Free as a Dodo: UK Politics Welcomes 2021

The new Police act cracking down on protests should be a free hit for Starmer and I’d be slightly surprised if he doesn’t try to use it to rehabilitate some of his civil liberty credentials. If he doesn’t, he’s more of a mug than I think he is.

he is and he won’t

he'd rather look like a no nonsense authoritarian to to 978 people in Workington who are never going to vote for him.

Quite something to be the ‘11th Marquess of Annaville’ when there has never been a first, and there is in fact no such peerage. The Indy have been stung here. https://t.co/wYOu5yQZR8

— Elvis Buñuelo (@Mr_Considerate) March 13, 2021

lol/Jesus Christ

".. and I'm The 12th Earl Of Bofa"

Hereditary baronetcy conferred by updog

We are here. We will not be silenced. Sisters united will never be defeated ❤️ pic.twitter.com/xKjiZbbVwq

— Sisters Uncut (@SistersUncut) March 13, 2021

The Survation poll in tomorrow's @TheSundayMirror puts Conservatives on 43%, Labour on 33%, Lib Dems on 9% and Greens on 5%

— Nigel Nelson (@NigelNelson) March 13, 2021

The pubs haven't even opened yet

xps

it’s erupted here as the police try clear the bandstand. it’s unclear whether arrests have been made but chants of “let her go” and “arrest your own” can be heard as thousands of people put their phone lights on, lighting up the police. it’s an incredible image.

— huck (@HUCKmagazine) March 13, 2021

The pubs haven't even opened yet

Ha, good point!

remember all that "way behind in the polls" shit that was slung at Abbott on QT, when three of the pollsters had Labour ahead and YouGov had them 5 pts behind?

If you ever needed an argument for why political values are more important than diversity, remember that the two people running the show tonight are Priti Patel and Cressida Dick.

— Minnie Rahman (@minnierahman) March 13, 2021

Just cops attacking women for protesting against the system that let a a cop kill a woman. Another day of protecting and serving. pic.twitter.com/iZOzBpQn8E

— Eleanor Penny (@eleanorkpenny) March 13, 2021

Kieth has copy and pasted the insipid Boris response: I'm going to light a candle. No mention of further cop on women violence at a peaceful protest or the erosion of civil liberties. You might as well shove the candle up your arse mate.

Keir Starmer’s office frantically googling “are there ‘women’ in the Red Wall?”

— Dawn Foster (@DawnHFoster) March 13, 2021

oh Kieth has spoken some lukewarm criticism of the police and can't remember abstaining on spy cops bill.

check the identity of the dude claiming to be the leader of the opposition that day imo

a lot of focus on him clunkily (or intentionally) using the word "protest" to describe what was intended to be a vigil. I didn't know that myself tbh, but I'm not the leader of the opposition who some said could spin 10 plates whilst drafting a minute.

and recognising an unimportant moment when he sees one

Even Patel is signalling her displeasure.

tbf i heard Caroline Nokes on the radio bemoaning this and she managed to not say a word about the leader of her party being a serial domestic abuser so hey

Harriet Harman has quote-tweet corrected Kieth on the vigil/protest framing and come out with something a bit stronger. Is Cressida Dick going to be in trouble? I wouldn't hold my breath.

look if you start suspecting the police of criminality the hard left win

Have seen some saying this is them signalling whose side they are on before the vote next week, but seems more self-defeating (and likely to give the bill a tougher ride). Cops gonna cop, more like.

well she's lost the lib dems it seems

Cressida Dick has lost the confidence of the millions of women in London and should resign.

The scenes this evening of the policing of the Clapham Common vigil in memory of Sarah Everard are utterly disgraceful and shame the Metropolitan Police. pic.twitter.com/rj6pbdR64w

— Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) March 13, 2021

Swear I've just seen Kier Starmer opening a night court in Clapham

— Babble (@Babble____) March 13, 2021

Labour is currently intending to abstain on this... https://t.co/3eTKpiyj3I

— Alex Nunns (@alexnunns) March 13, 2021

"I'm doing 10 years for armed robbery, affray and aggravated burglary, what you here for" "erm.. causing serious annoyance"

wait i've got a list

I reckon Kieth is going to come back a bit stronger on this tomorrow, not that coppa bastard sentencing bill above, but his response to the Clapham vigil. He'll be happy to be silent on the erosion of civil liberties that will make it easier for police to repeat what happened tonight. But will come out with some stronger lip service than the weak piss he came out with earlier.

I hate this country so fucking much today

Yeah, I reckon so pic.twitter.com/WKrdg03wXC

— Dawn Foster (@DawnHFoster) March 13, 2021

tv mathematicians must be stopped!

(it's not dr hannah fry, but i did see her retweet it and had to look twice)

Here is what the soft left are up to

didn't you abstain on the CHIS bill, you know the one that allows undercover cops to rape and murder?

— Chris (@ChrisKPH) March 14, 2021

xxp

Imagine picking that particular photo for your disingenuous "I just deal with eVidEnce b4sed fAcTs" schtick, he'll be invited to be a guest with Melanie Phillips on The Moral Maze next week.

A lot of disbelief being expressed by people who are actively contemptuous of the analytic frameworks that might leave one less blindsided by commonplace cop behaviour. pic.twitter.com/Hkannp3fTg

— Lafargue (@Lafargue) March 14, 2021

How it started. How it's going. pic.twitter.com/aJuTMGJzrz

— Prof Francois Balloux (@BallouxFrancois) March 13, 2021

at least the emergency measures authoritarian stuff done in countries like Thailand probably saved a lot of people from dying and they paid people to stay at home. In this country we've had the worst of both worlds - ineffective emergency measures undermined by penny pinching/crackpot eat out to die out schemes and using the cover of a pandemic to sneak in new draconian laws bills that will be here for decades

both of those Owen Jones tweets are OTM, it's dumb to play this as a binary

I'm pro public health authoritarianism that prevents a runaway disease causing a huge population die-off, it's a difficult line to tread because unfettered power is like a drug to governments, the slippery slope etc... but fuck knows!

Yeah, it's obviously something everyone on the left has to struggle with at the moment, but measures such as closing down restaurants, venues, making masks obligatory in public spaces, even curfews can and have been done by other govts while maintaining the right to protest and assembly.

https://c8.alamy.com/comp/ENR810/victory-in-europe-day-70th-anniversary-street-party-residents-of-a-ENR810.jpg

remember in 2020 when the cops had a more liberal approach to the freedom of assembly

both of those Owen Jones tweets are OTM, it's dumb to play this as a binary

― Daniel_Rf, Sunday, 14 March 2021 bookmarkflaglink

This is the nuance OJ is incapable of hence why he posted like that.

https://gal-dem.com/closed-borders-covid-sensible-but-under-tories-asking-for-trouble/

Labour have now announced they are voting *against* the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill not whipping to abstain pic.twitter.com/l1XWTuly1J

— Dawn Foster (@DawnHFoster) March 14, 2021

Oh noes what will the Red Wall think?

it's amazing how much compromise there is in Kieth when the party is dying in the polls and local Elections are coming up. It might have finally clicked that many of those who voted Corbyn and who despise him or are generally unimpressed with his leadership are still much more likely to vote for him than the much smaller subset of grunts in the Red Wall are.

Until an hour ago, Labour MPs were being told to abstain on Tuesday's Police Bill.

That's just changed. They now say it's "a Bill that is seeking to divide the country. It is a mess, which could lead to harsher penalties for damaging a statue than for attacking a woman." pic.twitter.com/a62lgX2eUb

— Rachael Venables (@rachaelvenables) March 14, 2021

joke party

That Debbonaire reply to Diane comes off so snipey. Joke party indeed.