British Politics

British Politics

Been on holiday for a few weeks, surprised to find no general discussion of British politics so though I'd kick one off.

Tory leadership contest is quickly turning into farce. Trump has backed Boris, which should be reason enough for anyone with half a brain to exclude him.

Of the other candidates Rory Stewart looks the best of the outsiders. Surprised to see Cleverly and Javid not further up the betting, but not sure the Tory membership are ready for a brown PM.

https://www.oddschecker.com/politics/bri...

Regarding the LD leadership contest, Jo Swinson is miles ahead of any other candidate (and indeed any of the Tory lot). Should be a shoe in.

Finally, it's Groundhog Day in Labour - the more serious the anti-Semitism claims get, the more Corbyn's cronies write their own obituary by blaming it on outlandish conspiracy theories - this week, it's apparently the Jewish Embassy's fault...

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01 June 2019 at 06:29 AM
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by chezlaw k

Pretty much all our laws have a subjective element. All the better for it imo

What's the subjective element in robbery? Rape? Kidnapping?

If some specific things that every observer of all elements can confirm happened are there it's a crime, otherwise it isn't.


by Luciom k

Wtf! It's either a crime or not.

If it is you come and arrear and commenta are superflous.

If it isn't nothing happens.

There is no in between, the content made public is either criminal or not

That's not true. Not for most laws

This isn't lol 'merica where if I take something out of shop without paying then it's theft. It may be criminal it may not be. Decision comes after the investigation and process


by 57 On Red k

All we know is that the complainant was a 'member of the public' who viewed the tweet as a 'possible hate crime'.

Same advice applies if the police ever try it on like that.

Most people are "members of the public". So what?

In this case they are a former public servant with training in criminal law. They wish to stay anonymous, fearing reprisals, especially from far-right elements, but told the Guardian the post by Pearson was “racist and inflammatory” – which she denies.

They added: “Pearson tweeted something that had nothing to do with Palestine or the London protests: she tweeted a picture of two persons of colour holding a flag of a Pakistani political party standing next to some GMP officers … Her description of the two people of colour as Jew haters is racist and inflammatory.

“Each time an influential person makes negative comments about people of colour I, as a person of colour, see an uptick in racist abuse towards me and the days after that tweet are no different.”


by Luciom k

What's the subjective element in robbery? Rape? Kidnapping?

If some specific things that every observer of all elements can confirm happened are there it's a crime, otherwise it isn't.

How do you observe intent? Most crimes include a componant of intent.

Rape - I wish it wasn't an example that so proundly contradicts you.


Seeing a photo of some brown skinned people holding a flag in a demo and assuming they're protesting for Palestine is classic othering racism.




by chezlaw k

How do you observe intent? Most crimes include a componant of intent.

Rape - I wish it wasn't an example that so proundly contradicts you.

Most crimes don't require intent to be crimes, and yes intent is a big red flag and should be used as sparingly as possible when writing laws.

Rape doesn't require you to prove intent


by chezlaw k

That's not true. Not for most laws

This isn't lol 'merica where if I take something out of shop without paying then it's theft. It may be criminal it may not be. Decision comes after the investigation and process

What the hell happened to the UK?


The demonstrators in the Manchester picture that Pearson didn't like were demonstrating in favour of Imran Khan rather than against Israel. Pearson was simply mistaken about what the picture showed.

https://crisis24.garda.com/alerts/2024/1...

Random uninvolved person claiming they're upset doesn't make it a crime, and that is the whole problem with the subjective Macpherson standard. (And Macpherson was wrong about the Lawrence case anyway, the real problem there being police corruption in favour of one of the suspects, as the inquiry heard over and over again.) It's even dodgier when the complainant is not a party to anything that happened or, as in this case, didn't happen.

Now, if the police had waded into pro-Palestine demos and arrested everyone who chanted 'From the river to the sea,' which is an exterminationist slogan overtly inciting racial hatred and ethnic cleansing, with repercussions for the security of British Jews, that would be idiotic -- and of course the police don't do it because it would be too much bother and it's easier to pick on a lone middle-class journalist who tweeted something daft -- but it would have the merit of consistency. As it is, I doubt they had any lawful cause to turn up and use the PACE-dodging 'voluntary interview' scam on Pearson, and I'll be somewhat surprised if they ever get a warrant.

As regards the complainant's anonymity, everyone accused of a crime is normally entitled to know who is accusing them. Anonymity is an exceptional privilege in exceptional cases, otherwise it's going to be a mask for false or vexatious allegations. I doubt the bar has been met here.


by jalfrezi k

That's proof of racism and mysoginy right?


by Luciom k

That's proof of racism and mysoginy right?

No, of common sense.


by Luciom k

What the hell happened to the UK?

Debatable but it happened centuries ago

Still the best law system imo which is used by much of the world.

Which doesn't mean it isnt a arse sometime


by Luciom k

What the hell happened to the UK?


Unfortunately, it's not an isolated incident. Julie Bindel also had a police visit where she was accused of a "non-crime", where in Kafkaesque fashion she was not told what she did wrong, which law it broke or who the victim was.


We'll that's full Kafka innit

I have had this for a road accident, my insurance company says there's video evidence to show what I said happened didn't happen, but I am not allowed to see it. I gave up in the end and took the lumps.


by diebitter k

We'll that's full Kafka innit

I have had this for a road accident, my insurance company says there's video evidence to show what I said happened didn't happen, but I am not allowed to see it. I gave up in the end and took the lumps.

And if you go to court you get to see it. And an insurance company is not the state, so there is absolutely no comparison to be drawn. The state shouldn't be allowed to harass you without telling you which law you broke, when, where, and the like, except in national emergencies when the parliament suspends those rights.

But you like the idea of police harassing people who have political opinions different from yours.


Ok, now it is clear why Labour went ham on those protesting in relation to Southport. Starmer should be done


A wild conspiracy theory is circulating on twitter.

Is it true that the current prime minister as a lawyer defended the father of the rwandan assassin of little girls, a person who was supposed to be deported from the UK because he was allegedly a war criminal?

And Starmer suceeded in not having that person deported, who then had a son who became british, and who killed those poor girls?


Starmer was a human rights lawyer so who knows? Best concentrate on the current actual war crimes taking place in the world that the UK is helping.


by jalfrezi k

Starmer was a human rights lawyer so who knows? Best concentrate on the current actual war crimes taking place in the world that the UK is helping.

I think a lot of people would like to know if it's true or not that human right lawyers make it possible for true monsters to become british residents and their children british citizens.

Also if that is the reason for the attempted cover up of the ethnicity of the perpetrator (which went on for months) of one of the worst violent crimes in recent UK history, that would be quite something don't you think?


If you have something more than "a wild conspiracy theory [is] circulating on twitter" then put it here - sounds interesting.

Otherwise it's just blah blah blah and the earth is flat.


'lawyer defended someone who's entitled to a defense' is a tabloid nonsense at it's worst

This however is one of the scariest headlines I jave ever read

As Trump looms large, can Keir Starmer save the world?

Center-left governments across the West are turning to the U.K. PM to provide leadership following Donald Trump’s reelection.


by Luciom k

because he was allegedly a war criminal

by chezlaw k

'lawyer defended someone who's entitled to a defense' is a tabloid nonsense at it's worst

The Southport killer is entitled to a defence, but I wouldn't want to be the lawyer who managed to get him off.

Back to the conspiracy theory, I would be amazed if this was anything other than Kremlin-funded propaganda. Kier Starmer somehow being the QC responsible for getting a war criminal off the hook and subsequent asylum in the UK, and then his son turning to Islamic and mass murderer is just an extremely unlikely series of events.


and a bizarre idea that it could have been spotted fast enough for that to be the reason the ethnicity wasn't released


As Trump looms large, can Keir Starmer save the world?

Center-left governments across the West are turning to the U.K. PM to provide leadership following Donald Trump’s reelection.

lol we're doomed.

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