Dr Fergal Davis, a civil liberties specialist at Lancaster University Law School, has entered the debate on the future of the Human Rights Act (HRA). He argues that focusing on the HRA itself may be a distraction from the more improtant goal of defending civil liberties. In particular, Fergal contends that courts and legal processes do not, in themselves,secure rights.To defend civil liberties,we must ensure that a rights discourse is at the centre of the broader political debate.