to identify themselves.
Robert Taylor, 47, a "legal professional" and a mason for 14 years . . . said: "I have no problems with being a mason and saying so but if you are saying that someone has to declare it by law, then that implies there is something wrong or dodgy about it."
Home Office sources confirmed that the compulsory registration scheme, proposed after a parliamentary select committee found in 2000 that there had been cases of improper masonic influence in the criminal justice system, was dropped after the United Grand Lodge, the umbrella body for freemasons in England Wales, claimed it would breach the Human Rights Act. . .
After a voluntary [registration] scheme put in place by Jack Straw . . . Ten of Britain's 43 police forces refused to take part. TOTAL INFORMATION ANALYSISLabels: masons .....---
.....| Posted at 23:47 | PERMA-LINK |
|
FEED
TOTAL411 PODCAST
SELECTED VIDEO ]