Mind how you go... here comes Big Brother by Stealth
RN
For those who think there is no difference between the main parties at the UK general election, please consider this...
The evil intentions of Blair's 97 regime were hidden when Blair was greeted with rock star euphoria and anthems - and with nonsense like "Cool Britannia". 14 years later the damage was less camouflaged, and Liam Byrne summed it up in his note to the incoming Chancellor, "There is no money"
But in 2024, the unbelievably useless Tories have constructed and enabled the basis of social scoring by creating a Big Brother society where any participation is contingent upon having 24x7 access to a smartphone and internet connection. Our dumb politicians have created a ragbag of "make it up as we go along" hate crimes that have done away with free speech by stealth, and arranged for our "tiered" police to apply the woolly laws to decide what is a hurty word. Who, 10 years ago, could have imagined that "misgendering" would have consumed so much of the time and attention of nominally sane adults?
We have seen that banks can switch off customers on what amounts to a whim and without explanation - Nigel Farage is a high profile victim of one such defenestration (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Farage_Coutts_bank_scandal).
Now look at the Ts and Cs of your bank, and you will generally find that they can act arbitrarily to change and remove facilities without explanation and without appeal. Banks have used credit reference agencies - notably Experian - for a long time now. Experian hoovers up every reference to businesses and individuals to create a credit scores and you have to pay to see your own stats.
Cash is being phased out for the convenience of banks and large companies, where the government agenda is that cash is preferred for anonymous transactions and criminal endeavours. So you can't buy a car with a suitcase of cash - you will be assumed to be criminal and will be required to provide a detailed explanation of the source of the cash.
Use of well tested cancel tactics - refined by animal rights protesters in the 70s - means that any commercial media operators and advertisers can be intimidated and controlled by activist agendas.
And now the scene has been set for the introduction of a central bank digital currency where money can simply be "switched off"
The innocuously titled Online Safety Act also introduces new criminal offences and creates Ofcom as the regulator for online safety, granting it new powers including those required to enforce the framework. It has only been in effect since February 2024 - there is no case law or interpretation - it will be made up and tested as it goes along.
It is difficult to underestimate the dangers UK society is facing from extremists and activist zealots who are eager to engineer and create "extreme" interpretations to assist their various causes to disrupt any individuals or organisations they disagree with. Combined with GDPR legislation there is a labyrinth of law which will be interpreted, misinterpreted and abused.
Various road traffic and motoring laws have been accumulating incrementally for over a hundred years so that anyone who drives a car is almost certain to commit at least one offence every day - probably four or more within a mile! These will tend to be perceived as "low level" issues, like a broken side lamp or a partly obscured or improperly spaced number plate. Doing 33mph in a 30mph limit is not generally considered heinous by "normal" folks, but there are a growing number of zealot/ sanctimonious police forces who will prosecute.
But there’s no police any more. It’s cameras and summary convictions. It’s box junctions, red routes, speed traps, anpr, ulez, congestion charge. How many of those "innovations" did we ever vote for? 20mph zones have been a contentious imposition; just you wait for the imposition of a law to require a person walking ahead of cars with a red flag.
Careless driving is the charge when the standard of driving falls below that required of a careful and competent motorist. Which is a matter of opinion. Examples of driving without due care and attention include undertaking, tailgating, eating while driving and changing the radio while operating a vehicle. You do not have to cause an accident – or injure anyone – to be charged with careless driving.
Most of the time the police will "take a view" but don't count on it! If you are "pulled up" and you have done nothing that you are aware of, and you take a combative line, you will probably find that you have a tyre with marginal tread depth or a misshaped letter on your number plate ...
So then, with a month to go, you are being warned... these nebulous laws need to be repealed along with probably 70% of the legislation enacted in the past 50 years to clear out some of the crap. Let's see if AI can strip it back to essentials.