NPR

FalseBayFC wrote: ↑Thu Mar 11, 2021 2:03 pm

Hal Jordan wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 11:33 am I see we're off to the voter suppression and disenfranchisement races with the new Republican, I mean Tory, proposal to introduce photo ID requirements for elections.

I'd be surprised at tactics to exclude the poor and minorities from the democratic process, but, well, Tory scum and all that.

Also 10 years in the clink for damaging statues. Jesus.

Why do people in the US and UK think its so hard for the poor and minorities to get photo id's. People where I live find it easy. And they're poorer than anyone in the UK.

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 11, 2021 3:44 pm Incidentally, the new crime bill sounds fucking horrific: https://www.politics.co.uk/comment/2021 ... otest-law/

and of course they're rushing it through

High-profile protests around Brexit, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the climate crisis have been thorns in the Government’s side over the last couple of years. By and large, these protests have been peaceful and have acted as effective ways for people to express their dissatisfaction with the Government.
However, the Home Secretary, in particular, doesn’t seem to like dissenting voices – nor does she want to engage with the root causes of these protests, preferring instead to brand protesters “so-called eco-crusaders turned criminals” and to accuse them of “hooliganism and thuggery”.

SaintK wrote: ↑Thu Mar 11, 2021 4:14 pm

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 11, 2021 3:44 pm Incidentally, the new crime bill sounds fucking horrific: https://www.politics.co.uk/comment/2021 ... otest-law/

and of course they're rushing it through

It will bring a smirk to the Home Secretary's face no doubt

High-profile protests around Brexit, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the climate crisis have been thorns in the Government’s side over the last couple of years. By and large, these protests have been peaceful and have acted as effective ways for people to express their dissatisfaction with the Government.
However, the Home Secretary, in particular, doesn’t seem to like dissenting voices – nor does she want to engage with the root causes of these protests, preferring instead to brand protesters “so-called eco-crusaders turned criminals” and to accuse them of “hooliganism and thuggery”.

The pro-Conservative Party press depicted the demonstration as the march of the “humble farmer”, a swelling of outrage from the marginalised countryside towards the arrogance of the “urban establishment” in parliament.

Leading the chorus was the Daily Telegraph, which, beginning with the front-page banner headline “407,791 voices cry freedom”, devoted its first five pages of Monday’s issue to the march and promised an eight-page souvenir supplement the following day.

Hal Jordan wrote: ↑Thu Mar 11, 2021 4:39 pm We're headed down the Orban route, and no mistake. And the flag shaggers will cheer it on because owning the libs.

The former neighbour of Matt Hancock who is supplying the NHS with millions of Covid test tubes joked to the health secretary that he had “never heard of him” during a private WhatsApp exchange.

The exchange, seen by the Guardian, suggests Alex Bourne, a former publican who had no prior experience of producing medical devices before he began supplying the government, may have downplayed his relationship with Hancock in public.

The messages, which suggest an easy familiarity between the two men, were sent in late November, shortly before the Guardian published a story about Bourne’s work supplying the NHS and his links to the health secretary.

In a WhatsApp message Hancock sent to Bourne about the imminent story, the health secretary called the newspaper “a rag”. Bourne wrote back: “Matt Hancock – never heard of him” before assuring the health secretary that his lawyers were “all over” a reporter investigating their connection “like a tramp on chips”.

Home Office accused of 'gross incompetence' as cost of failed tech revealed

In a report released today, the failings are due to a “lack of effective leadership, management and oversight”.

Delays to the Digital Services at the Border (DSAB) programme have cost the taxpayer £173 million so far. The Border Crossing part of the programme is being used by only 300 border staff, against the 7000 supposed to be using the system by June. Previous attempts to roll out the Border Crossing experienced technical difficulties.

The Home Office is planning for more than 140 million passengers a year to pass through its new DSAB systems but it still has “no proof that systems can cope with passenger volumes that existed prior to Covid-19, let alone the 6% annual growth in the volume of passengers” it predicts.

SNP home affairs spokesperson Stuart McDonald said: “The gross incompetence of the Home Office with regards to immigration and border technology continues to appal. Its record on delivering technology programmes has been shameful, and this latest attempt is no different.”

...

Chair of the committee Meg Hillier MP said: “Immigration and border security are among the biggest political issues of our time. It is incredible that the Home Office can have failed so badly, for so long, to deliver technology that is crucial to our national security objectives.

“The Home Office has struggled to get to grips with the technical challenges, resetting the programme and changing the leadership repeatedly. And it is the taxpayer hit by both the financial cost and the risks to our security.”

Ymx wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 11:41 am Who currently does decide what is grounds for a protest?

Who do we think it should be if not police?

Mahoney wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 11:40 am If something's both shit and unpopular it surely deserves to be canned. Bafflingly Mrs Brown's Boys is apparently popular; is The Mash Report?

Ymx wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 11:41 am Who currently does decide what is grounds for a protest?

Who do we think it should be if not police?

Hal Jordan wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 11:35 am I see that the BBC have axed The Mash Report. What possible reason could Tory donor and Tory appointee BBC director General Tim Davies, who has set out his stall against woke lefties who are rude about the Government and Brexit, have against this satirical show?

And, "It's shit" isn't a reason as Mrs Brown's Boys has been renewed to 2026.

Along with the proposed laws to let the police decide what is and isn't valid protest, the castration of the media in general and the total and wilful lack of accountability to Parliament or society exhibited by the Government and its chums, the suppression of any form dissent is really disturbing.

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 11:49 am

Hal Jordan wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 11:35 am I see that the BBC have axed The Mash Report. What possible reason could Tory donor and Tory appointee BBC director General Tim Davies, who has set out his stall against woke lefties who are rude about the Government and Brexit, have against this satirical show?

And, "It's shit" isn't a reason as Mrs Brown's Boys has been renewed to 2026.

Along with the proposed laws to let the police decide what is and isn't valid protest, the castration of the media in general and the total and wilful lack of accountability to Parliament or society exhibited by the Government and its chums, the suppression of any form dissent is really disturbing.

Mrs Brown's Boys is really popular. Christ knows why but it is. The Mash Report hits the KPIs of not being particularly popular and not being funny.
The idea that there is a suppression of any form of dissent in the UK is, I'm afraid, just silly.

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 11:49 am The idea that there is a suppression of any form of dissent in the UK is, I'm afraid, just silly.

Oborne even claims that "senior BBC executives [...] tell me they personally think it's wrong to expose lies told by a British prime minister because it undermines trust in British politics. Is that a reason for giving Johnson free rein to make any false claim he wants?"

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 11:46 am

Ymx wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 11:41 am Who currently does decide what is grounds for a protest?

Who do we think it should be if not police?

You can't possibly mean to say that "deciding what we're allowed to protest about" should be in the hands of the government or security services?

Ymx wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 12:45 pm

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 11:46 am

Ymx wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 11:41 am Who currently does decide what is grounds for a protest?

Who do we think it should be if not police?

You can't possibly mean to say that "deciding what we're allowed to protest about" should be in the hands of the government or security services?

I’ve not made a proposal. Certainly haven’t proposed the govt. as per Russia, etc.

I was asking the question. Who should it be?

Or should any protest be permitted?

Insane_Homer wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 12:34 pm

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 11:49 am The idea that there is a suppression of any form of dissent in the UK is, I'm afraid, just silly.

ORLY!? The Sun gleefully proclaims otherwise...
the sun.JPG



Meanwhile elsewhere...

Oborne even claims that "senior BBC executives [...] tell me they personally think it's wrong to expose lies told by a British prime minister because it undermines trust in British politics. Is that a reason for giving Johnson free rein to make any false claim he wants?"

Ymx wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 12:50 pm Not sure why you keep mixing govt in to it.

But are you saying any protest should be legal?

Ymx wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 12:53 pm Any protest which doesn’t violate the law should be permitted would be my thought?

Now we need just need some facility or group to uphold the law.

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 1:01 pm

Insane_Homer wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 12:34 pm

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 11:49 am The idea that there is a suppression of any form of dissent in the UK is, I'm afraid, just silly.

ORLY!? The Sun gleefully proclaims otherwise...
the sun.JPG



Meanwhile elsewhere...

Oborne even claims that "senior BBC executives [...] tell me they personally think it's wrong to expose lies told by a British prime minister because it undermines trust in British politics. Is that a reason for giving Johnson free rein to make any false claim he wants?"

The Sun celebrates the cancelling of a show it dislikes is not the 'stifling of any dissent towards government'. It will most likely get picked up by Channel 4, also government funded. Hell, Kumar has been able to respond on a public forum picked up by all major news outlets that he thinks the PM is a liar and a racist. Such dictatorship!

Seriously, let's get some perspective.

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 1:01 pm The Sun celebrates the cancelling of a show it dislikes is not the 'stifling of any dissent towards government'.

Sources close to the director-general said he felt the genre needed a radical overhaul as it was too biased against the Tories and Brexit.

Ymx wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 1:15 pm I’m really not getting what you are saying.

Inciting hatred/violence protests are ok? They are illegal and police will have power to deny them. Like they do now, but now in advance.

Still not clear, if not the police, who should regulate them for legality? No one?

Everyone's favourite kind of protest - the one that no-one can see, hear, or be at all inconvenienced by.

Insane_Homer wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 1:11 pm

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 1:01 pm The Sun celebrates the cancelling of a show it dislikes is not the 'stifling of any dissent towards government'.

So the Sun made this bit up did they?

Sources close to the director-general said he felt the genre needed a radical overhaul as it was too biased against the Tories and Brexit.

Ymx wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 1:22 pm

Everyone's favourite kind of protest - the one that no-one can see, hear, or be at all inconvenienced by.

Yes our legal system will deny protests which inconvenience someone or entity. That’s exactly what’s happening here.

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 1:23 pm You can't seriously equate this to 'stifling any dissent towards government', can you?

Insane_Homer wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 1:28 pm

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 1:23 pm You can't seriously equate this to 'stifling any dissent towards government', can you?

Yes I can. So I'll ask again, do you think the Sun is lying?

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 1:31 pm

Insane_Homer wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 1:28 pm

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 1:23 pm You can't seriously equate this to 'stifling any dissent towards government', can you?

Yes I can. So I'll ask again, do you think the Sun is lying?

OK, if you think that the cancelling of a comedy show that will most likely air on another channel, and who's chair is currently being reported on in all national papers as calling the Prime Minister a liar and a racist constitutes a country where there is a crackdown on all possible dissent then I think you're mad and we'll leave it there.