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I think we really need to take a step back and appreciate that to some extent the UK governmental system is kind of working here. The UK government has an 80 se
by SilverBirch 4y ago
I think we really need to take a step back and appreciate that to some extent the UK governmental system is kind of working here. The UK government has an 80 seat majority, and it has advanced some really shonky legislation (this was an example, but the UK Bill of Rights was just as absurd), it's been quite impressive to see how successfully parliament has delayed, derailed and modified these attempts to blunder through legislation. The UK cabinet at this point has descended into a total farce, but the parts of our parliament outside of government - the committee stages, the Lords, amendments have all had great stabilizing effects and slowly forced the government into a fairly reasonable position.
>The opposition Labour Party said replacing the "prevention of harm" with an emphasis on free speech undermined the bill's purpose.
I mean... they're not wrong. The original intention behind this bill was insane, and it no longer does what it wnated. The fundamental problem that the government is facing is that there's behavior they want to discourage but can't functionally ban. Legally you have a choice, you either get ambiguous and open it up to abuse, or you go narrow and fail to really address the issue. I think this approach is fine, but we may have to revisit it.
- enkid 4y agoThe thing about democracies is they are resilient but appear resilient. Autocracies are fragile but appear resilient. This is because democracies have open debate about policy, and criticism is an integral part of the system. This disagreement appears chaotic but actually helps the end product of things like legislation work better. Autocracies, on the other hand, discourage open discussion of policy, which creates a veneer of unity, but makes the end product worse.
- akiselev 4y agoThe UK parliament has been a farce since at least the indicative votes. Then the Tory party got purged to “get brexit done” This is a sign that the government is so dysfunctional that not even the military/intelligence industrial complex can get them to pass a bill - they’re no strangers to unenforceable nonsense.