Is the UK Really a police state?

Dean wrote: thellama73 wrote: Equality 7-2521 wrote: Snow Dog wrote: Maybe it is a police state after all.  Be careful what you write folks..even in jest. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/odd/news/a287347/appeal-rejected-in-twitter-joke-trial.html "A man who was found guilty of writing a message of a 'menacing nature'..." Yeah that's a bastion of freedom you guys have going over there. Every day Britain seems to become more horrifically oppressive. I keep seeing stories about people being arrested for speaking over there. It's a shame because it's such a lovely country, with such an interesting culture. keep seeing? those must be the stories they don't allow us to see.

Didn't you see that article a couple weeks back about the guy who arrested for what he was posting on facebook?

Do we have to document every occurrence we've seen and calculate an exact frequency here?

Personally, I think three cases of being arrested for speech is sufficient cause for alarm.

Snow Dog wrote: Equality 7-2521 wrote: Do we have to document every occurrence we've seen and calculate an exact frequency here? It would eradicate hearsay and "I thinks".

Why would we want to eradicate hearsay? Any news story is hearsay.

Snow Dog wrote: Equality 7-2521 wrote: thellama73 wrote: Personally, I think three cases of being arrested for speech is sufficient cause for alarm. I agree. I also agree. I'm alarmed.

Tut-tut! Ian, You've skipped "slightly concerned" and "mildly worried" (of course the latter being good enough reason for a stiffly worded letter to The Times)

What is the deal with so many people from England being named Ian? I don't think I've ever met an American with that name.

Dean wrote: It's the Gaelic form of John - just as Ivan, Juan, Jean and Sean are "John" in other languages.

Snow Dog wrote: Dean wrote: It's the Gaelic form of John - just as Ivan, Juan, Jean and Sean are "John" in other languages. That is right Dean and you could have added Jan and that I'm not from England.

Wales, then. My apologies.

thellama73 wrote: Personally, I think three cases of being arrested for speech is sufficient cause for alarm.

It's the thin end of the wedge. Over time you'll see a lot more of this. What will change is what constitutes 'free speech'

The transition will be a very slow one, so by the time we get to arresting people for having certain views, most people will be happy for those expressing those views to be arrested. Those who object to it, will be widely regarded as lunatics.



Edited by Blacksword - November 12 2010 at 12:53

I used to frequent a forum with a lot of Englishmen, and they would always get touchy when I referred to them as British because they didn't like being lumped in with Wales. It seems I just can't win.