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More Britain becoming totalitarian - you do NOT have the right to remain silent
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Apparently, anyway.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4870988.stm
It sounds like from the start of the article its only going to go after the big baddies who drink the blood of a thousand virgins. I dont mean to say they're not nasty pieces of work, but the government is trying to paint an ever more black and white picture of criminals. Then you read this bit:
Low level dealers? I.e. -> ordinary people. Now that last bit isnt a government source, but its a scary precedent. Whilst I'm against drug use / abuse as a person, I think there are issues with policing it. For example, a significant proportion of drug users arent 'knife wielding yobs' who want to stab old people for their 65p change so they can get drugs. They're normal people who graft 9-5 like the rest of us, more in lots of cases, and like them as a form of a recreation, to get away from it or whatever.
But the issue im concerned with isnt just about drug users, its about all manner of things. Im sure terrorism will soon be incorporated in the above. And when does protesting become terrorising? And so when are these special police services able to walk up to you and put cuffs round your wrists for saying tony blair smells like granny wee.
You know since we were likening the regulatory and legislative reform bill to the enabling act of hitler, maybe we can start to draw parallels between the SS - an uber police force with 'special' powers - to this new institution.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4870988.stm
Mr Blair said the agency would exploit four important new powers:
* Queen's evidence: Prosecutors to offer statutory deals - immunity or reduced sentences - where, previously, deals were only informal
* Financial reporting orders: Courts can make orders, of up to 20 years, forcing criminals to provide bank statements to ensure they have no crime-related earnings
* Disclosure notices - Courts can force suspects to answer questions or provide documents or face imprisonment or fines. Limits the right to silence
* Law enforcement officers: Creation of new officers with multiple powers
It sounds like from the start of the article its only going to go after the big baddies who drink the blood of a thousand virgins. I dont mean to say they're not nasty pieces of work, but the government is trying to paint an ever more black and white picture of criminals. Then you read this bit:
And Drugscope chief executive Martin Barnes told BBC News that, while disrupting "high level markets" was a good move, "low level dealers" must also be targeted.
Low level dealers? I.e. -> ordinary people. Now that last bit isnt a government source, but its a scary precedent. Whilst I'm against drug use / abuse as a person, I think there are issues with policing it. For example, a significant proportion of drug users arent 'knife wielding yobs' who want to stab old people for their 65p change so they can get drugs. They're normal people who graft 9-5 like the rest of us, more in lots of cases, and like them as a form of a recreation, to get away from it or whatever.
But the issue im concerned with isnt just about drug users, its about all manner of things. Im sure terrorism will soon be incorporated in the above. And when does protesting become terrorising? And so when are these special police services able to walk up to you and put cuffs round your wrists for saying tony blair smells like granny wee.
You know since we were likening the regulatory and legislative reform bill to the enabling act of hitler, maybe we can start to draw parallels between the SS - an uber police force with 'special' powers - to this new institution.
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Comments
The most scary thing about the lack of civil liberties in the UK at the mo is that nobody really realises they're all gone. Just the other week motor vehicles were banned off walkways so scramblers can walk on them. But a lot of people used to go round on their motorcross bikes cross country across them, and they've just been forgotten now.
Slowly but surely the noose is being tightened
:eek:
innocent until proven guilty?
Seriously what the hell happened?
Civil liberties have been being eroded for a long time now, this government are just carrying on what Thatcher started.
That went out ages ago, keep up, we cant have all these rights if we are going to defeat criminals!
Of course the government doesnt mention why criminals are richer now than they have ever been - The Misuse of Drugs Act.
The government and the judiciary do not now, never have and never will obey the law. The law is for peons to follow while they get on with the more serious business of robbing everyone blind, killing foreigners and ruling like kings.
The only defence you have is to get them to contradict themselves and hope you do it in public.
Why?
Because they have to make robbery, murder and all the rest of it look good. Otherwise everyone would see them for the evil bastards they really are and wouldn't put up with it any longer.
there have always been laws available to do this in the uk ...they just keep beefing them up.
you'll be pleased to know i got all my money back eventualy. :cool:
That was my favourite right.
You couple this with the CJA2001, where the "bad character" of the defendant is allowed to be put before the jury on spurious grounds but the "bad character" of witnesses is strictly controlled, and you get a very undemocratic and undignified legal system.
I wouldn't be too concerned about this though. I'd be far more concerned about the impending utter destruction of the independent criminal defence firms- you'll be able to get a Government-appointed " community defender", or a factory firm paying solicitors peanuts and completely reliant on Government patronage.
Sure, I don't think they'll abolish them, as jury trial means nothing.
Most people are thick, and juries prove it. As delightfully shown by the rape conviction stats.
Juries can only make a decision on what they're told...tell them the right things, and stop the defence telling them the wrong things, and juries will convict with ease.
No, they can only drug test if arrested but not charged. Previously they were only testing if they charged you.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foi/story/0,,1745684,00.html
We can rant about the Evils of Soviet Gulags... but let's not forget, the creator and true master of the concentration camp is... Britain!
We've been running them for ages. You don't actually think we have stopped now as well do you?