The UK is shaping a future of precrime and dissent management (2025) • Hacker News Board

Re: The UK is shaping a future of precrime and dissent management (2025)

#171

Post by youngtaff » Tue, Jan 13, 2026, 5:12 PM UTC

like_any_other wrote: post #165

piltdownman wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The BBC has never been impartial to internal concerns - domestic politics in particular. Leveson Inquiry recommendations not being implemented is the tip of the iceberg in relation to the extent of client-journalism it engages in with regard to the Conservative party. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/bbc-under-sc...

> client-journalism it engages in with regard to the Conservative party. BBC Caught Altering Budget Article to Be More Favourable to Labour - https://order-order.com/2024/11/01/bbc-caught-altering-budge... When Ivor Caplin, the former Labour MP that, among other things, attacked Musk for talking about Pakistani rape gangs, was arrested for pedophilia [1], this is the article they published - no photo, no name, no par…

Your bias is showing…

This is the same BBC that's put Nigel Farage on Question Time more than any other politician

Or frequently gives a platform to the various think tanks of the Tufton St mafia

Re: The UK is shaping a future of precrime and dissent management (2025)

#172

Post by iamnothere » Tue, Jan 13, 2026, 5:12 PM UTC

JCattheATM wrote: post #168

iamnothere wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, now that you mention it I’ve seen the same sort of thing from people who are definitely not bots. Although, you can’t discount the possibility that they do some government or law enforcement work as a consultant. The full throated defense of police state tactics is unreal. (For what it’s worth, there are plenty of Americans who show up in Palantir/Flock threads doing the same thing, and I have the same suspicio…

For a current example look at the other guy replying to my comments, earnestly trying to equate 'free speech zones' in the US which have not been a thing in years, maybe more than a decade, with people in the UK being arrested for holding up blank signs. I can't imagine it's paid work because what would be the point? It's not like he is influencing anyone's opinions.

Edit: I agree with you about many of these posts, and it’s quite frustrating. Perhaps I should go for a walk.

Re: The UK is shaping a future of precrime and dissent management (2025)

#173

Post by youngtaff » Tue, Jan 13, 2026, 5:14 PM UTC

fidotron wrote: post #57

azangru wrote: post #48

> The focus of policing is also shifting. As street crime continues to fall, more attention is directed toward protest, dissent, and the perceived risk of unrest. Does street crime in fact continue to fall? I keep hearing about bicycles getting stolen, or how in London, mobile phones get snatched. It was also common to hear how police fails to prosecute various kinds of crime (usually mentioned in contrast to how the…

Everyone in London knows what happens if you try to report "minor" street crime. Obviously everyone saying the UK isn't a utopia is a Russian bot, and we should be censoring them.

"Everyone knows" says someone who now lives in Montreal!

Re: The UK is shaping a future of precrime and dissent management (2025)

#174

Post by reedf1 » Tue, Jan 13, 2026, 5:25 PM UTC

Aurornis wrote: post #80

pjc50 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdote is not data. It is both true that the police absolutely suck at handling petty crime, and the Met have a fairly terrible reputation; and that more serious violent crime is much, much less of a problem in London than it used to be (and less than US cities, of course).

> Anecdote is not data. This is a situation where the data may not be capturing the reality, though. An increasingly common tactic for decreasing crime statistics is to reduce reporting of crimes. The more difficult you make it to report a crime, the better the crime numbers look. In one city I’m familiar with, it became so well known that reporting small crimes was a futile endeavor that people just gave up. It was…

pretty hard to underreport homicide

Re: The UK is shaping a future of precrime and dissent management (2025)

#175

Post by like_any_other » Tue, Jan 13, 2026, 5:25 PM UTC

piltdownman wrote: post #169

like_any_other wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> client-journalism it engages in with regard to the Conservative party. BBC Caught Altering Budget Article to Be More Favourable to Labour - https://order-order.com/2024/11/01/bbc-caught-altering-budge... When Ivor Caplin, the former Labour MP that, among other things, attacked Musk for talking about Pakistani rape gangs, was arrested for pedophilia [1], this is the article they published - no photo, no name, no par…

I've no idea what Dr. Who, murder-reporting, period dramas or stock photography choices have to do with the Labour party, but I'll pretend you're arguing in good faith and address what I believe to be the point in your copypasta. The most empirical and robust study regarding bias was performed by Cardiff University in 2013. Its major finding regarded the dominance of Conservative party political sources in BBC covera…

> I've no idea what Dr. Who, murder-reporting, period dramas or stock photography choices have to do with the Labour party

If you believe the most relevant political division in the UK is Labour vs Tory, then it does all seem a bit random.

Re: The UK is shaping a future of precrime and dissent management (2025)

#176

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jan 13, 2026, 5:28 PM UTC

JCattheATM wrote: post #168

iamnothere wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, now that you mention it I’ve seen the same sort of thing from people who are definitely not bots. Although, you can’t discount the possibility that they do some government or law enforcement work as a consultant. The full throated defense of police state tactics is unreal. (For what it’s worth, there are plenty of Americans who show up in Palantir/Flock threads doing the same thing, and I have the same suspicio…

For a current example look at the other guy replying to my comments, earnestly trying to equate 'free speech zones' in the US which have not been a thing in years, maybe more than a decade, with people in the UK being arrested for holding up blank signs. I can't imagine it's paid work because what would be the point? It's not like he is influencing anyone's opinions.

[deleted]

Re: The UK is shaping a future of precrime and dissent management (2025)

#177

Post by iamflimflam1 » Tue, Jan 13, 2026, 5:29 PM UTC

mytailorisrich wrote: post #132

chimprich wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we can fairly easily dismiss Cummings' views on anything. He was of the opinion that the best thing for the UK economy was Brexit, and that the the best team to carry out that out was to be headed by Boris Johnson. He changed his mind on Johnson, but he seems to be of the view that nothing works and that there is nothing for it but to burn everything down and start again according to the Dominic Cummings visi…

> He was of the opinion that the best thing for the UK economy was Brexit I don't want to start another Brexit debate or even take position on it. However I'd like to point out that the key with Brexit is the plan on what to do afterwards and that is what has been completely lacking. Whatever one's opinion of Cummings, he did put forward a plan and that plan was never attempted (probably too bold, shall we say, for p…

I would say “could not possibly be implemented” rather than “bold”.

Anyone can propose a brave or bold course of action. It’s very rare these people have any idea how to actually execute their plans.

Re: The UK is shaping a future of precrime and dissent management (2025)

#178

Post by tdeck » Tue, Jan 13, 2026, 5:31 PM UTC

JCattheATM wrote: post #134

iamnothere wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem isn’t the balance, it’s the police state. I don’t want an authoritarian Left government any more than I want an authoritarian Right or Center government.

The problem is most Brits, at least on HN, seem to deny what is happening and/or support it. People being arrested for holding up blank signs at Charles' coronation was ridiculous and nothing like it has happened in the US, but anytime that's brought up they pivot to mass shootings in the US or some other whataboutism.

I was curious about the "blank sign" story because it's slightly different from what I remembered reading. As far as I can tell, this is the incident you're referring to:

    On 12 September, Charles addressed parliament as king for the first time. The Metropolitan police called in reinforcements in case of protests. Powlesland, who works nearby, walked from Parliament Square to Downing Street and back with his blank piece of paper. “Then a guy from Norfolk police came up and spoke to me, and that was the video that went viral.” Powlesland recorded the encounter on his phone. “He asked for my details, I asked why and he said, ‘I want to check you’re OK on the Police National Computer.’ I said, ‘I’ve not done anything wrong, so I’m not giving you them.’ I wanted to test it without getting arrested. So I asked, ‘If I wrote “Not my king” on the paper, would I get arrested?’ and he said, ‘Probably, because it would be a breach of the Public Order Act; it would be offensive.’” Was he right? Powlesland laughs. “No! Just having something someone else finds offensive is not a criminal offence because then pretty much anything could be.”

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/apr/29/the-crowd-we...

Re: The UK is shaping a future of precrime and dissent management (2025)

#179

Post by RansomStark » Tue, Jan 13, 2026, 5:31 PM UTC

piltdownman wrote: post #169

like_any_other wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> client-journalism it engages in with regard to the Conservative party. BBC Caught Altering Budget Article to Be More Favourable to Labour - https://order-order.com/2024/11/01/bbc-caught-altering-budge... When Ivor Caplin, the former Labour MP that, among other things, attacked Musk for talking about Pakistani rape gangs, was arrested for pedophilia [1], this is the article they published - no photo, no name, no par…

I've no idea what Dr. Who, murder-reporting, period dramas or stock photography choices have to do with the Labour party, but I'll pretend you're arguing in good faith and address what I believe to be the point in your copypasta. The most empirical and robust study regarding bias was performed by Cardiff University in 2013. Its major finding regarded the dominance of Conservative party political sources in BBC covera…

Wait a news channel gave more air time to the current prime minister and his cabinet, the guy and team with the power, than someone else. Consider me shocked!

Have you considered that by choosing different time periods you get different results.

Maybe the BBC bends the knee to whoever is calling the shots, that's what it looks like to me.

Re: The UK is shaping a future of precrime and dissent management (2025)

#180

Post by fidotron » Tue, Jan 13, 2026, 5:35 PM UTC

youngtaff wrote: post #173

fidotron wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone in London knows what happens if you try to report "minor" street crime. Obviously everyone saying the UK isn't a utopia is a Russian bot, and we should be censoring them.

"Everyone knows" says someone who now lives in Montreal!

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46602802

I do appreciate your efforts at digging.