Never let a good crisis go to waste

It’s been a terribly busy year in politics in the UK, and whilst we’ve all been busy worrying about Brexit and the US elections our glorious masters have been quietly getting on with business. Doing such things as deciding that our ISP’s must block legal adult sites if they don’t do enough to verify our ages, not matter where they are located. The OpenRights group have a petiton to stop that. However the bill also requires that ISPs record every site you visit for 12 months. Of course if those weren’t bad enough on their own search engines and social … Continue reading

Some simple thoughts on Brexit

The recent court ruling that Parliament must be consulted before article 50 is triggered has caused something of a kerfuffle, and many learned people have written many learned words on the matter. Some are claiming it a triumph of Parliamentary sovereignty and laughing that the Brexit campaign based on regaining Parliamentary sovereignty might object to it, and others consider it to be an un-elected judiciary thwarting the will of the people. If you want some learned an academic opinions on the matter here’s a couple of links I like: “A deeply troubling and wrong-headed decision When it comes to using … Continue reading

When is a tutu like a burkini?

There has been quite a lot of talk about the French ban on the “Burkini” in recent weeks thankfully it has for now been ruled illegal. There have also been comparisons with rules in other countries which dictate how women should dress, arguing along the lines of “well if they insist on it, we can ban it fair’s fair”. Now whilst I suspect most people reading this will consider that nonsense, I will none the less point out that saying “they do bad stuff, so we can as well” is a really really dumb argument. Really do you want to … Continue reading