The Political Thread

[Dudley]

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Iceland's people built a new constitution over the internet - an open-source constitution; how cool is that?
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They failed - http://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/thorvaldur-gylfason/democracy-on-ice-post-mortem-of-icelandic-constitution.

[shaolin_monkey]

I dunno if this is real, but thought it worth posting here. Apologies if it has done the rounds already:

http://www.educateinspirechange.org/2014/02/anonymous-public-address-british-government.html

[The Legendary Shark]

Excellent article, thanks for drawing my attention to it. A few lessons could be drawn from this - not least. Of which being that constitutions are far too important to be left in the hands of politicians. Should we ever get around to crowd-sourcing our own constitution in the UK (the "Mega Carta" or the "Magna Data" or something) as soon as it's finished we bypass parliament altogether and get to the Palace with a pen and a big stick...

[The Legendary Shark]

The bailiffs are going to try again on the 12th.

[The Legendary Shark]

Well, how about this: the council have just called my Mother's phone! She's in her 70s, for pity's sake, she doesn't need all this stress. My God but that's low. (Saved me a job, though, I've been dreading telling her...)

Is it just me, or do these tactics seem a little desperate? Designed to get me riled up?

[Professor Bear]

Common strongarm tactic.  A mate owed some cash and they called his mum and tried to get her to pay his bill despite his not living in her house for over a decade.

There was a hubbub years ago when they tried to privatise water over here but climbed down not because it breached human rights laws to which the government was a signatory, not because the vast majority of the population had made it clear they didn't want it and weren't going to pay even if it came to pass, nor because it came to light that some politicians were getting money from those with a vested interest in seeing the change come into force, but because there wasn't enough of what was classed as "most vulnerable to scare tactics" in the populace, the tactic being to pursue not those most able to pay, but those most likely to be be fooled into paying bills with dodgy legal justification (water already being paid for over here via council tax provisions) - people with poor credit, a history of paying final demands and/or no access to legal advice - and thus create the illusion that the water company was "winning" and that people had to pay, even though the exact opposite was true and any private company who deliberately cut off a house's water supply would be breaking the law.
So yeah, they are basically working on the assumption that they can scare you into doing as you're told by threatening your mum, or at the very least goad you into doing something silly so they can call the pigs.

So don't.

My advice that is very easy to give from my comfy armchair - and that is not a metaphor, I am actually typing this from a comfy armchair - is to flip it somehow.  I think publicity would be your friend here, so if you'd keep a blog of all this, or put video of the meetings up on Youtube, I think it'd help garner interest and help inconvenience your pharisees further - "council harasses elderly woman to extort family member's debt" is a lovely headline if you can put it somewhere it'll be seen by people who do business with the council - spam the Facebook pages of the bailiffs or council workers with the link, or in a bit of karmic retribution, the Facebook pages of their family members, as apparently this is not actually harassment or dirty pool according to them.

[JayzusB.Christ]

Should we ever get around to crowd-sourcing our own constitution in the UK (the "Mega Carta" or the "Magna Data" or something) as soon as it's finished we bypass parliament altogether and get to the Palace with a pen and a big stick...

I really like the fact that Alan Moore's Guy-Fawkes-faced anarchist has leaked out of the comic and into reality.  (The film probably played a large part in it, and though it kind of missed the point, feck it - the job is being done.)  Here's Noam Chomsky once again on Anarchism:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB9rp_SAp2U

Also, sorry to hear about the harassment of your mother, Mark.  Nasty.  The good professor has the right idea - turn it back on them; even get onto the local papers about it.  The right to expose such unpleasant tactics by authorities still exists even if it hangs by a thread.

[Hawkmumbler]

It's funny you should mention anon's, JBC, because I can't stand them! XD
They claim to stand for socialism, yet are adorned with masks mass produced in third world nations.

[ZenArcade]

Sharky ditto re the above. I'm no lawyer but does contacting your mother not constitute harassment in that she has no 'interest' in relation to your 'debt'. I'm not too sure about the injunctive process with regard to public bodies, but it might be worth a look.
I am filled with a profound sense of disquiet that these flunkeys are resorting to such base and spineless actions. My thoughts are with you and yours. Z

[The Legendary Shark]

My mum's in a right bloody state now, her fella's not speaking to me and my cousin's been waiting for the chance to unload her displeasure on me for months.
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I'd rather face fifty evictions than go through another family meeting like that. I feel sick.

[ZenArcade]

Hang in there chief, it was never going to be easy. These people are just being a wee bit more underhand and cynical than you maybe first thought.

[Modern Panther]

They claim to stand for socialism, yet are adorned with masks mass produced in third world nations.

Was briefly at the occupy protest at St Paul's a few years ago, on 5th November.  the otherwise very friendly protesters were rudely interrupted by loud music and a bunch of Anonymous protesters wearing masks and suits, who marched in unison to the cathedral steps, carrying banners and saluting as the posed for pictures.

the guy standing next to me paused briefly, put aside his herbal cigarette and summed up their contribution:

"Jesus, they all look the same...like a bunch of f**king fascists!"

[TordelBack]

My mum's in a right bloody state now, her fella's not speaking to me and my cousin's been waiting for the chance to unload her displeasure on me for months.
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I'd rather face fifty evictions than go through another family meeting like that. I feel sick.

That just isn't right, Shark. I'd be fit to hit someone for causing my family that much grief.  I've been worried that publicity would make it harder for the fuckers to back down, but if they are going to behave like that they need to be exposed to public disapproval quick sharp: blog it, get a local rag in, tweet your face off, whatever.  I know that's not your style, but jeebus man, that's some low, low shit.

[von Boom]

Have you got access to a web cam shark? Maybe put it in the corner of the door and record the proceedings to see if there's anything you can use later.

[The Legendary Shark]

You're right, Tordels - I'm so angry right now I'm still shaking.
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What was that line in Henry V (?), "I was not angry since I came to this place until now."
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This cannot stand.