Could the Pirate Party have a big influence on UK politics?

The Daily Telegraph is noting that the Pirate Party UK is now registered on the Electoral Commission's register of political parties.

The original Pirate Party stunned the political class in Sweden when they won a seat at the recent European elections.

It must be noted that the Pirate Party UK is not the same party as the Swedish party, but they share a common ethos and, apparently, communicate.

Their emergence as a British political party could have a fundamental bearing on future elections in the UK. Their primary message of overhauling copyright laws is sure to appeal to the 18-to-25 year old demographic. The sharing of clips of old tracks by their favourite artists or rare tracks from the recording sessions of a couple of years previous seems quite commonplace.

The Talking Clock still buys physical music products, but it's easy to see how hardcore fans might enjoy hearing a rare recording from their favourite artist.

Here's a little more of what the Pirate Party UK has to say:

We have 3 core policies:

• Reform copyright and patent law. We want to legalise non-commercial file sharing and reduce the excessive length of copyright protection, while ensuring that when creative works are sold, it's the artists who benefit, not monopoly rights holders. We want a patent system that doesn't stifle innovation or make life saving drugs so expensive that patients die.

• End the excessive surveillance, profiling, tracking and monitoring of innocent people by Government and big businesses.

• Ensure that everyone has real freedom of speech and real freedom to enjoy and participate in our shared culture.

In recent years we have seen an unprecedented onslaught on the rights of the individual. We are treated like criminals when we share entertainment digitally, even though this is just the modern equivalent of lending a book or a DVD to a friend. We look on helpless as our culture and heritage, so important for binding our society together, is eroded and privatised.

Now there is a democratic alternative. We, the people, can take back our rights. We, the people, can overturn the fat cats and the corrupt MPs who hold our nation's cultural treasures to ransom, ignore our democratic wishes and undermine our civil liberties.

A political party whose primary concern includes civil liberties is sure to appeal to a broad spectrum of people and - on that basis - this blog wishes the Pirate Party UK every success in it's efforts. It will be difficult for them, but not impossible... as the Swedish Pirate Party has already proved.

Meanwhile, the one note of cynicism that we will express is on their stated ethos of supporting free speech. When The Talking Clock was at University, there was lots said about 'free speech'. Students love to bang on about it.

However, we did note that free speech was encouraged at the University that we attended - provided it was extreme left wing in orientation and anything else was very frowned upon and virtually not allowed, let alone a valid opinion. Many UK Universities have a 'no platform' policy within student unions for the BNP, for example.

So, we're all in favour of 'free speech' provided that everyone - everyone - is free to speak.

We digress. We wish the Pirate Party UK every success and hope that they can play a big part in making the 18-to-25 year old age group in particular more aware of how their civil liberties have been eroded under New Labour, and how we might start going about getting our rights as human beings back from the corporate strangle holders who are currently ruling the roost over our once great nation and our beautiful lives.