Welcome to Communist Britain

One day soon my blood pressure will make Krakatoa, Mount St Helens and Mount Pinatuba look like squibs.......Imagine the self-righteous uproar from the same people if a Tory government had ever done anything like this.

Why the police now have to ask teenage muggers: 'Do you eat chips?' | the Daily Mail

 

Not exactly communist is it now? More Fascistic. Then again, 50 years ago (apparently) when the bobbies on the beat knew you, your parents and so on, they already knew the answers to all these questions.

Another scare from the Daily Mail which, contrary to popular belief isn't just a broadsheet for people with short arms.

 

This is reminiscent of East Germany, which I don't recall being a 'fascist' state. Remember when Stasi files were released and it turned out they had compiled a literal account of athlete Katrine Krabbe's sex life, including an exact record of how long her sexual encounters lasted? And the difference with this idea is....? The authorities have no need to know any of this information. My kids have already been told to answer "mind your own business" if any glorified public servant with a uniform and a company car dares to ask. Remember, if they're deemed to be old enough to give permission, then they're also old enough to refuse. What are the Plod going to do- arrest them?! I see a nice compensation cheque for false arrest,wrongful imprisonment and defamation of character winging itself my way.
And the jibe about the Daily Mail says more about you than it ever will about the paper.

 

Oh come on, the daily hate is hardly a 'newspaper,' just a propaganda sheet to give the British middle classes their early morning dose of righteous indignation before they trundle off to work. Of course heaven forbid that the reason this kind of thing has got through under the guise of 'child protection' might be because certain red-tops have created a situation where parents are convinced there is a pedophile around every corner. I also note there is no suggestion of a way to improve the system and something of a contradiction (apparently the Child Protection Register was 'very effective' and yet apparently there were stupid people reading it and not acting, which begs the question of how it was in fact effective, great reporting there).

Anyhow, the whole 'communist' thing just comes back to the question of where in Marx or any other 'communist' textbook it mentions these types of record.

Either way, I can't see it having much of an affect, as you say, most people will tell PC Snodgrass to get lost, god knows what they'd say to a teacher or gym worker.

Seriously, I don't see how anyone can take this rag seriously.

 

I'm working class. And here we go with the good old British newspaper snobbery again. If they're right about printed papers being obsolete for electronic versions in a few years, will people be sneered at for reading the 'wrong' websites? Next time I post a news article on anything, perhaps I should also comment on the perceived IQ levels of that particular paper's readership?

The non-entities who come up with these ideas tend not to read "red tops". They also tend to be the same ones who turned global warming hysteria into the next mass religion, with themselves as unaccountable high priests, based on what they read in 'proper' newspapers. Which are never biased or inaccurate in any way of course.

And when did that ever stop fanatics?

Please tell us which paper you read, and how you know it to be a 'proper' and 'serious' one?

 

Feel free I thought we already did sneer at people for reading the 'wrong' websites, just look around on here, Wikipedia or The History Channel anyone? Dress it up as 'looking for provenance' but it's all much the same thing. Either way I apologise for the use of the term 'middle class' since the class system over here is much of a muchness these days, that is to say still very much existent but hard to pin down.

Never said they weren't, but they tend to avoid hate/scare mongering. As for non-entities, are you referring to government ministers? I'd have thought the reigns of government dragged one out of the realm of 'non-entity-hood.' That said, they are also clearly intelligent enough to use the climate of fear created by the tabloids to pass legislation which surely deserves some recognition

Who said it did? Simply a comment on your misuse of the term 'communist,' this kind of thing is no more in line with Communist teaching than mass murder is with Christian.

The Guardian of course! Nah, just kidding, thought I'd give you the reaction you expected. I tend to avoid papers for exactly the reasons you outlined above, but when I do delve into them I do at least attempt to get different viewpoints (indeed, including those of the daily hate and it's ilk, however sickening they may be). Either way, this kind of sensationalist claptrap from a rag with such a checkered history is hardly 'reporting.' Speaking of which, I take it we are ignoring the contradiction and lack of any kind of suggestion of how to improve things (though I imagine the answer is 'blame pedophiles/immigrants, bring back hanging/flaying alive and vote in the BNP' or something similar).

ED: Before this gets silly, no offense is meant by any of this, just an intellectual exercise. Just wanted to make that clear.

 

Oh, really?

Have you looked at the Scottish/Welsh parliaments recently?

And which tabloid created the 'climate of fear' which has led to Scottish criminals being able to avoid going to court just by paying a fixed penalty fine?

So let's discuss the misuse of terms like 'rag', 'daily hate and it's ilk' etc.

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But that's exactly my point; I didn't expect any particular reaction.

You just can't help yourself, can you?

Early afternoon dose of self-righteous indignation, anyone?

 

To a greater extent than red tops, yes. Well, at the very least they tend to avoid foaming at the mouth. I particularly enjoyed the bit about asking if kids are ''enjoying and achieving their aims'. What if their aims are mugging and stabbing?' What the hell? Where did that come from?

True, but I thought we were discussing legislation from Westminster?

Not really a climate of fear is it now? More like 'soft touch Britain' or some other daft sound-bite.

Rag, derogatory term for newspaper, yup, that's exactly what I was referring to. 'Daily hate,' derogatory term for the Daily Mail arising from the fact that it's pages appear to be full of articles about why we should hate/be angry with various things, yup, that's exactly what I was referring to. Sorry, don't see the problem.

Not sure that really counts as a point, well, not one you were making in any obvious fashion.

Nope, to be honest it's more due to shock than anything else.

Well, you don't seriously expect me to be doing anything that involved on a Sunday morning do you?

Anyhow, I take it we are still ignoring the contradiction, lack of anything like a suggestion of how to improve things (which would at least lend an air of moderation to the bile) etc? I take it also that you are never again going to question a source someone posts on here?

As I said, nothing will come of this, it is a waste of time and effort, police won't enforce it, people won't respond if they do, it will make no difference whatsoever and at the end of the day not much has actually changed. After all, concerned coppers could always ask a kid about his/her situation at home, the difference now is that someone is suggesting what kind of questions they ask.

 

In future, I must remember only to post articles from papers Stefan approves of.

 

Please, if you could that would be most appreciated

Come on, I thought we were allowed to criticise sources on here.

 

Interesting article. Not as pessimistic as Orwell's 1984, but it's getting close. Last week I saw on TV that some shopkeepers use ultrasounds that could only be heard by teenagers, so that they would not loiter. Scary thought.

 

Stefan,
There's a difference between 'criticising' a source, and sneering at newspapers you don't personally read or approve of.
Since you mentioned them, people criticise Wikipedia and The History Channel for their sheer lack of editorial control and accuracy. That's completely different from tarring the entire readership of paper(s) with the same brush.

 

Skip,
That was reported here a few weeks back, and already the bleeding hearts are whingeing about the equipment abusing human rites. They don't seem to think the same applies to the noise created by the teenagers in question though.
We already have laws against loitering. If they were enforced, people wouldn't feel the need for gimmicks like these.

 

Who was tarring readership? I wholeheartedly apologise if you take offense at anything I said, believe me it was not my intention. However, I find the sensationalist, vitriolic and bile filled articles that so often fill the Mail more than slightly distasteful. It is one thing for reporting to be biased, quite another for the reporter to appear to foam at the mouth as he rants and raves at the latest outrage. Come on, you can't seriously say you read it and thought 'oooh, this is a well balanced and moderate discussion of a very serious issue' now did you?

That being said, I agree with the sentiment re. loitering etc, it is silly to have a situation where the police don't enforce the law because of the paperwork etc that accompanies it. That said, the legislation in question is pretty dubious itself, imping peoples freedom to move around or indeed, loiter, one could perhaps see it as more serious than the invasion of privacy in the article. Swings and roundabouts eh?

ED: Incidentally, did you hear what the response of many of the kids was to the ultrasound? Well since it was at frequencies adults tend not to be able to hear, they recorded it and used it as a ring-tone on a mobile phone which teachers, parents etc couldn't hear. Points for ingenuity there!

 

Thanks for these precisions Gordon. Stefan that ringtone for teenagers is really ingenious!

 

I loved it, though when a teacher was interviewed and said 'well, it's hard to be angry with them when they are being so imaginative' I couldn't help thinking 'you wally!'

 

You are rightwing member who reads a rightwing paper. Add to that your miss use of the word Communism is more in tune with McCarthyism. Your defence of the The Mail is poor especially as you claim to have more than a passing interest in War time British History.

The Daily Heil use to actively campaign for Sir Oswald Mosley, the odious Blackshirt fascist leader and Hitler sympathiser. Surely that couldn't be the same odious Blackshirt fascist leader and Hitler sympathiser who was supported by errrm, The Daily Mail in the 1930's, could it? The Daily Mail that had the banner headline... "Hurrah for the Blackshirts" written by its owner, Lord Rothermere? The Daily Mail that was the only British daily to back the Nazis under Hitler, the Rothermere who sent a telegram to Hitler to congratulate him for taking the Sudetenland. That Daily Mail ?

The Mail is still full of rightwing bigotry, however, is has Fred Bassett !

 

Err...didn't we have this discussion about a month ago? If the best you can do is slag off a newspaper because of what it's founder said/did 70 years ago, you need to get out more often. Oh, and have the chip surgically removed from your shoulder while you're at it..

 

Stefan,
No worries.

 

I added that the paper hasn't changed that much. It is still full of rightwing bigotry.
The current owner is Harold Jonathan Esmond Vere Harmsworth, 4th Viscount Rothermere. He is ranked 51st in the Sunday Times Rich List 2006 with an estimated wealth of £1,020 million. In March 2008 it was announced that his wife's sister, Lady Francis Russell, had married that fulltime arsehole and partime arms dealer Mark Thatcher.


Interestingly, you refuse to deny that these are facts.