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Women visited by police after raising concerns over sewage to local MP

131 points| stuaxo | 3 years ago |lyme-online.co.uk | reply

50 comments

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[+] lloydjones|3 years ago|reply
Given the murder of David Amess, I can see why MPs are a little twitchy over people who are potentially out of a given area (though not constituency) attending

Perhaps involving the police was heavy-handed and there could have been another way…

[+] alistairSH|3 years ago|reply
Perhaps informing the women that the meeting was only open to town residents? Oh wait...

After emailing him, they were told the meeting was specifically for residents of Chideock...

Looks like the police were sent anyways. Unless there was more content in the emails than has been reported, this was absolutely heavy-handed intimidation.

[+] some_random|3 years ago|reply
Another way to do what? Intimidate a woman into silence for the crime of petitioning her elected official?
[+] stuaxo|3 years ago|reply
Its suspicious that they tried to meet him before and he got out of it with excuses like his laptop battery being broken. Tory MPs often seem to be in bed with privatised industry and its not a leap to suppose that's what's happening here.
[+] joshenberg|3 years ago|reply
Worse, the MP was clearly giving them the run-around from previous meetings. Sending police to ask questions the citizens themselves likely answered in their emails, or answerable via telephone, is an escalation of this tactic. Political assassins seem very very unlikely to politely inquire about attendance.
[+] bearmode|3 years ago|reply
As typical, police wasting time investigating potential lefty protestors instead of doing something useful for society.
[+] PedroBatista|3 years ago|reply
That's a sure way to torpedo any conversation, imply victims and mix with [political affiliation].

When in fact the whole police thing is based on order and control, anything out of the ordinary. ie. guy walking with winter gear on a hot summer day is subject for "investigation".

Not saying is good or bad ( perhaps both, but that's the police being the police )

[+] matt-p|3 years ago|reply
Living in London almost all my life I sometimes feel like I live in a different country when I read stories like this. I just genuinely can't imagine this happening here.

Totally mad and I can't believe the officer followed his bosses orders.

[+] dsfyu404ed|3 years ago|reply
If the government (and by proxy it's enforcement agencies) didn't have so much unaccountable power over people being visited by a police officer over something frivolous wouldn't be nearly as intimidating nor would the government's enforcers wouldn't have to deal with allegations of intimidation over such actions in the (probably majority of) cases where they are not being used to intimidate. The intimidation here is entirely predicated on the police's ability to screw these women over with no recourse on a whim.
[+] thro1|3 years ago|reply
No comment. (I live in UK)
[+] SanjayMehta|3 years ago|reply
Seeing how the UK treated and is treating Assange, this is no surprise.
[+] linuxftw|3 years ago|reply
It truly is a police state. Massive surveillance with CCTV, as well as online, strict speech laws, a literal monarchy that at the very least has massive political power if not absolute political power.
[+] dazc|3 years ago|reply

[deleted]

[+] jai_|3 years ago|reply
For context, the Bluetits seems to be an association of people who enjoy outdoor swimming in colder waters: https://thebluetits.co/pages/about

Not sure exactly what this implies other than they are likely to care more about the quality of the local river water.

[+] bacza2|3 years ago|reply
What does it explain?
[+] photochemsyn|3 years ago|reply
Who says Britain and China don't have a lot in common? There's little doubt that when British (and American) politicians and bureaucrats look at China's authoritarian system of control, their essential emotion is one of envy.
[+] throwaway92931|3 years ago|reply
Whataboutism is the worst.

In Britain, I can freely say that Rishi Sunak is, I dunno, some random insult like a "paki". In the US, I can go even further than that: I can freely say that Joe Biden is a child molester. On a public website. I can register joebidenisachildmolester.com if I wished.

In China, if I say that Xi Jinping looks like Winnie the Pooh, I can be put in jail and disappeared. Much less say something absolutely true, such as Xi Jinping being a two-bit dictator.

There is very little in common between Britain (or the US) and China.