The situation here is even worse than it looks like. You've got two government departments, one way or another both reporting to Downing Street 10. Suddenly one government department confiscates government assets from another department. This is not supposed to be possible. If they wanted assets from another department, they were supposed to politely ask. If the request was refused, and they believe they were right, they should appeal.
UK police use terror powers to seize BBC Newsnight journalist's laptop
91–93 of 93 posts
Re: UK police use terror powers to seize BBC Newsnight journalist's laptop
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think you're wearing rose tinted glasses. You say "are becoming" but do you have real evidence that the past was a utopia of rationality where propaganda fell on deaf ears, nobody was ever scared of any threats and everyone loved deeply religious immigrants? Because the UK I know from my history readings has things like the cold war, the Falklands war, massive tribal struggles between political left and right, and…
All I can say is, I really, really dislike this country and the political system that operates it. My personal and political beliefs seem to be completely at odds with most of the British public and I feel like I would be crazy to stay. I mean, we have a monarch and an unelected upper house of parliament. What the hell am I doing here? My identity as a British person means very little to me. I was born on this patch…
If you mean you're significantly more left wing than many people, well you'll see that split everywhere in the democratic world, even in Scotland.
Yes, there's a monarch. Who does diddly squat other than putting on a dog and pony show for visiting dignitaries - which happens to be useful for trade purposes (see recent visit of the Chinese president) - giving people entertainment and attracting tourists. So the monarchy is tolerated. That tolerance would vaporise if say Charles came to the throne and started trying to fuck with government policies. You'd pretty quickly see the monarchy put in a purely ceremonial role and the country transition to a kind of pseudo-republic which would be a republic in all but name, in which people still pretend to be loyal to the King even though he has no power at all.
So I wouldn't worry about that.
The house of lords has such limited power I wouldn't worry about that either: it can slow legislation down but can't stop it due to the Parliament Act. Like the monarchy, it's a tolerated holdover from earlier times that doesn't really impact much of anything.
If these are the worst things about Britain you can think of, I'd suggest you have a case of grass-is-always-greener syndrome (btw, I'm British and I live in Switzerland ... but not because I thought the UK sucked so bad I had to get out).
Re: UK police use terror powers to seize BBC Newsnight journalist's laptop
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
All I can say is, I really, really dislike this country and the political system that operates it. My personal and political beliefs seem to be completely at odds with most of the British public and I feel like I would be crazy to stay. I mean, we have a monarch and an unelected upper house of parliament. What the hell am I doing here? My identity as a British person means very little to me. I was born on this patch…
If you mean you're significantly more left wing than many people, well you'll see that split everywhere in the democratic world, even in Scotland. Yes, there's a monarch. Who does diddly squat other than putting on a dog and pony show for visiting dignitaries - which happens to be useful for trade purposes (see recent visit of the Chinese president) - giving people entertainment and attracting tourists. So the monarc…
They are not even close to the worst things I can think of about Britain, they are just the most visible to people.
The two I mentioned I mostly symbolic, true but that's even more reason to get rid of them. Screw the financial benefit.
They are representative of obscene wealth, privilige and elitism and have no place in a democratic society, symbolic or not.