Like you have for the government? Why is it acceptable for people to gather against very well publicised and understood rules? I’m never going to agree that it’s acceptable. As we well know, Covid can’t be spread by hoards of people gathering for a common reason…
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I’d step away from Twitter.
Although one of my FB friends (crackers feminist) posted the mad Green Party’s woman’s speech with the caption “She has a point”
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Even his furniture is shit.
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One of the things that they caution against studying law is that reactionary laws often make for bad laws.
There’s obviously a very real danger of increasing miscarriages of justice when you look at successful rape conviction statistics (for example) as a quota that needs to be above a minimum threshold.
I think I would prefer to make lesser acts a crime or fill the current loopholes. Upskirting was one such positive change recently but there are so many more.
On personal experiences, I’ve had the shit kicked out of me by a group of lads. I’ve felt vulnerable walking alone at night. I’ve been burgled whilst I was asleep in the house. I’ve attended the police station with female friends who’d been sexually assaulted.
Nobody should feel afraid to walk anywhere in a public space in this country alone. If we’re not funding more police on the ground then improve lighting, expand the coverage of cctv, increase the sentences for stalking, harassment, sexual assault etc. Make it law that anyone can get a cab for free direct to the closest police station after dark, for example.
Use the 3 Words App and have it link to the local police station so that anyone can instantly alert the police if they feel threatened without needing to make a phone call, giving the police their exact location. what3words app | Find, share and navigate to precise locations | what3words
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It is what it is. It’s an explosion of anger in response to a heinous crime, which sadly touches a nerve for the 97% of women who have had unwanted attention from a man.
By all means quote the covid regulations at length at the angry protestors. I’m sure that will help.
What the police should have done was to work with the organisers of the Vigil to make the event safe and responsible. Because of them it’s ended up as a violent protest.
What they need to do now is calm the situation, let it subside and then let the politicians take over with a response.
(By the way, I mentioned that 97% stat to Ms Mascot, and without missing a beat she said all that shows is the three percent of women don’t get out of the house)
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Tbh, I think it was inevitable. After the High Court refused to authorise the vigil planned and Reclaim the Streets cancelled, anyone going along nonetheless were almost certainly going along to provoke.
Before the police got involved you could see that those there were breaking lockdown restrictions. It didn’t hint at a demonstration group that had any intention to work with the police to ensure any gathering was covid compliant. But that seems like an irrelevance. Personally I think those who went are delighted at the response from the police and the resulting imagery.
Now, of course, protesters are chanting things like “defund the police” and “all cops are bastards”. That’s not great.
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Maybe not. But a police officer using their job and power to abduct, rape and murder a young women isn’t great either.
But that’s just one bad egg.
Except, it’s not is it? It’s not the first time a police offer has sexually assaulted a member of the public. And then you have the police attitude to women who report unwanted attention. Then you have the officers who thought going undercover in green action groups gave them the right to enter into sexual relationships with the people they were investigating using their false identities. Then there is the institutional racism, so on and so on.
There is a point when anger at the police starts to look to have some justification. There are huge problems in the police, and these need to be tackled head on.
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Not pointing at any one in particular, but the standoff at Sir Winston’s statue made me ponder some of his words.
“A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.”
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Of course, he also, perhaps allegedly, said this to a female MP, who, perhaps also allegedly, accused him of being “disgustingly drunk.”
“My dear, you are ugly, and what’s more, you are disgustingly ugly. But tomorrow I shall be sober and you will still be disgustingly ugly.” Wonder if the protesters know he said that. If they did, this might be the beginning of the end, rather than the end of the beginning.
Boris could also try this famous Churchill quip.
“The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”
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Benevolent dictatorship, the only way to go. When do I start?
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Overnighting your ticket to Rangoon. Transfers in Beijing, so take your pick. 
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I think you guys are arguing both sides of your perspectives without acknowledging the merits of the other side.
Klopptimist is not wrong. Law is a law and especially in a time like this. If we are allowing all kinds of exceptions to break the law, then there will be anarchy. I can go out there and unleash my own vigilante punishment on a serial killer and I guess most people will not say I am wrong but the law is the law, I will still be punished eventually. But where Klopptimist fail to acknowledge is that, yes the emotions are running high and rightly so. This is an issue that impacts 50% of the population. While they are breaking the law, we do need to also emphatize with them. Do we not think they are not scare of catching Covid? I am sure alot of them are worried about Covid too but precisely if they are worried about Covid, and they are still doing this, then we need to acknowledge the severity they must have felt.
For the rest who are arguing for the vigil, what I think you guys fail to do is acknowledging the validity of Klopptimist’s point. While you guys say that Klopptimist is suppressing the voice of the overflowing emotions, similarly you guys are suppressing his voice of his concerns for breaking the covid laws.
In life, when there are conflicting voices and comes to this, what both sides always fail to see is that there are almost always a better solution. Every war, every protest, every affliction, can always be avoided if only both parties seek a better solution at the table. And both sides need to take responsibilities in some ways because each side will almost always think its their way or the highway.
Now that things have come to such, the first thing that the authorities cannot stop doing and must continue doing is to acknowledge the concerns. No women should ever be afraid to be walking alone in the streets 3am in the morning. Whether they should or not is another matter but that is a basic right they should have. And to be preyed upon a person whom you should be able to trust, you can understand the outcry. But on the other side, I think we should support the women definitely. But we should not be adding fuel to the fire by claiming that the police as a whole institution is a problem. Because while that might be aimed at the policy makers, the top level, but we all see how this is a problem, because there will be a majority of policemen who are actually good people who just want to do a good job but when the public see them as enemies, we know where this will go. In some countries, we also see news of how bad policemen commit crimes but how many times do we express outrage when good policemen gets shite because of how general perception cause people to rail against them?
Thats my opinion and may the victim find rest and the perpetrator gets the utmost punishment.
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Welcome to Singapore 
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Bangladesh 
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Is that inclusive of the 3-day rec leave in Moscow?
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Whilst there are some slight differences in the story, the general feeling of lack of trust in authorities and feeling that things aren’t treated seriously enough seems to be the same as whats happening in Uk with the Sarah Everard case.
I bet it would not take much time or effort to dig through newspapers in any other country to find similar stories repeating time and time again. This shows that the problem is far bigger and wider than people want or are willing to admit.
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I think Sadiq Khan’s statement is perfect.
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