4 ms·

How many more laws like this one need to get passed for people to stop saying Brexit was the worst thing that could have happened to the UK?

ben_w 4y ago
Depends on the people you want to stop saying it. There's people like me, who moved from the UK to Germany as a direct reaction to Brexit. I don't have a Boolean heaven-or-hell (Devon-or-Hull?) attitude to any of this — Brexit itself was stupid, but not (yet) the worst thing the Westminster government did to United Kingdom people. Sure, a repeat of the Potato Famine may happen, but probably not. Then you've got people who have made it part of their identity. On both sides, they're never going to admit the possibility of Team Them making the slightest of mistakes. For example, the specific mistake of the government passing a law that allowed a regional ambulance service to find out the preceding 6 months of internet domains accessed by any person, without any need for a warrant; something that was obviously not compatible with the Human Rights obligations but which the government passed anyway, and as that government was loudly conflating the EU with the human rights courts, I just assumed they'd force it into effect regardless of any objection I could bring, when they actually managed to leave the EU. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investigatory_Powers_Act_2016 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investigatory_Powers_Act_2016 "Less bad" isn't automatically perfect (the topic of this discussion may be an example of such an imperfection), but it is less bad.
- 908B64B197 4y ago
  > the government passing a law that allowed a regional ambulance service to find out the preceding 6 months of internet domains accessed by any person, without any need for a warrant Wow. And people voted in favor of that? No wonder we're flooded with resumes from the UK over here...
  - ben_w 4y ago
    I still don't know why they even asked for that power; the arguments given at the time were predicable clichés that had about as much connection to reality as the average stock photo of a hacker — if I assume they were sincere then they must have been incompetent, and if competent then insincere. https://votes.parliament.uk/Votes/Commons/Division/80 https://votes.parliament.uk/Votes/Commons/Division/80
flangola7 4y ago
The only reason there's a possibility Brexit isn't the worst thing is the large pool of competitively bad things.
r_hoods_ghost 4y ago
In case you hadn't noticed, this law hasn't been passed. It is currently out for consultation through a relatively transparent process. Certainly more transparent than the, let's all meet at the club and thrash it out between us, what what, process that takes place in Westminster under the current lot. This is how democracy is supposed to work, but alas very few people take the time to learn that or engage in the actual process.
benhurmarcel 4y ago
Maybe don't base your opinion of the EU on some speculative HN comments about a non-voted law proposal?

ben_w 4y ago

Depends on the people you want to stop saying it. There's people like me, who moved from the UK to Germany as a direct reaction to Brexit. I don't have a Boolean heaven-or-hell (Devon-or-Hull?) attitude to any of this — Brexit itself was stupid, but not (yet) the worst thing the Westminster government did to United Kingdom people. Sure, a repeat of the Potato Famine may happen, but probably not. Then you've got people who have made it part of their identity. On both sides, they're never going to admit the possibility of Team Them making the slightest of mistakes. For example, the specific mistake of the government passing a law that allowed a regional ambulance service to find out the preceding 6 months of internet domains accessed by any person, without any need for a warrant; something that was obviously not compatible with the Human Rights obligations but which the government passed anyway, and as that government was loudly conflating the EU with the human rights courts, I just assumed they'd force it into effect regardless of any objection I could bring, when they actually managed to leave the EU. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investigatory_Powers_Act_2016 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investigatory_Powers_Act_2016 "Less bad" isn't automatically perfect (the topic of this discussion may be an example of such an imperfection), but it is less bad.

908B64B197 4y ago
> the government passing a law that allowed a regional ambulance service to find out the preceding 6 months of internet domains accessed by any person, without any need for a warrant Wow. And people voted in favor of that? No wonder we're flooded with resumes from the UK over here...
- ben_w 4y ago
  I still don't know why they even asked for that power; the arguments given at the time were predicable clichés that had about as much connection to reality as the average stock photo of a hacker — if I assume they were sincere then they must have been incompetent, and if competent then insincere. https://votes.parliament.uk/Votes/Commons/Division/80 https://votes.parliament.uk/Votes/Commons/Division/80

flangola7 4y ago

The only reason there's a possibility Brexit isn't the worst thing is the large pool of competitively bad things.

r_hoods_ghost 4y ago

In case you hadn't noticed, this law hasn't been passed. It is currently out for consultation through a relatively transparent process. Certainly more transparent than the, let's all meet at the club and thrash it out between us, what what, process that takes place in Westminster under the current lot. This is how democracy is supposed to work, but alas very few people take the time to learn that or engage in the actual process.

benhurmarcel 4y ago

Maybe don't base your opinion of the EU on some speculative HN comments about a non-voted law proposal?