Tony

I don't disagree but the statement doesn't make that linguist or legal nuance. "Fear" isn't illegal. Without qualification the police statement is firmly in the realm of thought crime and associating "fear" adjacent to "injury" makes it clear that the police think they are the same, which they definitely aren't.

You made that analogy up. "Fear" is a very subjective thing.

"causing injury or fear." Injury and fear are two very different things. 1,049 people injured is plenty to go at. Police need to stick to actual crime instead of inventing perceived non crime.

Criminals selling unlicensed goods have license removed and carry on selling unlicensed goods. Have I got that right?

I was never a massive Brexiter but I do recognise Stockholm Syndrome when I see it. It's time to move on and leave the failing 1970s trade bloc behind.

You hugely underestimate the capacity of a state for generating paperwork. 🤣 https://www.cityam.com/lower-thames-crossing-planning-application-becomes-uks-longest-ever-at-more-than-350000-pages-and-costing-almost-300m/

You aren't alone Manxcat, I don't know either and I'd have a cheeky side bet that absolutely nobody knows. The only thing that they can try to "do" is to force every adult to register to use the internet and then somehow prevent people from accessing it if they don't log on to every website, email, social media etc with their real personal identity. That information then needs storing forever so that the authorities (i.e. the government) can check what you have been doing online for whatever reason they might come up with in the future. But even that destruction of your right to privacy still won't work. There is no way to prevent children from accessing some or all of the internet. But if the government does succeed in introducing laws to "protect children from online harm" the government will still know everything that you are up to if you are an honest person going about their lawful, private business. Oh look - they have made a start: Online Safety Act 2023 and we're sleepwalking into it. Won't someone think of the children!

Why is this even a thing? The fuss that is, not the internship. The point of academic study is to be able to freely research any topic that takes your interest. The problems arise when censorship or pressure is applied for political reasons. Go ahead, study far right extremism, study far left extremism. Treating both equally doesn't mean applying balance.

How? I say that it's impossible and any effort to do so will be oppressive to your other civil liberties.

More unforced errors has made Reform top of the pops. The inept Starmer & Co Tough Guys routine is actually making them less popular at a time when hard-line politicians are on the rise around the world. For posterity.

Is there one that isn't failing?

What you have identified here is a socialised healthcare system that is the largest in the world and still can't manage to create a competitive market among a group of suppliers who only have one customer - the NHS. That's not a failure of capitalism, it's just failure.

A fair point. Neo-Nazis, Islamists, Antifa, etc don't appear out of thin air though. Who grooms the groomers? They are like paedophiles - an endless generational loop of abuse repetition going down the years. That takes us back to failing agencies taking responsibility and acting - literally what they are paid to do. It's not as though we're short of potential whistle-blowers but it seems that if agencies can't be relied on (and it could cost your job and home life) where is the incentive to call it out? Even the PM will brand you as a lowlife on national TV. The personal risk isn't worth the vicarious reward. What a mess.

Very true. Everyone in this Forum is in the so-called 1%. We got there by the same undeserved fortune as being born to an dukedom. There is no merit involved, just chance. Unless we are prepared to share it - properly, by giving 99% of our fortune away - we really need to be more appreciative of what capitalism has delivered to us. We are humans, competitive sentient humans. While we make nice with words and occasional nice deeds none of us are actually prepared to do what we say others should do. There is always somebody just a bit above us that should take the hit, but not actually us. Hypocrisy is built into being human. 😉 Personally speaking, I am not a fan of levelling down. We should not go at the pace of the slowest kid in the class.

@Ridgewalk said it all. 👆 Nailed it. The thing is, the police deal with crime and the prevention of intended crime. They do not (should not) deal with thought crime. That's what's got them into so much controversy in the last few years when trying to deal with nonsense on social media. Bearing in mind the countless other agencies that exist I reckon that we expect far too much of the police on a day to day basis. They are either resourced to police everything from morals to murder (hello Iran) or they stick to the real job and let genuine experts use their genuine expertise to deal with kids like this one.