4 ms·

To me the issue is not security agencies use Pegasus, but foreign security agents physically assault British citizen in London, MI6 does bugger all. I’m not su

To me the issue is not security agencies use Pegasus, but foreign security agents physically assault British citizen in London, MI6 does bugger all. I’m not sure what I want from our security services, but security sounds good. Also I wonder if there is a background level of foreign agent activity they accept and how is that related to the police’s paradox of using confidential informants

dfawcus 9mo ago
It is London - hardly surprising. Nothing will improve as long as Khan is Mayor, and may not even if he is replaced. Anyway, MI6 (SIS) is the overseas spies, MI5 is the domestic spy agency.
- walletdrainer 9mo ago
  Yes, it totally makes sense to blame Khan for what foreign intelligence services are doing in London. This is completely reasonable.
  - dfawcus 9mo ago
    Someone being beaten up on the streets is domestic policing issue. That the perpetrators may turn out to be foreign agents is neither here nor there, only if they were diplomatic staff would it not be a domestic policing issue. However the UK police have largely withdrawn from certain areas, and this would simply be another symptom. High Court action suggests there was a civil case pursuing the perpetrators (or their principals), rather than a criminal case. With a properly functioning police system, that should not be necessary. Kahn is the PCC for London, he sets their priorities.
    - walletdrainer 9mo ago
      Doesn’t matter if it’s people being poisoned with polonium or getting beaten up, preventing the activities of foreign intelligence services is generally not the job of the PCC. It is the job of the British intelligence services to blow someone up in Riyadh to deter these activities.
    - hasperdi 9mo ago
      Say you were the Mayor of London, and being a great mayor you have your priorities 100% correct. Can you guarantee that something like this will never happen on your watch?
    - tim333 9mo ago
      London just had the lowest annual murders for 11 years. >Homicide rate now 1.1 per 100,000 people, lower than any other UK city and major global cities including New York (2.8), Berlin (3.2) and Toronto (1.6) I guess you'll praise Khan, as PCC, for that?
- zaphirplane 9mo ago
  Not within a mayor’s control
viraptor 9mo ago
> if there is a background level of foreign agent activity they accept Yup, there's constantly a number of known spies in pretty much all countries. If all were ejected, the other country would do the same to their spies and monitoring compliance with projects would become harder - so it seems in everyone's interest to not be too strict. See for example https://johnsontr.github.io/assets/files/spies_current.pdf https://johnsontr.github.io/assets/files/spies_current.pdf Also there's the idea of "the optimal amount of fraud is non-zero" which generalises to lots of things - including this one.

dfawcus 9mo ago

It is London - hardly surprising. Nothing will improve as long as Khan is Mayor, and may not even if he is replaced. Anyway, MI6 (SIS) is the overseas spies, MI5 is the domestic spy agency.

walletdrainer 9mo ago
Yes, it totally makes sense to blame Khan for what foreign intelligence services are doing in London. This is completely reasonable.
- dfawcus 9mo ago
  Someone being beaten up on the streets is domestic policing issue. That the perpetrators may turn out to be foreign agents is neither here nor there, only if they were diplomatic staff would it not be a domestic policing issue. However the UK police have largely withdrawn from certain areas, and this would simply be another symptom. High Court action suggests there was a civil case pursuing the perpetrators (or their principals), rather than a criminal case. With a properly functioning police system, that should not be necessary. Kahn is the PCC for London, he sets their priorities.
  - walletdrainer 9mo ago
    Doesn’t matter if it’s people being poisoned with polonium or getting beaten up, preventing the activities of foreign intelligence services is generally not the job of the PCC. It is the job of the British intelligence services to blow someone up in Riyadh to deter these activities.
  - hasperdi 9mo ago
    Say you were the Mayor of London, and being a great mayor you have your priorities 100% correct. Can you guarantee that something like this will never happen on your watch?
  - tim333 9mo ago
    London just had the lowest annual murders for 11 years. >Homicide rate now 1.1 per 100,000 people, lower than any other UK city and major global cities including New York (2.8), Berlin (3.2) and Toronto (1.6) I guess you'll praise Khan, as PCC, for that?
zaphirplane 9mo ago
Not within a mayor’s control

viraptor 9mo ago

> if there is a background level of foreign agent activity they accept Yup, there's constantly a number of known spies in pretty much all countries. If all were ejected, the other country would do the same to their spies and monitoring compliance with projects would become harder - so it seems in everyone's interest to not be too strict. See for example https://johnsontr.github.io/assets/files/spies_current.pdf https://johnsontr.github.io/assets/files/spies_current.pdf Also there's the idea of "the optimal amount of fraud is non-zero" which generalises to lots of things - including this one.