Coronavirus and "human rights"

[lightand]

I was thinking to start a thread about this, this morning, but couldnt think of quite the right words.
Now I have been on a thread, and with the permission of another poster, I am reposting her words here.

"A year ago if you'd told me what the rules would be I wouldn't have believed you. I would have thought it a human rights abuse. I feel scared, unsafe. I'm living in a world where the government can put law abiding citizens into solitary confinement. That's fucking terrifying. I couldn't escape it. I couldn't escape what they did. Nothing feels safe, knowing they can take everything. Take away your loved ones."
[She wrote it in the context of living alone and being separated from loved ones].

I think this will be one of the many enduring memories when people look back on what has happened in the last year. That what we think of as human rights, were, and still are, being easily taken away from us.

Xero - I haven't been against any of the things you mention. I am now becoming sceptical about lockdown. For the first year off this, ok, its a blunt tool that works. We have to move away from it now and find sustainable ways to live around the virus (and start to address the recession). I'm not convinced Im going to agree with how the government does that,

FWIW for me the two big mistakes were right at the beginning (too slow) and the tier system coming out of lockdown in November (should have been much much slower and national).

Are there are any other socialists/left wingers who feel let down by what they feel is a credible opposition

Yes. Me!

It also seems that the formally outspoken left (eg artists, musicians, creatives etc) are really quiet on a lot of pertinent issues

Which is why my respect for Van Morrison (which previously was purely for his musical genius) has gone up.

And me! (as of that wasn't obvious from my post above!)

This continues to be an interesting thread with thoughtful contributions, thank you.

Will be interesting to see if long Covid is taken as seriously by the Government when the people suffering with it start applying for PIP!!!

inews.co.uk/news/politics/governments-review-emergency-powers-parliament-citizens-liberties-880465?ito=social_ifb_theipaper&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR3_2SHN7uag69zabuIfRbwVCnPDCaK9JknmU_SMOMqdhbQHblCgDwpp1KE#Echobox=1613820001

Government’s review of emergency powers may lead to MPs losing say over restrictions on citizen’s liberty
EXCLUSIVECritics fear the review of the Civil Contingencies Act may lead to ministers seeking to bypass Parliamentary scrutiny of emergency laws

@MercyBooth

inews.co.uk/news/politics/governments-review-emergency-powers-parliament-citizens-liberties-880465?ito=social_ifb_theipaper&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR3_2SHN7uag69zabuIfRbwVCnPDCaK9JknmU_SMOMqdhbQHblCgDwpp1KE#Echobox=1613820001

Government’s review of emergency powers may lead to MPs losing say over restrictions on citizen’s liberty
EXCLUSIVECritics fear the review of the Civil Contingencies Act may lead to ministers seeking to bypass Parliamentary scrutiny of emergency laws

Unbelievable Now do people see what is really happening here

@MercyBooth

inews.co.uk/news/politics/governments-review-emergency-powers-parliament-citizens-liberties-880465?ito=social_ifb_theipaper&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR3_2SHN7uag69zabuIfRbwVCnPDCaK9JknmU_SMOMqdhbQHblCgDwpp1KE#Echobox=1613820001

Government’s review of emergency powers may lead to MPs losing say over restrictions on citizen’s liberty
EXCLUSIVECritics fear the review of the Civil Contingencies Act may lead to ministers seeking to bypass Parliamentary scrutiny of emergency laws

Frightening. Let's hope Labour wakes up and starts to mount a real opposition. And that the backbenchers start to challenge the government properly.

re: labour opposition, I think we need to hear from labour backbenchers. Actually, who are they these days?

Sadly I think this video sums up Kier!

@MercyBooth

inews.co.uk/news/politics/governments-review-emergency-powers-parliament-citizens-liberties-880465?ito=social_ifb_theipaper&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR3_2SHN7uag69zabuIfRbwVCnPDCaK9JknmU_SMOMqdhbQHblCgDwpp1KE#Echobox=1613820001

Government’s review of emergency powers may lead to MPs losing say over restrictions on citizen’s liberty
EXCLUSIVECritics fear the review of the Civil Contingencies Act may lead to ministers seeking to bypass Parliamentary scrutiny of emergency laws

Thanks for posting - I haven't seen this reported anywhere else shockingly.

Not a surprise. Just shocked at the audacity of trying to do it right now, at this moment in time. Thank god they can't use their 'emergency powers' to grant themselves more emergency powers. Hope every single MP votes any of the suggested changes down.

Quote from news article:

There are fears across all political parties that the Government may be seeking to use the health crisis to make the introduction of new restrictions such as lockdowns, a vaccine passport or even ID cards easier.

Alistair Carmichael MP, home affairs spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, said: “Giving more emergency powers to this Government would be like giving a bulldozer to a baby – you don’t know exactly what they would do with it but you know that things will get broken.

“The Government has never lacked legal powers or parliamentary support when it was necessary given the unprecedented situation. What they have lacked is basic competence – and that gives no confidence that they deserve more power. Better accountability is the only way to ensure better outcomes.

“We need to curb the use of emergency powers, not make them the default response. We need to learn lessons from the pandemic so that sweeping illiberal measures are a thing of the past, not the ‘new normal’”.

(Meant to say from the inews article, full link above)

What is doubly concerning about this is that MPs from all parties are acting like servants of twitter in their utterly simplistic responses. So usual parliamentary process is being swept away and yet the majority of MPs are asking no questions at all, and some are actively attempting to smear anyone who questions the current policies. I have written to my MP and received the most facile responses in essence saying that surely I didn't want children to suffer their grandparents dying. It was so obviously a way of shutting me down - which is perhaps to be expected say on MN, but I did expect a rather more nuanced answer from a LibDem MP who told me in the same response that everyone is an individual and has to be respected as such... And that surely is what human rights legislation is there to legislate for?! To have immoveable boundaries within which governments weigh up pros and cons and the rights of some against the rights of others. But without a benchmark or boundary, without a line that isn't to be crossed, how can any rights really have any meaning? They are a human construct, and as such fragile. If we start ignoring them whenever we feel like it without discussion, it's like ignoring the construct of a house. They will topple and we will be a lot worse off for it.

It is clear that human rights in the U.K. now depend on the NHS being able to function. That is a terrifying thought.

This website looks like it might be worth keeping an eye on for developments and cases, especially regarding cronyism:

goodlawproject.org/news/

@Flyonawalk

It is clear that human rights in the U.K. now depend on the NHS being able to function. That is a terrifying thought.

Its appalling

Its frightening

inews.co.uk/news/health/ambulance-hospital-waiting-times-secondary-covid-victims-999-calls-nhs-880806?ito=social_ifb_theipaper&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR2MmPin1CiS2xqBOrH-AWwUKX5D304lo4jy7N6zctZ8ZAIqlsjM0OW8qaE#Echobox=1613819948

Are there are any other socialists/left wingers who feel let down by what they feel is a credible opposition

Yes. Me!

Me too. I actually feel that some of the Tory backbenchers are the nearest we've got.to an Opposition

Sometimes I wonder if Corbyn had won in 2019 and done exactly what johnson has done, what the media reaction would have been

I know. I've learnt a VERY big lesson in the last twelve months by hopping off my safe, left wing perch occasionally and realising that left v right is too simplistic base our political tribes on.

If Corbyn had won? He would've gone by the end of the year due to 'bad handling of the Coronavirus crisis' and KS would be PM. I while I hate Boris and co, the thought of KS as PM gives me an uneasy feeling.

Cronyism (Matt Hancock)
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56125462

news.sky.com/story/covid-19-governments-failure-to-publish-covid-contracts-details-was-unlawful-high-court-rules-12222826

" The judge said the obligation was a "vital public function" which was "no less important during a pandemic".

He added: "The secretary of state spent vast quantities of public money on pandemic-related procurements during 2020.

"The public were entitled to see who this money was going to, what it was being spent on and how the relevant contracts were awarded.

"This was important not only so that competitors of those awarded contracts could understand whether the obligations ... had been breached, but also so that oversight bodies such as the National Audit Office, as well as Parliament and the public, could scrutinise and ask questions about this expenditure." "

[quote EffIt]Someone a while back told me the govt restrictions are like Biderman's chart of coercion & now I can't unsee it lol
pbs.twimg.com/media/D0kVwcFX4AAoktv.jpg[/quote]
Yes, I agree