UK News

The Government's new Public Order Bill would allow police to put innocent people on electronic ankle tags and ban them from attending marches and demonstrations.

Campaigners and people who want to attend a protest need not have ever committed any offence in order to be given a so-called protest banning order by the police.

Under this new anti-protest law, the police will be given powers to monitor campaigners using electronic GPS tags, restrict their internet activities and prevent them from attending protests. These are some of the most disturbing and anti-democratic police powers introduced in the UK for decades.

After the shocking police behaviour towards grieving women at the Clapham vigil for Sarah Everard, we fear these ankle tags could entail serious abuse. There is no place for police monitoring and oppression of people simply campaigning for change.

These extreme police powers would be controversial in Russia and China -- we cannot allow them in a democratic country like the UK.

Sign petition from you.38degrees.org.uk

A man who made a video of a model of Grenfell Tower being burned and said That's what happens when you don't pay the rent has ended up with a suspended jail sentence.

Paul Bussetti pleaded guilty to one count of sending a grossly offensive video when he appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court Chief magistrate Paul Goldspring said he was 'horrified' when he saw the film, and sentenced Bussetti to 10 weeks in jail, suspended for two years. He said:

It was disgusting, it was disrespectful, it was abhorrent and it was - by the nature of the charge - grossly offensive.

What struck me was not one person at that party seemed remotely upset or outraged or embarrassed by the racist remarks.

Bussetti was previously found not guilty after a two-day trial but the acquittal was quashed by the High Court.

He filmed the footage at an annual bonfire party hosted by a friend in November 2018. He didn't post the video himself but shared it in WhatsApp groups.

 

Offsite Comment: The Grenfell effigy and the fall of liberal Britain

See article from spiked-online.com by Tom Slater

In 21st-century Britain, offensive jokes can land you in prison.

Ofcom has revoked RT's licence to broadcast in the UK, with immediate effect.

We have done so on the basis that we do not consider RT's licensee, ANO TV Novosti, fit and proper to hold a UK broadcast licence.

The decision comes amid 29 ongoing investigations by Ofcom into the due impartiality of RT's news and current affairs coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. We consider the volume and potentially serious nature of the issues raised within such a short period to be of great concern -- especially given RT's compliance history, which has seen the channel fined £200,000 for previous due impartiality breaches.

In this context, we launched a separate investigation to determine whether ANO TV Novosti is fit and proper to retain its licence to broadcast.

This investigation has taken account of a number of factors, including RT's relationship with the Russian Federation. It has recognised that RT is funded by the Russian state, which has recently invaded a neighbouring sovereign country. We also note new laws in Russia which effectively criminalise any independent journalism that departs from the Russian state's own news narrative, in particular in relation to the invasion of Ukraine. We consider that given these constraints it appears impossible for RT to comply with the due impartiality rules of our Broadcasting Code in the circumstances.

We recognise that RT is currently off air in the UK, as a result of sanctions imposed by the EU since the invasion of Ukraine commenced. We take seriously the importance, in our democratic society, of a broadcaster's right to freedom of expression and the audience's right to receive information and ideas without undue interference. We also take seriously the importance of maintaining audiences' trust and public confidence in the UK's broadcasting regulatory regime.

Taking all of this into account, as well as our immediate and repeated compliance concerns, we have concluded that we cannot be satisfied that RT can be a responsible broadcaster in the current circumstances. Ofcom is therefore revoking RT's licence to broadcast with immediate effect.