It is time as we come to our conclusion to draw the various threads of this book together. Why does the Human Rights Act matter so much? Read more in Chapter 14.

With ever-increasing hostility to the Human Rights Act the confident outward-looking British face retreats into an inward-looking English one, seeking as it does so to compensate for decline with tighter control over its (much-reduced) backyard. Read more in Chapter 13.

To what extent are the changes already achieved by the Human Rights Act now embedded in our law, and not reliant on the continued survival of the Act for their existence? Read more in Chapter 12.

There is a strong dose of late 1940s exceptionalism still evident in British political culture. It may yet cause the country to leave the Council of Europe, opting out completely from the European Convention. Read more in Chapter 11.

One of the most interesting features of the Human Rights Act when you get to grips with it is how its protection extends in more important ways to every one of us. Read more in Chapter 10.