How we became a dictatorship. Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill,

Slightly heartened by the lawyers in the comments offering to help him pro bono. I've lost a lot of faith in the courts in this country but hopefully, this goes all the way through the appeals process and up to the UK supreme court.

Yeah. That’s encouraging but it’s just this one thing.
It’s going to be a long fight to prove we have what has always been a right, and those lawyers aren’t going to step in on all of the myriad other freedoms the government has just taken away. And it’s not like we don’t have other stuff to be getting on with. They have really fucked us over on this.

Not legal advice, not advice, not even a suggestion, just a purely fiction based comment- when a high surveillance state wants to throw the book at someone they’ll trawl through their online posts for anything they can spin to sway jury or public opinion.

Didn’t mean to reply to you.

Oh, I don't disagree. I also don't have a lot of faith that this will be repealed, should the Labour Party win the next GE. I hope I'm wrong.

A criminal barrister offered to help him? Which, after checking out the guy, I took to mean pro bono. I don't disagree with you but that seems a pretty strong response to me saying I was 'slightly heartened' by something. I wasn't suggesting that lawyers are the magic bullet that is going to turn the UK into a functioning democracy.

You might’ve meant to reply to someone else?

I thought you were replying to me. Crossed wires, sorry man haha.

Ha no worries.

https://fundrazr.com/d1h707?ref=ab_0221GDBIJ8u0221GDBIJ8u

I have just donated

Almost enough to buy a tree house.

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While the government is in turmoil and our focus is elsewhere the Public Order bill is back (containing the things that got chucked out of the policing act earlier in the year)
This threatens to further erode our rights and freedoms and is up for debate on Monday.
You could let your mp know how you feel about it

https://www.doubledown.news/watch/2022/november/the-end-of-uk-democracy-george-monbiot

I have the first edition of this book, it documents quite a bit of activism including the CJA. Not sure where to post this but people reading the this thread may be interested. Some of the rights exercised in this book are probably illegal now.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mattko/exist-to-resist-v20/posts/3670212?ref=ksr_email_backer_project_update_registered_users

Surprisingly the police stood by today as a pyrotechnic display and a pool of crude oil (simulated) were used to draw attention to the disgusting fossil fuel policies of the International Maritime Organisation. There were no arrests.

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https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/jan/12/uk-risks-being-listed-as-a-human-rights-abuser-human-rights-watch

They are at it again

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-64282962

The new government hasn’t acted to limit the powers of the courts to lock up climate protesters but has acknowledged there’s a prisons overcrowding problem. This is outrageous :
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/18/five-just-stop-oil-supporters-jailed-over-protest-that-blocked-m25

It is, but they’ve been in for less than two weeks so apportioning blame on them isn’t really fair.

5 years is fucking unbelievable!

Great Shitain, Little Russia.

It is when they could have stopped it anytime in the last 2 weeks...

How? It's based on legislation passed by the previous government, it would need either a new bill or be repealed, which, as I understand it, needs to be done by a parliamentary committee. Both of those take time.

I’m solely blaming the previous administration for bringing the law in, but the new one has acted to head off an overcrowding in prisons crisis without tackling the input. I hope this case will spur them to stop this fascist nonsense as the obvious next step.

It is scandalous. I wonder if the severity has anything to do with how highly fetishised a strategic road is--the M25 is pretty much the Holy Grail of British road-building and as an added bonus doesn't even go to Rome. Also on the M25, the Dartford Crossing stunt got the two involved about three years.

This won't be the end of court proceedings, and one would hope that they'll roll back these repressive measures, but I'm not holding my breath.

So do I. I think it's ridiculous to hand out custodial sentences for peaceful protest, even more so when prison capacity is at breaking point. But, rightly or wrongly, parliament is sovereign so to repeal or replace legislation requires parliamentary work which takes time.