[michaelg7x]

> I just don’t understand where they went wrong on curtailing free speech rights of their citizens, privacy rights, etc.

Security establishment's innate desire to read and listen to absolutely everything. Blair/Bush's war on terror. Id card proposals. Smart phone use sky rockets. Supposed E2E comms. Hate speech. Something must be done! Right wing policies on pretty much everything cause more protest. Tories criminalise (*some types of) protest. Labour government raises TCN to Apple.

[leoc]

The war on terror was a big thing in the UK long before 2001—largely because there was in fact quite a lot of terrorism going on there, to be clear.

[chgs]

30 years of US funded bombings across the U.K. stopped in 2001 so there’s that.