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Off Topic The Politics Thread

Discussion in 'Queens Park Rangers' started by Stroller, Jun 25, 2015.

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Should the UK remain a part of the EU or leave?

Poll closed Jun 24, 2016.
  1. Stay in

    56 vote(s)
    47.9%
  2. Get out

    61 vote(s)
    52.1%
  1. qprbeth

    qprbeth Wicked Witch of West12
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    Can not see how a spontaneous vigil for a poor woman who was murdered a week a go, can be "perfectly timed" Windy.
    The Bill to be discussed on Tuesday ....

    Civil liberties campaigners have warned of a “staggering assault” on the right to protest, as police detailed how they would enforce controversial government proposals to restrict demonstrations. On Thursday, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) published its plans for the future of policing protests, two days after the government announced proposed new laws granting more powers to officers and the home secretary. Among other things, the police, crime, sentencing and courts bill will give Priti Patel powers to create laws to define “serious disruption” to communities and organisations, which police can then rely on to impose conditions on protests.

    The HMICFRS report, ordered by Patel following Extinction Rebellion (XR) and Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests, outlines a “need to develop” covert intelligence gathering methods and an expectation of increased use of facial recognition technology, despite a court of appeal ruling last year that its use in south Wales breached privacy rights and broke equalities law.

    The report also supports expanding stop and search “to prevent serious disruption caused by protests”, amid concerns over discriminatory use of the power.

    Emmanuelle Andrews, policy and campaigns officer at Liberty, said: “These plans are a staggering assault on our right to protest as well as an attack on other fundamental rights. “Police already have extensive powers to restrict protests, and frequently go beyond them even though it is their duty to facilitate the exercise of this right. “We are still in the grip of a pandemic that has changed all our lives, handed enormous powers to the government and dramatically restricted our protest rights. The proposals in the policing bill are an opportunistic bid from the government to permanently erode our rights. “We must reject the politics of division that the government is exploiting through this bill, and protect each other and our ability to stand up to power.”

    The bill also allows for police to impose conditions such as start and finish times and maximum noise levels on static protests – powers officers already have in relation to marches. But the HMICFRS wants the rules to be even more closely aligned with those for marches, by forcing organisers of static protests to provide advance notice of their plans and enabling police to ban assemblies, with the consent of the home secretary, if the imposition of conditions would not be sufficient to prevent serious public disorder.

    Kevin Blowe, campaigns coordinator of the police monitoring group Netpol, criticised the report as “alarming and illiberal” and “essentially a series of recommendations on how you can massively expand surveillance on protest movements at a time when the government has decided that it’s going to crack down on those protests”.
    The report is the first to feature the term “aggravated activists” instead of “domestic extremists”, the use of which Netpol campaigned against for almost a decade. It defines aggravated activists as “those who commit protest-related crime or unlawful behaviour. The most frequent level of aggravated activism associated with protests is low.” Alanna Byrne, of XR, said similar labels were applied in the past to other groups “on the right side of history”, adding: “Priti Patel can try and make the UK a protest-free zone but it’s clear that the government is not going to do the right thing without protesters holding them to account so we don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.” Announcing the bill, the Home Office said the new laws would “enable police to better tackle unauthorised encampments, and safely manage protests where they threaten public order or stop people from getting on with their daily lives”. Matt Parr, from HMICFRS, said: “The right to gather and express our views is fundamental to our democracy. But this is not an absolute right. The police need to strike the correct balance between the rights of protesters and the rights of others, such as local residents and businesses.

    “We found that the police too often do not find the balance between protecting the rights of the protesters and preventing excessive disruption to daily life, which even peaceful protest can sometimes cause.”
     
    #62481
  2. Sooperhoop

    Sooperhoop Well-Known Member

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    Interesting, there was a post from a serving officer this morning who was on duty, he said initially all the officers around the bandstand were WPCs, the crowd began to get larger in late afternoon and many were beginning to tread on the flowers. When officers asked them to move on for crowd safety a minority objected and began chanting, this escalated the situation which quickly turned ugly as male officers went into assist. All those pictured being removed were given a number of warnings after they initially refused the requests to leave and were 'playing to' the cameras which also were hampering police efforts to clear the area.

    Neither side comes out of this well, a 'vigil' doesn't have a chanting mob looking for confrontation and the response was guaranteed to lead to the negative coverage we are now getting...
     
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  3. Staines R's

    Staines R's Well-Known Member

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    Absolutely this.
     
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  4. qprbeth

    qprbeth Wicked Witch of West12
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    No I didn't Stainsey ...you are right. I have looked it up. Disgusting

    But I do remember Blair Peach, because of the name.

    I also remember my friend Gail, who had a skull shattered by a police truncheon, was then convicted of assault. Had her children taken from her and put into custody of her estranged husband.

    We have a lot of problems in this country, and many of them are escalating
     
    #62484
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  5. Bwood_Ranger

    Bwood_Ranger 2023 Funniest Poster

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    Sorry I meant perfectly timed for the police/government. The right to protest without getting the nod from the Home Secretary, especially this Home Secretary, is vital in what’s left of our sham of a democracy.
     
    #62485
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  6. qprbeth

    qprbeth Wicked Witch of West12
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    Apologies I misunderstood.
     
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  7. Staines R's

    Staines R's Well-Known Member

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    With respect Beth, your rights to protest started to be curtailed as far back as 1994, but people didn’t give a **** ‘cos it was gonna be used against those drugged up ravers and disgusting travellers.........proud to say I at least tried to protest back then. But didn’t get me anywhere other than a sore head at Hyde Park

    Never have Pastor Niemollers words been so apt
     
    #62487
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  8. Staines R's

    Staines R's Well-Known Member

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    I was there at the protest when Ian was killed Beth.....and he was a total innocent and not involved in any of the happenings of that day.....however I cannot lie and be a hypocrite, we the protesters of the day must also stand up and take our share of responsibility for his death.....we weren’t angels.
    My personal opinion is that the OB are a completely different thing from the bad old days of the 70’s and 80’s, where they were an openly racist force and mostly bullies......and while they are still not perfect by far...I think they’ve come a long way.
     
    #62488
  9. Staines R's

    Staines R's Well-Known Member

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    EFD752E0-3EA1-410C-BFF5-0B38FFB5429F.jpeg
    Back in the day
     
    #62489
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  10. Sooperhoop

    Sooperhoop Well-Known Member

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    And there you have it, the Met Police thrown under a bus by the man whose interference in their running leaves them between a rock and a hard place. The Covid restrictions have been clear for months but when it suits him Khan will ignore them to virtue-signal. London has become ungovernable with everyone at cross-purposes...

     
    #62490
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  11. Frome-Ranger

    Frome-Ranger Well-Known Member

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    Hi Beth, yes sorry that wasn't meant to be a dig at activism per se more a questioning of some of the motives yesterday, this lady in particular. That said obviously this is such an emotive subject maybe the lines between vigil and protest are finer than normal. I still don't think Patsy is being sincere though, even subsequent interviews her agenda is clear.

    In the current circumstances its probably not right for me to comment or question motives or intentions though as I may be wide of the mark and I'm certainly not insensitive to the wider issues.
     
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  12. rangercol

    rangercol Well-Known Member

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    When's the vigil for all the other murders in the Capital?
     
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  13. Staines R's

    Staines R's Well-Known Member

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    Last night I had a job which involved quite a few OB and a woman threatening suicide......obviously I won’t go into details but these youngsters (as they were to me) were some of the most professional, the most caring, the most understanding, the most patient people I’ve dealt with in a long time....at all times showing compassion and restraint in a difficult situation.
    It would be a shame if people like that read Khans attack on the force as a whole and think **** it, this ain’t worth the hassle and stress.....I know my lad has thought just this a few times...it would be a shame to lose people like that.
     
    #62493
  14. Staines R's

    Staines R's Well-Known Member

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    Young Pakistani girls killed by their abusive husbands or black kids stabbed to death over a postcode don’t seem to garnish the same sense of outrage.
     
    #62494
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  15. Bwood_Ranger

    Bwood_Ranger 2023 Funniest Poster

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    Some absolutely stunning takes.

    No, not every murder gets the same headlines for one reason or another. That doesn’t make the outrage from this unusual murder any less genuine.
     
    #62495
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  16. Staines R's

    Staines R's Well-Known Member

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    Give me the ‘one reason or another’ then Bracknell ? Why aren’t we as a society outraged at honour killings and knife crime ?
    Is it just that this murder is so unusual and unprecedented ? Or that the other types of murder are so common that we’ve come to somehow accept it as ‘the norm’ ?

    Honestly not looking for a row, just having a debate before work
     
    #62496
  17. rangercol

    rangercol Well-Known Member

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    Or the same virtue signalling?
     
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  18. Staines R's

    Staines R's Well-Known Member

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    I do agree Col. And as I asked Bracknell......it’s interesting to me the reason why ?
    Is it that it happened to a pretty white girl....not a black kid from Streatham ? Or ‘cos the murderer was a policeman, not an abusive relative ? I’m genuinely interested.

    Khans comments are appalling and show him up for what he is.....as I say there are always two sides to every story
     
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  19. Bwood_Ranger

    Bwood_Ranger 2023 Funniest Poster

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    I know bro. I don’t write the headlines. Maybe her being a young-ish blonde helped. I believe she had friends or friends of friends in the media in some capacity trying to help when it was possibly just a case of her being missing. It’s not right that honour killings and knife crime don’t get the attention they deserve but it’s natural people are going to be hit more when it’s someone they can relate to, so you’re going to get young, middle-class girls living in London in particular more bothered by this than other murders. Add to that it’s been the catalyst for a general debate on sexual harassment and worse that a crazily high percentage of women go through regularly and it’s got people angry. Again they might not have been the people angry about other issues but I don’t think it’s right to write them off because of that. It’s what the establishment would want.
     
    #62499
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  20. rangercol

    rangercol Well-Known Member

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    Khan's a useless twat.

    I think it's all the reasons you mention.
     
    #62500
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