Many things are crawling out of the woodwork in the aftermath of last week's riots.
First, lets look at the case of the two guys jailed for four years for inciting a riot. This was a couple of guys who put up messages on facebook supposedly "organising" a riot in Northwich. That no-one unsuprisingly attended. In Northwich of all places. If any of you have been to Northwich, the chances of anything happening there let alone a riot are so slim its ludicrous to suggest that they did it for anything other than a joke.
But they got four years: a custodial sentence that has yet to be matched or served by the majority of the people that actually physically attended a riot, caused criminal damage or looted.
Where is the sense in that?
Why are people using social media being punished so disproportionately?
Do the government want more riots? Because that's what they'll have if the lenient sentencing continues. The rioter and looters will risk-assess the situation and realise that a few hours community service is well worth the price of a 50 inch HD LCD TV.
Those that rioted on the first couple of nights and got away scott free certainly will.
Does the government want more control of the internet and especially social media and blogging sites? By their words over the past few days, absolutely. They want to curtail the rights and freedoms of every one of us on the internet that speaks out in opposition to them and their political chums, especially those in the EU.
Which neatly brings me onto curfews, which is something else the political elite are clamouring for. Take the scum off the streets eh? But curfews will not be specific, they can't be. Everyone thinks they're good ideas as long as they don't apply to them. Tough, we'll have to have blanket curfews in certain areas in order to make it work. Everyone will love a curfew right up until they're not allowed out of their front door. But by then the damage will be done, the law will be on the statute books and the Police will have the power to keep you kettled in your own home.
Internet censorship, curfews, political parties so close together you might as well call it a one-party state.
Just how much evidence do the public need before they realise the authoritarian state we are creating? Probably not before its too late, because the sick thing is they're the ones calling for it.
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15 hours ago
its a shame they didnt attack the bankers with the same zeal as they have the rioters, not condoning them , they have cost us billions , with little or no accountability or the mps who have conned the public out of thousands, we seem to need new opiate for the masses.... how long to wait for x-factor
ReplyDeleteWhat we need is an even-handed approach to the law across the board applicable to poor and privileged, rich and poor alike.
ReplyDelete4 years for facebook entries inciting a riot that never happened yet those MPs that defrauded the taxpayer for tens of thousands get lesser sentences.
We have Whitehall mandarins abusing credit cards for personal gain amounting to thousands of pounds getting away scot free get ordinary people get jail terms for just accepting stolen clothing.
And yes, the banks should have been allowed to fail. The cowards in government caved into the monied elite and threw billions of borrowed pounds at the banks that we'll take decades to repay.
I do wonder, how many people in banking and finance have been jailed for their fraudulent activity in agreeing dodgy mortages and selling bad debt as good debt. If there are any, I haven't heard about them.
But then again the Police are a corporate, politically motivated body these days, so no wonder they shy away from the task of sanctioning their own elite class.
yes thats the problem the %5 with the wealth own 100% of the tanks. Hope it doesnt get that bad , but what happens when ordinary people say enough is enough . similiar to thatchers poll tax riots. agent provecateurs allegedly used in miners dispute. or am i being cynical? going to get tough next couple of years.
ReplyDeleteWithout equality of justice from the "establishment" and especially the judiciary who crow about their supposed impartiality, the only avenue that remains to the population is to regain that equality for themselves.
ReplyDeleteOnce the message gets through to the middle classes, then we'll have the revolution this country needs.
I noted that the revolution in Libya didn't start in earnest until doctors and lawyers (and this week in the news airline pilots) saw they had no other alternative but to take arms.
in france they tried to raise the retirement age by one year, the country was brought to a stand still, maybe separation of powers concept is an illusion
ReplyDelete