UK Politics Mega-thread - Page 51

On July 14 2014 06:20 Nyxisto wrote:

the article says that the prostitutes at the time were under the age of consent, so that would make it illegal, right?

On July 14 2014 07:04 KwarK wrote:

At the time the age of consent for homosexual sex was 5 years over the age of consent for heterosexual sex because homophobia. There is no logical or moral basis for retroactively enforcing a law rooted in bigotry that has since been repealed. I said it wasn't heinous, not that it wasn't illegal.

A former social services official has said his warnings about the threat of a Westminster-based paedophile network were ignored because “there were too many of them over there".

David Tombs, who ran Hereford and Worcester social services, said he warned the government after the arrest of paedophile Peter Righton in 1992.

Two inquiries have been launched into historical claims of child abuse.

Tim Yeo MP, a junior health minister in the early 1990s, said he was "staggered" by the claims.

He added that he was "not aware" of a culture of child sex abuse during his time as a health minister, and said he was puzzled as to why Mr Tombs did not take his concerns further at the time and speak to his local MP.

On July 14 2014 07:04 KwarK wrote:

At the time the age of consent for homosexual sex was 5 years over the age of consent for heterosexual sex because homophobia. There is no logical or moral basis for retroactively enforcing a law rooted in bigotry that has since been repealed. I said it wasn't heinous, not that it wasn't illegal.

On July 14 2014 09:48 KwarK wrote:
This was thirty years ago now. The four people he alleged were there are all dead.

He gave the newspaper the names of several Conservative politicians who he alleged were at these parties, including the then Attorney General, Michael Havers, who was the brother of Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, the judge who has been given the task of leading the inquiry. The four whose names were published by the Sunday Mirror – Smith, Havers, Keith Joseph and Rhodes Boyson – are all dead. The newspaper says that Mr Gilberthorpe also named one politician who is still a serving minister, and two who served as Cabinet ministers under Margaret Thatcher.

On July 14 2014 08:25 Nyxisto wrote:

But to be fair illegal sex or any serious illegal activity for high profile politicians is a pretty big deal. It doesn't matter if the law is stupid. If you're willing to break it you probably shouldn't be a politician.

William Hague surprised Westminster on Monday evening by announcing he would quit as foreign secretary, as David Cameron culled ministers of all ranks as part of a wide-ranging reshuffle designed to promote fresh faces ahead of the election.

Hague's decision opens up one of the top jobs in government. He will replace Andrew Lansley as leader of the House of Commons until 2015 - when he will step down from parliament.

Hague was first elected in 1989 and served as Welsh secretary under John Major before succeeding him as Conservative Party leader in 1997. He stood down as leader in 2001 after losing the general election to Labour and Tony Blair, but was persuaded to return to frontline politics in 2005 when Cameron took over the party.

The Richmond MP said on the role as Leader of the Commons meant he would "finish in politics as I began – speaking in Parliament and campaigning among the voters". He said on Twitter: "From May 2015, after such a long period in politics I want to embark on many other things I have always wanted to do. Renewal in politics is good, and holding office is not an end in itself. After 26 years as an MP time will be right for me to move on."

The prime minister said Hague would continue to play a key role in the Conservative Party's election campaign as his "de facto political deputy".

On July 14 2014 11:24 layabout wrote:
I am really sick of people in this (these) country(countries) not giving two shits about politics. Compare the thread length of this and the US thread. It's fucking grim.

The documents – which were published on First Look Media with accompanying analysis from Glenn Greenwald – disclose a range of GCHQ "effects" programs aimed at tracking targets, spreading information, and manipulating online debates and statistics.
[...]
Capabilities to boost views of YouTube videos, or to boost the circulation of particular messages are also detailed.

GCHQ has also, the document suggests, developed capabilities to scan and geolocate the IPs of entire cities at a time.

The document does not detail the legal restrictions on using any of the programs, nor state how often any were deployed. Several of the programs, though, are described as being at "pilot" stage.

On July 15 2014 09:47 layabout wrote:
This is a European site and 60 million to 300 million people and 51 pages-1169 doesn't fit with that. 5 times the population 23 time the number of posts. Even if there are other contributing factors that is pretty telling.

The main point is about attitude and people in the UK don't care enough