4 ms·

I think the idea that this matters is pretty fanciful. The unveiling of this bill is actually quite funny - Boris Johnson has announced he's stepping down as PM

I think the idea that this matters is pretty fanciful. The unveiling of this bill is actually quite funny - Boris Johnson has announced he's stepping down as PM and there's a leadership election to find his successor going on right now. But the reason he stepped down is that he won a confidence vote amongst his MPs, but then it turned out he knowingly appointed a sex pest as his deputy chief whip - and so everyone who worked for him quit. The reason I'm giving you this detail, is that since he's waiting for his successor to be chosen he still needs people doing all those jobs. So the guy responsible for presenting this bill to parliament has been in place for 2 weeks, because the previous minister quit (hilariously, so many people were quiting the previous minister didn't even write her own resignation letter, she co-signed a letter with 4 other people). The reason all that detail is important is that the new Prime Minister will select an entirely new set of ministers. So basically, someone new will be responsible for coming up with this legislation and getting it through parliament by the 5th of September. But surely we could make a lot of progress on this bill in parliament before September? Well, you would think that's the case, but Parliament goes on their Summer holiday today. Guess when they come back to parliament - that's right! The 5th of September.

mathieuh 4y ago
The rabid intensity with which the tories are trying to remove any link to EU makes me nervous the government will push through with this, simply for ideological reasons rather than any link with reality. To be fair, that would apply for lots of things the government has done recently.
- dcomp 4y ago
  It's quite scary that the House of lords (unelected peers), previously seen as undemocratic may be the only thing stopping the commons from rushing through legislation as they don't have to pander to public option. Which I guess was always their purpose
  - sorokod 4y ago
    Most democracies place buffers between the will of the masses and the levers of power. For very good reasons too. In UK there is the house of lords and the indirect election of the prime minister.
- 12ian34 4y ago
  There's a good chance that Liz Truss will be our next PM. Which, coupled with the opinion polls on the Conservatives makes me believe that there's a good chance that Labour will win the next election. This I think could lead to a referendum to rejoin the EU, which I think would probably win. This is likely to lead to the UK reforming those EU links.
  - canbus 4y ago
    fingers crossed... hopefully they actually let us back in!
  - richrichardsson 4y ago
    > There's a good chance that Liz Truss will be our next PM Such a horrific plausibility it doesn't bare thinking about, but I suspect the rank and file Conservative members might have a problem putting a brown man in charge, even if the alternative is as incompetent as the incumbent without the "charm". > This I think could lead to a referendum to rejoin the EU Unlikely. > which I think would probably win Even more unlikely. Brexshitters would insist upon some sensible rules, such as 70% (or more) in favour for it to pass. I'd guess a vote today would likely be similarly split as last time, only just slightly in favour to rejoin.
    - 12ian34 4y ago
      > Such a horrific plausibility it doesn't bare thinking about Just wait until she gives Boris the Foreign Secretary job... > Unlikely Agreed - it's all very unlikely but I'm hopeful!
    - gadders 4y ago
      Labour hasn't even ever had a woman leader, whereas the Tories have had two. They are far more diverse than the Labour party.
      - matthewmacleod 4y ago
        Of course, back in the real world – "diversity" is not a value which is calculated based on "how many women leaders has the party had". I'm sure you appreciate that to say so would be a silly partisan talking point without any value.
- MattPalmer1086 4y ago
  Have to demonstrate the benefits of liberating ourselves from the stifling EU rules! Now we can have two different sets of rules to comply with if we do business with the EU. It is entirely ideological.
rsynnott 4y ago
I mean, the temptation is to say "this is just posturing by someone who's getting their few weeks as a minister, it'll never come in, no need to worry about it". But it's worth noting that another thing that started off as posturing was Brexit (at the time Cameron promised a vote, a Tory majority would have seemed rather implausible, so really it was just electioneering). The Tories have a track record of accidentally backing themselves into a corner and having to do the silly thing they talked about.
- bodge5000 4y ago
  Whilst thats true, Brexit was monumentally bigger and had a lot more public support. If there were a GE now and the tories silently dropped this from their manifesto, I doubt many people would notice or care. I've heard a few people saying things like "something should be done", but nobody outside of tech circles (and even many people within it) I've spoken to supports this bill, in fact none of them have even heard of it.
- blibble 4y ago
  > I mean, the temptation is to say "this is just posturing by someone who's getting their few weeks as a minister, it'll never come in, no need to worry about it" I'd say: if they're saying that they don't understand how the political system in the UK works
- SilverBirch 4y ago
  Oh I'm quite certain that the new UK data laws are going to be a total shit show and there's absolutely no possibility that they'll be compatible with EU regulations causing a massive spike in red tape. But I'm certain of that because that's the entire direction of the tory party since they expelled everyone to the left of Mussolini in the 2019 election. I'm just saying the details of this particular draft are moot.
bodge5000 4y ago
Honestly, you could remove the resignation, the chaos, the summer holidays (over a month off is a bit rich, but thats another matter), all of these details, and I'd still doubt they'd ever happen. Remember when the plan was simply to add ID checks to adult websites, and how 2 years later that still didn't happen? If they couldnt get something that unambitious through, in years that were, relative to now, fairly stable, theres no chance they'd get this monster of a bill through. And thats before you add in all those bonus factors you mentioned. There are some benefits to an incompetent government.
kergonath 4y ago
British politics never cease to amaze. That said, isn’t there a significant probability that this gets voted in September anyway with nobody having bothered to read it?

mathieuh 4y ago

The rabid intensity with which the tories are trying to remove any link to EU makes me nervous the government will push through with this, simply for ideological reasons rather than any link with reality. To be fair, that would apply for lots of things the government has done recently.

dcomp 4y ago
It's quite scary that the House of lords (unelected peers), previously seen as undemocratic may be the only thing stopping the commons from rushing through legislation as they don't have to pander to public option. Which I guess was always their purpose
- sorokod 4y ago
  Most democracies place buffers between the will of the masses and the levers of power. For very good reasons too. In UK there is the house of lords and the indirect election of the prime minister.
12ian34 4y ago
There's a good chance that Liz Truss will be our next PM. Which, coupled with the opinion polls on the Conservatives makes me believe that there's a good chance that Labour will win the next election. This I think could lead to a referendum to rejoin the EU, which I think would probably win. This is likely to lead to the UK reforming those EU links.
- canbus 4y ago
  fingers crossed... hopefully they actually let us back in!
- richrichardsson 4y ago
  > There's a good chance that Liz Truss will be our next PM Such a horrific plausibility it doesn't bare thinking about, but I suspect the rank and file Conservative members might have a problem putting a brown man in charge, even if the alternative is as incompetent as the incumbent without the "charm". > This I think could lead to a referendum to rejoin the EU Unlikely. > which I think would probably win Even more unlikely. Brexshitters would insist upon some sensible rules, such as 70% (or more) in favour for it to pass. I'd guess a vote today would likely be similarly split as last time, only just slightly in favour to rejoin.
  - 12ian34 4y ago
    > Such a horrific plausibility it doesn't bare thinking about Just wait until she gives Boris the Foreign Secretary job... > Unlikely Agreed - it's all very unlikely but I'm hopeful!
  - gadders 4y ago
    Labour hasn't even ever had a woman leader, whereas the Tories have had two. They are far more diverse than the Labour party.
    - matthewmacleod 4y ago
      Of course, back in the real world – "diversity" is not a value which is calculated based on "how many women leaders has the party had". I'm sure you appreciate that to say so would be a silly partisan talking point without any value.
MattPalmer1086 4y ago
Have to demonstrate the benefits of liberating ourselves from the stifling EU rules! Now we can have two different sets of rules to comply with if we do business with the EU. It is entirely ideological.

rsynnott 4y ago

I mean, the temptation is to say "this is just posturing by someone who's getting their few weeks as a minister, it'll never come in, no need to worry about it". But it's worth noting that another thing that started off as posturing was Brexit (at the time Cameron promised a vote, a Tory majority would have seemed rather implausible, so really it was just electioneering). The Tories have a track record of accidentally backing themselves into a corner and having to do the silly thing they talked about.

bodge5000 4y ago
Whilst thats true, Brexit was monumentally bigger and had a lot more public support. If there were a GE now and the tories silently dropped this from their manifesto, I doubt many people would notice or care. I've heard a few people saying things like "something should be done", but nobody outside of tech circles (and even many people within it) I've spoken to supports this bill, in fact none of them have even heard of it.
blibble 4y ago
> I mean, the temptation is to say "this is just posturing by someone who's getting their few weeks as a minister, it'll never come in, no need to worry about it" I'd say: if they're saying that they don't understand how the political system in the UK works
SilverBirch 4y ago
Oh I'm quite certain that the new UK data laws are going to be a total shit show and there's absolutely no possibility that they'll be compatible with EU regulations causing a massive spike in red tape. But I'm certain of that because that's the entire direction of the tory party since they expelled everyone to the left of Mussolini in the 2019 election. I'm just saying the details of this particular draft are moot.

bodge5000 4y ago

Honestly, you could remove the resignation, the chaos, the summer holidays (over a month off is a bit rich, but thats another matter), all of these details, and I'd still doubt they'd ever happen. Remember when the plan was simply to add ID checks to adult websites, and how 2 years later that still didn't happen? If they couldnt get something that unambitious through, in years that were, relative to now, fairly stable, theres no chance they'd get this monster of a bill through. And thats before you add in all those bonus factors you mentioned. There are some benefits to an incompetent government.

kergonath 4y ago

British politics never cease to amaze. That said, isn’t there a significant probability that this gets voted in September anyway with nobody having bothered to read it?