Nothing to fear but fear itself?

Coincidentally, I am currently reading a thriller written by Stella Rimington, ex-head of MI5, who is very much in the news at the moment for her assertion that the Government's anti-terrorism legislation is in fact handing a victory to the terrorists. Don't want to say I got there first, but you might like to read my post of 13/10/05. The idea of protecting our liberties by curtailing them always seemed a very strange proposition.