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Deliberately vague, overreaching legislation which leaves enough ambiguity to let the government basically do whatever the hell they want. The last bit of legi

• ChrisRR 3y ago
  I thought all this shit would've disappeared when Theresa May stepped down
  • stevekemp 3y ago
    It comes and goes in cycles, all the way back to America's attempts with key-escrow (the "clipper chip"), and more. A few years pass, and somebody will say "But think of the children (abusers)", or "The terrorists can plot & plan, and we need to read their messages to stop that".
• iinnPP 3y ago
  Out of curiosity and with zero background knowledge on what you have communicated here I have a question. Was there a denial that there would be a problem from mainstream sources? If so, was the cat out of the bag moment followed by 'nuthin burger' from the same sources? That's what seems to happen in Canada at least.
  • jon-wood 3y ago
    Mainstream news sources (at least the ones I follow, I'll admit a left-leaning bias there) were all shouting about how this was the inevitable conclusion of the legislation, to be countered by ministers appearing to say that no, of course it wouldn't be abused.
  • tailspin2019 3y ago
    Regarding the previous legislation which led to the wrongful arrest of protestors, a number of human rights organisations issued warnings about it before it was passed. For example: > UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, called the Public Order Bill “deeply troubling legislation”, after it completed its passage through parliament on Wednesday. https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/04/1136107 https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/04/1136107 In fact, the UK category of the UN news feed makes for pretty embarassing reading in general, speaking as a Brit: https://news.un.org/en/tags/united-kingdom https://news.un.org/en/tags/united-kingdom
    • Duplo 3y ago
      [dead]
  • 908B64B197 3y ago
    > followed by 'nuthin burger' from the same sources? That's what seems to happen in Canada at least. Didn't the government just suspend the constitution (that's a thing over there?) because of some peaceful, free-speech protected, protests in the capital and start arbitrary freezing protester's bank accounts?
• kmlx 3y ago
  > I increasingly do not recognise our government as one that is in any kind of alignment with my values as a UK citizen or even as just a decent human being. every single political party in the UK is either for this law, or wants it strengthened. not only that, they're actively criticising the government for being too slow in adopting it. and in a recent poll a majority want online speech to be regulated: https://inews.co.uk/news/online-safety-freedom-from-abuse-more-important-than-freedom-of-speech-on-the-internet-poll-finds-1193880 https://inews.co.uk/news/online-safety-freedom-from-abuse-mo... Labour pledges to toughen ‘weakened and gutted’ online safety bill https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jan/01/labour-pledges-toughen-online-safety-bill https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jan/01/labour-pl... Lib Dems: "However, does she accept that there are major gaps in this Bill? For instance, gaming is not covered. It is not clear whether things such as virtual reality and the metaverse are going to be covered." https://www.parallelparliament.co.uk/mp/munira-wilson/bill/2021-22/onlinesafety https://www.parallelparliament.co.uk/mp/munira-wilson/bill/2... Cross-party support: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/15/online-safety-bill-lords-social-media-bosses-facing-jail/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/15/online-safety-bi...
  • tailspin2019 3y ago
    I agree. I'm disappointed in particular by Labour's approach to this too. Similarly they (Labour) are not taking a strong enough position on honestly recognising the state of Brexit because they don't want to alienate their potential pro-brexit voters, nor are they taking a strong stand on a number of other policies which I think they should be. The conservatives have lurched so far right that I can't help but feel that Labour is having to move in that direction too just to have a fighting chance of winning the next election. But this makes them not an effective enough opposition at the moment. Their strategy is clearly working - see uptick in pro-brexit votes in recent local elections - but I'm not sure at what cost... So overall, personally, I'm just extremely disillusioned with all political parties right now. We have to recognise that we brought this on ourselves, collectively - such is the nature of democracy - but that doesn't help alleviate my current sense of despair!
    • kmlx 3y ago
• Longhanks 3y ago
  > Not even a majority now, retrospectively, even wanted to leave the EU. There was a democratic vote in which a majority wanted to leave. Until such a vote is repeated, this is the current state of things. If there was a majority of people in the UK that wanted to join, there’s nothing stopping them from doing so, the EU would probably happily welcome the UK back, albeit on different terms. You can hate your government all you want, but this is what the majority wanted and supposedly currently wants.
  • lnxg33k1 3y ago
    Meh it’s not that joining and leaving treaties is like having a picnic, while I agree with the democratic sentiment of your message I also think that it would be crazy to allow any majority dictate schizophrenic policies, the difference was under 4%, and it triggered a generational change, is that fair?
    • ta1243 3y ago
      It's crazy that if I press ctrl-q my web browser warns me I'm closing so many windows/tabs, but there's no such "are you sure" when it comes to such a major irrevocable decision
    • laratied 3y ago
      Of course not but this is a perfect example of why this type of democracy is a terrible idea. Putting something like that to a vote was itself insane and stupid.
      • lnxg33k1 3y ago
        I don’t think putting it to vote was stupid, but enacting a generational change over a <4% was
  • ClumsyPilot 3y ago
    The majority did not vote for leaving the customs union. We have Vote leave representatives swearing they dont want to leave the single market.
• javajosh 3y ago
  Freedom and security exist in perpetual tension. This is why we need to take security breaches in stride, put them in perspective. Imagine giving up 5% growth because someone killed .000001% of your population! And yet, that's exactly what countries do. The histamine reaction to violence is many OOM worse than the violence. If that's too politically charged, the same effect happens when there's a shark attack. Never mind it almost never happens, world-wide, and has negligible impact on the human population, but when an attack occurs suddenly there's an outcry to spend millions on patrols, shark hunts, whatever. Millions that could have been spent on much more pressing needs, like feeding malnourished kids or researching a Covid vaccine. And putting pressure on wildlife that is already under pressure. It's always a poor decision, but it plays to the voters. Who can read this riddle?
• phone8675309 3y ago
  That's what you get when you're the subject (not citizen - SUBJECT) of a crown that increasingly is disinterested in using its power to protect the people.
  • jodrellblank 3y ago
    I just checked my UK passport and it says "Nationality: British Citizen".
  • DicIfTEx 3y ago
    British subjects are very rare, and have been since the '80s: https://www.gov.uk/types-of-british-nationality/british-subject https://www.gov.uk/types-of-british-nationality/british-subj...
• ClumsyPilot 3y ago
  I left Russia 15 years ago and whats happening in UK is what was happening in Russia 15 years ago. Lile I get when people are racist, i get when they immigrants, but now we ahve MPs bragging that they swam in Sewage. How does that happen??? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65615711 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65615711
  • jodrellblank 3y ago
    Much as I love to pile on the Conservatives, he isn't really bragging that he swam in raw sewage or saying "it did me no harm", he's saying that it's not a new problem in the UK. What I would criticise him on is that a) the dream of the ratchet of progress making things better and better for future generations isn't working, b) it's backsliding, c) it's backsliding under his government's governance.
    • ClumsyPilot 3y ago
      Maybe i got carried away amongst comments by NPs like 'stop eating tomatoes, eat turnips' and 'if you cant afford a cheese sandwitch, dont have a cheese sandwitch"
      • jodrellblank 3y ago
        (Haha, I did include the cheese sandwich in my comment, but edited it out to stay on topic and stay a bit less politically ranty on HN)
• iicc 3y ago
  https://crookedtimber.org/2018/03/21/liberals-against-progressives/#comment-729288 https://crookedtimber.org/2018/03/21/liberals-against-progre... >Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: >There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.=
  • matthew9219 3y ago
    From the guidelines: > Eschew flamebait. [...]. Omit internet tropes.
• Aromasin 3y ago
  The Conservatives recognize that they are probably set to lose the next general election, so clearly had to speed up the timeline on implementing their facist policies while they've still got the time left in power. Saying that, it seems to be in favor for both parties, so who's to say what happens with this.
• jjgreen 3y ago
  Peasant: How goes the war Majesty? King: It goes well!, We're winning! Peasant: So why are we so poor? King: You're losing [some cartoon, long forgotten the source for it]
• 908B64B197 3y ago
  > I increasingly do not recognise our government as one that is in any kind of alignment with my values as a UK citizen or even as just a decent human being. Why not simply vote with your feet and move to SV. There are a lot of Brits here, and a lot looking to move here. It's the only way it will change.