As a UK citizen I feel that he certainly hasn't done me any harm and probably has done quite a lot of good so I find it bizarre that the government would make such a statement, especially as he would be mad to consider coming here!<p>I presume the real reasons for this are:<p>- To show solidarity with the US (presumably the NSA and GCHQ are as thick as thieves)<p>- So he doesn't give anyone at GCHQ ideas<p>I'm going to write to my MP about this:<p><a href="http://www.theyworkforyou.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.theyworkforyou.com/</a>
That is fun. But they do have the right according to wikipedia.<p><i>The treaty has been claimed to be one-sided[3] because it allows the US to extradite UK citizens and others for offences committed against US law, even though the alleged offence may have been committed in the UK by a person living and working in the UK (see for example the NatWest Three), and there being no reciprocal right; and issues about the level of proof required being less to extradite from the UK to the US rather than vice-versa.[4]</i><p>So basically Toni Blair has bent over, spreaded cheeks and prelubed himself.
Related: <i>"Senior politicians from across the political divide have united to call for UK security services to be given greater internet monitoring powers"</i> [1]<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22891845" rel="nofollow">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22891845</a>
I guess "dealing with" Assange is expensive enough for them.<p>Just think about all those police officers constantly monitoring the ecuadorian embassy.<p>Now think about having two of them in the country! Crikey!
When the 'Hong Kong Baffled by Snowden's Hideout' WSJ article was posted (<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5853397" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5853397</a>), one paragraph that leaped out at me and also got some attention in the comments was the following:<p><i>"Hong Kong is the worst place in the world for any person to avoid extradition, with the possible exception of the United Kingdom," said one lawyer who’s worked on a dozen extradition cases both in the U.K. and Hong Kong"</i><p>I don't know what to make of that or how to put it together with this Home Office alert, but it is all rather interesting.
I'm not sure it's actually a bad thing.<p>Realistically if he was in the UK he'd face extradition to the US. The home office putting out this alert means they won't have to do that.<p>The US would be happy for Snowden to enter the UK where he could easily be arrested.