So as good as their word, after 18 people protested outside New Scotland Yard with placards reading 'I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action' they have all been arrested by the Metropolitan Police.
They will now of course find themselves in a sort of legal limbo as charges will be dropped (indeed rendered null & void) if the appeal by the Govt. fails to overturn the judgement that the proscription of Palestine Action was itself illegal.
h/t Guardian
It is absurd that the Met is enforcing a law found to to be unconstitutional.
Sure it's under appeal, but then the arrests can wait until after the appeal.
There is no reason, the Met couldn't issue a caution and leave them.
see answer to @NicelyManifest just now... you are right the Met have chosen to arrest (after initially pausing then off ours changing their minds) - I see the shadowy hand of the Home Office behind this
@ChrisMayLA6 @TCatInReality @NicelyManifest
... and how many decades have passed where (some of us) have viewed the police as corrupt tools of the establishment ?
we can add the 2020s to that list.
@NicelyManifest @ChrisMayLA6 @TCatInReality
in a previous life I worked in one of the Hillsborough inquiries - I saw first hand how corrupt the police are .. in that case the South Yorkshire Police
@rapsneezy @NicelyManifest @ChrisMayLA6
Haven't Hillsborough, the Catholic Church scandals and Epstein proved enough times over that prioritising the institution's reputation is a bad idea?
@TCatInReality @rapsneezy @ChrisMayLA6 The institutions and the public know so. But the power sustaining this deeply flawed bias is in the wrong hands.
Democracy largely fails the public - even the vital matter of 'trust in representatives' is rarely held or sustained. So we need to think beyond representative democracy.
And you know for sure the system will not drive that possibility.
@NicelyManifest @rapsneezy @ChrisMayLA6
My view of democracy has been shaken by a book called "Against Elections".
In short, our current forms of representative democracy put way too much power in the hands of elected reps - effectively making an elected aristocracy. This is ripe for corruption, disconnect from the public and lack of expertise.
The book argues for splitting apart functions, elections to much narrower roles and much greater use of sortition (ie, citizen roles like juries)
@TCatInReality @rapsneezy @ChrisMayLA6 Sounds interesting - I love to read about many things, not least fighting power - such as the public action taken to eventually push Milosovic into fleeing his dictatorship ...
If it is too easy for a system to be corrupted then another path is needed or the system must be re-engineered.
For example, regular public involvement in politics. Like a public 'jury' that can challenge matters in debating chambers.
@NicelyManifest @TCatInReality @ChrisMayLA6
I did find NN Taleb's ideas interesting.
1. Centralisation of power definitely attracts corruption and subversion. The UK is one of the most centralised of western democracies. French mayors have a lot more power.
2. Distance from your citizens. Remote politicians and civil servants, mean their decisions have little personal consequence for them. Personal consequences - skin in the game - leads to better decisions. Lead from front, not back.
@rapsneezy @TCatInReality @ChrisMayLA6 Many thanks for this info.
Distancing applies to business also - when businesses were locally run money goes back locally, and accountability is local. Remoteness and increased business size make workers appear anonymously as numbers and costs on a spreadsheet.
@NicelyManifest @TCatInReality @ChrisMayLA6
I come from a "left" perspective, Taleb comes from a "right" perspective. But I find his ideas a very good challenge to what I have believed for decades.
For me, his most consequential insight is the difference between stability/robustness and anti-fragility. The former resists events and eventually breaks. The latter absorbs, learns, adapts and becomes better. This can be applied to the constantly repeated notion of "we want a stable middle east".
@rapsneezy @ChrisMayLA6 @TCatInReality How fascinating! It is such a bitter repeated insult to harmed people - as much so with Grenfell also - that denial is dragged out sooooo long.
Systems of power start inquiries into matters that need no inquiry as precedent already set - and drag these inquiries out forever then fail to implement the findings.
Repeated way way too often in my opinion.
Emeritus Prof Christopher May
TC Won't Give In To Lies
Sneezy
Neil Moffatt