The Political Thread

[Rara Avis]

Aging sexual perverts in fancy dress declare that gay marriage is a sin - that there Pope fella is dressed all in pink, as well. You couldn't make it up.

Of course, they have no choice but to take their stance against gay marriage because God told them to do it. In a celestial Zoom. "NO! IT IS SINFUL!" He intoned, dramatically. "Why is it sinful, oh Lord?", the Pope replied. "BECAUSE I WAS MADE UP BY SOME SMALL-MINDED DESERT TRIBE YEARS AGO AND THEY WERE PRETTY FUCKING CONSERVATIVE!" He explained, dramatically. "Ah, right-o, oh Lord. Now, moving onto the next item of business - how much gold do we own now?"...

I've read an article that suggests this has been mistranslated - surprise, surprise. The specific bible verse should or could read 'A man should not lie with a boy as with a woman' or and was a pop at Greek pederasty. So they (bible folk) have been specifically told not to have sex with children but no it's the gays that are ruining lives and destroying families.

[Tjm86]

I'm concerned that a young woman's murder could be hijacked by those who would seek to defund the police and destabilise our society, making it even harder for women to come forward and report assaults.Priti Patel House of Commons

Am I the only one staggered by this statement on every level imaginable?  So now it is leftist agitators to blame?   

[Funt Solo]

"Defund the Police" is a terrible slogan - it comes oven-ready for criticism because people willfully misconstrue it to mean "Remove the Police". It should be "Reform the Police". But I know that lacks bite, so I don't really know what it should be.

Priti Patel is, of course, not a nice person. In fact, she's a proven bully. But Boris has rewarded her for being a bully - so we shouldn't be too surprised at her views.

[The Legendary Shark]

Free the police.

Make them independent with direct public funding/accountability. Get them back to upholding the law for everyone and away from enforcing legislation for the few.

[Hawkmumbler]

I'm all in favor of deep systemic reformations of our constabulary, but the realist side of me feels that they're far to deep into their habits to be 'freed' so easily. They enjoy affectively being able to act without fear of any real consequences.

[The Legendary Shark]

Yes, because they're shielded by the government in return for protection from the plebs. Take away two shields at once and watch them both scramble to reform.

Sure, something like that presents a lot of organisational, financial, social, and transitional problems, and can't be achieved overnight - nor should such a thing be rushed, in my not so humble. For now I present the idea in principle; all things being equal, and assuming for now that it could work, would it be a desirable goal?

[Funt Solo]

I'm all in favor of deep systemic reformations of our constabulary, but the realist side of me feels that they're far to deep into their habits to be 'freed' so easily. They enjoy affectively being able to act without fear of any real consequences.

Yeah - I have a personal experience with that - arrested for a crime I didn't commit (sounds like the opening of a cheesy 80s movie), then later acquitted in court when my ridiculous plethora of alibis became apparent. The one witness (an off duty "special constable") the police had, who directly identified me in court, then admitted that he'd only done that because he'd assumed the police had identified the correct person.

So far, so justice being served - except for a couple of things that still worry me. If I'd had no alibis I'd have been stitched up for that crime. And what about the special - he just got to walk away after doing that. And what about the cops that arrested me? They did that on pure speculation - and no reprimand for them either. So, I was lucky - and they all got to go and play the same trick on the next mug who happened along.

I haven't trusted any cops since then. They have too much power - and they're not accountable enough.

[The Legendary Shark]

Same for me, Funt. I was assaulted inside a police station by five officers (not bad, not a beating or anything, but forced to the ground and cuffed basically for flinching) while others looked on.

I was charged with assault.

In the magistrate's court, the cctv footage from inside the police station - my only witness - was "unavailable due to a corrupted hard drive" and the two officers called to give evidence gave conflicting statements. Even the clerk of the court picked up on the inconsistencies. Plus the fact that, you know, I didn't do it. You'd have been proud of me, arguing my corner.

Guilty.

Of some kind of technical assault that isn't really assault but kind of is on an official record. They fined me two hundred quid and refused to pay on grounds of unsatisfactory service. They barked at me for a bit until I started sending them bills of my own for the time it was taking me to deal with their bullsh#t and they eventually left me alone.

You can't beat the system but, by turning its own methods against it, you can force it to a stalemate. Until they get the batons out, at which point everybody's lost.

[judgeurko]

cops are scum

[The Legendary Shark]

No, cops are confused. They can either be constables upholding the law or officers enforcing legislation but not both.

[Tjm86]

... and today's "jolly little wheeze" to address the concerns.  Johnson wants to deploy more undercover police officers in night clubs to ensure women's safety.

a) not many nightclubs open at the moment;
b) undercover police don't have an even remotely savoury reputation for women's safety;
c) it's the streets that women are complaining about.

[Jim_Campbell]

No, cops are confused. They can either be constables upholding the law or officers enforcing legislation but not both.

Rare that I agree with Shark about anything,* but the ideal status of the police is, for me, the Peel model, where a police officer is no more or less empowered than a private citizen, but is essentially deputised by the community to serve that community (and thus trained better to deploy the powers which any citizen is entitled to use, such as restraint and arrest). Of course, as with all such lofty ideals, the real question is how we get to there from here and there is no political will to undertake such root and branch reform.

* Differentiating "enforcing legislation" and "upholding the law" requires some semantic acrobatics that, for the avoidance of doubt, I have no interest in getting into.

[The Legendary Shark]

Political will can be influenced by sufficient public will. All we have to do at this stage is launch the idea and see if it floats.

[Funt Solo]

Aging sexual perverts in fancy dress declare that gay marriage is a sin

Ah, Newsthump is playing catch-up with me again. I should get a job there.

It's 'impossible' for God to bless all the gay people that He created, insists Church.

[Tjm86]

British politicians showing they can write satire as well as Newsthump.  Dominic Cummings giving evidence to the Scientific Committee ... because we all know how much he knows about science and how accurate / advanced his understanding is.