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The UK is best understood as a "managed democracy" where there are nominally elections, but the government decides who will constitute its voting population, wh
by poplarsol 10mo ago
The UK is best understood as a "managed democracy" where there are nominally elections, but the government decides who will constitute its voting population, what they are allowed to say, and now whether they will be allowed to acquit people the government decides it would prefer to punish.
- sgt101 10mo agoNonsense. - voting population? What are you on about? It's everyone older than 18. - you are not allowed to say "let's go and kill xxxyyy" or "burn hotel xxxyyy" but more or less you can say anything else. You might get sued if you say "Kier Starmer is an XXXYYY" but possibly not. - this is using a system such as the one that operates in many countries - like France. But note: Germany ditched jury trials in 1924...
- hackeraccount 10mo agoI've seen a couple of stories - like this one - https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15302729/Assault-victim-convicted-homophobic-hate-crime.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15302729/Assault-vi... - that make me think there's a very liberal interpenetration of "hate crime", as in there doesn't need to be an underlying crime but speech alone if offensive enough is criminal.
- gizajob 10mo ago16 year olds have just been given the vote by the Labour government in an attempt to shore up their support because they’re going to lose the next election. Lowering the power of my vote as an adult taxpayer by enfranchising teenagers who get their political nous from TikTok is pretty disgusting.
- modo_mario 10mo ago- voting population? What are you on about? It's everyone older than 18. It'll likely be 16. And I believe bringing in more population that is a lot more likely to vote for your is also part of that.
- Molitor5901 10mo agoAgreed, and I am reminded that Putin once called Russia a "managed democracy." I may not always agree, but I am very glad America has the first, fifth, sixth, and seventh amendments, among others. This tactic by the British government is absurd and offensive to freedom. What I find more baffling, but perhaps I am narrowly thinking about it, is how much the British people are letting it happen. I am not political, but if anyone tried to take our rights under the Bill of Rights, or declared an emergency to cancel elections, I will be in the streets with, I hope, literally every one else. Some things are just too critical to a free and fair nation, and jury trials are right up there.
- beAbU 10mo agoThere are functioning democracies out there without jury trials. I would not say it's "critical to a free and fair nation'.
- stogot 10mo agoThe Us has small claims courts right?
- workfromspace 10mo agoRight. In fact, AFAIK only a handful of countries have a jury, which are mainly ex british colonies. Almost everywhere else there is constitution and so.
- handoflixue 10mo ago> There are functioning democracies out there without jury trials. Could you name a few? I'm genuinely ignorant on how most of the world handles criminal affairs - do they just have the judge rule on the matter?
- gizajob 10mo agoA lot of public law jurisdictions don’t have jury trials, just a judge who decides the facts based on the constitution and the case presented by the prosecutor. Finland, for example.
- spzb 10mo agoTell me you know nothing about the UK without telling me you know nothing about the UK.