Is the U.K. in danger of becoming a police state?

[Chocolategirl1]

We have now been living with restrictions to our civil liberties for 6 months. The state now has the power to force us to dress in a certain way (face coverings), to restrict our right to family life (no more than 6 in social gatherings), to give up our personal details to retail establishments (contact details to restaurants/pubs), to give up our children’s right to a fair education (continued closures of schools following coronavirus cases), in some cases to give up our right to run a business or work (for example those businesses that can’t run properly due to social distancing etc), and now we have more police powers for enforcement of these rules and apparently “Covid Marshalls” to spy on people and control their behaviour. And there is no definite end point to any of this. None at all. There are vague “hopes” that the state will “try” to return to some kind of normal by a Christmas, but now that’s apparently dependent on regular mass testing - which in itself is a restriction on liberty. My worry is this: now that the state has realised it can control people in this way, will it give up those powers at all? Even if we get a vaccine, will the state actually give us back our freedom like it was before? And what if we never get a vaccine? People may say that all of this is justified by a virus (though a virus that has overall an extremely low fatality rate) but many governments throughout history have taken their citizens’ rights away permanently. How do we know our government won’t do the same?

I think quite a few Mumsnetters would like living in a police state.

Difficult to say what BJ gets out of all these laws on SD, masks and now marshalls

Maybe to keep you all occupied while he gets on with breaking international law in a "specific and limited way" ?

Or maybe just the only measures the government can think of, to stop cases rising further
(but that would be too boring an explanation, when there are so many exciting conspiracy theories to enjoy)

I voted Tory. I am more worried about this government than I am getting covid.

but nearly all Tories would still vote for them again - which they know

Yes.

During terrorist campaigns, there have been a lot of innocent people arrested, jailed, even shot dead
Even the NI troubles "only" killed 3,000 and think of all the draconian laws passed, the massacres, internment without trial, 5 techniques / torture

The UK government - whatever the party - has always been ruthless when it's in a panic

You want to see a police state — try Australia. Only a few thousand a week can enter, nobody can leave without an exemption permit (that takes 4 weeks to process). Draconian lockdowns for months and months and months on end due to far small case numbers than here. State border closures that tear families apart...

This is a very libertarian country with one of the softest touch approaches out there.

No, the Government have introduced restrictions to manage the pandemic and are policing them. It’s disconcerting and troubling, but if the people up in arms had their way, we’d likely be back to where we were in March in a few weeks.

People have questioned whether we should have implemented restrictions earlier in March, but the question at the time was whether people would accept it. The reaction here indicates those who were concerned about this had a point.

Prevention doesn’t seem a concept some people understand. They seem to think that its best to wait and only begin act when a tragedy is unfolding. If we hadn’t been through March and April that might be understandable, but to knowingly agitate for us to tread the same path twice in the naive hope it’ll somehow all be over now is beyond stupid.... It’s a bit like only giving up cigarettes when you’ve been diagnosed with lung cancer.

Yes. I am starting to feel like a frog in a pan of tepid water.

but nearly all Tories would still vote for them again - which they know

I won't. I am politically homeless now. I can't see myself voting again. I am 55. I can't seeing Labour coming good in my lifetime. Lib Dem's are finished. I won't vote Tory again.

No as the government wants to protect you and trying to keep you alive rather than being another Covid fatality statistic. Mask not casket.

To people saying we have the softest lockdowns, maybe that’s a really good thing and exists because we aren’t a very compliant population.

Maybe it’s because we question, I can’t see the questioning as a bad thing, if we stop I dread to think what happens.

This is a very libertarian country with one of the softest touch approaches out there.

Indeed, there’s a group of people who want to take the piss and do what the hell they want, and law has been feeble to date in its application - probably more slowly than any other country with the possible exception of Sweden... Too many people have abused the latitude given to them. In many ways we have had a “non-police” state when it’s come to Covid restrictions, and unless you were unlucky, or a particularly egregious offender, you could do what the hell you liked, treat the law with contempt, and get away with it.

“more so” not “more slowly“

Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea and possibly Belarus are only remaining global police states. Even Saudi Arabia is apparently opening up to modernisation as women are treated slightly better than of previous secondary importance. Local Saudi women can now drive their own cars and have limited freedom of internal movement etc.

Seems to be the opposite. The police couldn't even shut down all those illegal all night 'block' parties that caused so much distress and disruption to local residents.

I bet most of those complaining about our apparent 'police state' don't live in areas blighted by deprivation and high crime (including frequent low level asbo behaviour that wears you down when living amongst it).

There are almost daily stabbings and shootings in some parts of the UK. Very often the report will say 'there have been no arrests'. Violent criminals are increasingly brazen. That's not the sign of a police state.

The Italian farmer was arrested for refusing to allow the local health officials to inspect his farm to make sure appropriate measures had been put into place. He best the living daylights out of them.

I agree. It's becoming frightening.

I remember at the very start of all this (feels like decades ago now!) when the new laws were published. I read through the draft and there was some really frightening, militant stuff in there; mentioned it at the time but was told 'it's just worst case scenario', 'they won't get away with doing x/y'
Now it's happening.

Having to do tests (where is our genetic information stored once those tests are used, does anyone know?), give out our information to anyone, my iPhone keeps trying to install and update which allows COVID tracking without an app being installed.. it's just suffocating.

Also, in the case of Track and Trace, does a person have to prove they've had a positive COVID test to trigger others having to isolate or does it just go on say so?

Yes, though it's not just us (look at Australia!)

Saudi Arabia will still murder and chop up their own citizens in an Embassy, so not really changing that much.

How is valuing lives and protecting the economy a police state?
The vast majority of the Australian public are very supportive of the sensible measures taken to limit the spread of a disease. Australia doesn't want mass deaths, loads of disabled Long Covid sufferers, and long lasting economic damage.
Hardly a police state!

Genetic information? It's a PCR test for viral RNA, not a DNA test.

@Derbygerbil

This is a very libertarian country with one of the softest touch approaches out there.

Indeed, there’s a group of people who want to take the piss and do what the hell they want, and law has been feeble to date in its application - probably more slowly than any other country with the possible exception of Sweden... Too many people have abused the latitude given to them. In many ways we have had a “non-police” state when it’s come to Covid restrictions, and unless you were unlucky, or a particularly egregious offender, you could do what the hell you liked, treat the law with contempt, and get away with it.

Absolutely.

Social distancing has basically never existed in my town. Until school went back and it got cooler there were wild parties in the park behind my house every darned night. It got to the point where one neighbour had to start rallying our entire street to call 112 every night. The police have been invisible, light touch in the extreme. Meanwhile our town has the second highest Covid death rate (per capita) in the country.

I’m very much a libertarian at heart but to me the past few months have felt lawless bordering on anarchic. I appreciate that this will vary by locality but the notion that the U.K. is a police state? It’s laughable.

@CoffeeandCroissant I understand that it's not a DNA test.
But the test still contains DNA, doesn't it? So what do they do with the swab once they've completed the test?
Is it just destroyed?