UK Politics Thread (Part 4)

It is literally disinformation.

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I read Rory Stewartā€™s autobiography in the summer. A government minister for ten years , various cabinet posts and leadership contender. He was Minister for Prisons as recently as 2019 , appointed in 2018 in the wake of a damning report on the state of HMP Liverpool, in which the inspector described it as the ā€œworst prison he had ever seenā€

The prison system nationally was in crisis with rising rates of violence , drug use and virtually no prospect of rehabilitation for any offenders. He identified overcrowding and under staffing as being the main driver in decline of standards and was the person behind the drive , along with the support of his then boss at Justice , David Gauke , who I think may have been invited into the new Labour Govt. or , at the least , has advised on this matter.

The people being released are those serving sentences of less than a year I think , a category of internees which Stewart said should be done away with altogether. I think itā€™s to the credit of Starmer that heā€™s taken up such a common sense policy , regardless of where itā€™s come from and in spite of the wholely predictable flak that heā€™s going to take from the right wing press.

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Wonder who slashed police numbers? :thinking:

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Well for starters Farage hasnt broken any laws even though heā€™s been walking a tightrope. The issue of misinformation is a huge one and maybe one for another day.

Thereā€™s lots of reasons why trials take longer to arrrive in the courtroom than others including scheduling, complexity etc.

The world isnt black and white. Sometimes you need to go through certain processes and get your ducks in a row.

This conversation is just weird. This stuff is kind of obvious.

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The world is. Itā€™s people who arenā€™t.

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I would be very cautious about that claim, just look at the spikes in Google Searches of basic election/referenda-related information after the event.

What is obvious to one can sometimes be completely unobvious to another person, particularly if the latter has had very little reason to have had contact with that. Thereā€™s nothing wrong with that. Thatā€™s nothing inherently wrong with ignorance, weā€™re all ignorant of something after all.

Itā€™s priding oneself in ignorance that is a problem, in making grandiose claims without basic verification of facts (the latter of which we are all guilty of at least from time to time, well, at least i know I am). Itā€™s the attitude towards ignorance that I think is a differentiating factor.

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You do know colour TVs exist now too, right? You donā€™t have to see the world in black and white anymoreā€¦

Not sure I agree with that, Iā€™ll honestly have to ponder it.

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Thatā€™s a fair shout.

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I would love to know what peopleā€™s opinions on this are, especially with regards to land banks:

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Two problems. First is that everyone is a NIMBY. The question is where to draw the line between genuine concerns and simple self interest.

In terms of the land banks, Iā€™m surprised that they didnā€™t put something in the budget to address it, as it is a clear problem.

I would suggest that council tax should be applied to the land 12 months after planning permission has been granted, regardless of whether the houses have been built or not.

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On the subject of housing, hereā€™s a far better article from the same paper:

Absolutely spot-on.

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It is literally not. If youā€™re given a 5 year sentence, youā€™re a serious criminal.

The same people who want 4 officers to attend somebodyā€™s house for posting questionable things on X.

Except the article you linked only has this to say with the keyword ā€œseriousā€ in it. This would have been obvious to you had you read the post where I included a screenshot literally from GOV.UK.

No one is getting a sentence for a serious crime cut short. They are getting a sentence for a lesser crime cut short, and are being released only if they have already completed their sentence for a serious crime.

And more to the point, ā€œsocial media postersā€ are not getting locked up.

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I call a sentence of 5 years or more serious. Do you not?

I think that puts a lot of faith in sentencing. Looking at the sentences handed down to the climate protestors, I would probably say I donā€™t consider something a serious crime just because of its sentence.

I prefer to look at the particular acts and crimes committed rather than use such mental shortcuts, thank you.

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Thatā€™s a no then. Some people just canā€™t answer a very simple question.

or you simply donā€™t understand what you are reading. ā€˜Serious crimeā€™ has a precise legal definition in the UK. It is really very simple, if it is on the list in the legislation, it is Serious Crime. If it isnā€™t, it isnā€™t. Oddly enough, what you think it should be governs remarkably few laws, as compared to as they written and passed into law.

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