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General politics discussion thread


David

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Should the Beeb cust discussion go in here?

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15165926

 

Looks like BBC2 has got the brunt of this and is having most of its innards ripped out in favour of news and repeats.. The New Sky 3, Pick TV or whatever.. Shame

 

More discussion here looks like The Politics Show is an early casualty as is CBBC on BBC 1

Edited by patdfb
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She was alright, fucking Billy Bragg was on though!!!

Are you trying to tease me, by coming up with the worst QT panel of all time?Having looked it up:- Baroness Warsi, Andy Burnham, Charles Kennedy, Jane Moore and Billy BraggThats gotta be a shoe in as one of the worst ever, surely? Anyone beat it? The only saving grace is Kennedy there, who can be good for stuff, but is increasing hit and miss since stepping down as Lib leader and probs with alcholism.
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It was a really good debate actually. Warsi is normally all at sea on QT, but as a lawyer she was actually on firmer ground with the HRA stuff. Bragg was excellent, he's a strong advocate for such things; Charlie is Charlie and had the crowd in the palm of his hand, and Andy Burnham is one of the more likeable of the shadow cabinet.

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It was a really good debate actually. Warsi is normally all at sea on QT, but as a lawyer she was actually on firmer ground with the HRA stuff. Bragg was excellent, he's a strong advocate for such things; Charlie is Charlie and had the crowd in the palm of his hand, and Andy Burnham is one of the more likeable of the shadow cabinet.

Okay, on your advice, I'll I-player it. But im not holding out much hope
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Bragg was playing his usual soft headed role though, making it sound like the authorities are taking jailed immigrants out after they've served their sentence and putting bullets in their heads, instead of sending them back to the country they came from as they've abused their privilege of living in the UK.Nobody is taking away their human rights, just denying them a privilege.

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I don't think anyone is really arguing that the interpretation of the HRA (our implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights) by our courts needs clarifying, and possibly a government bill that codifies some approaches to that would be a good idea.

 

But what Bragg was saying is that attempting to throw out the baby with the bathwater, in terms of attacking the European Convention on Human Rights itself, is stupid and dangerous. Outside of the right not to be tortured which is immutable, all the other "rights" in the convention contain exceptions to allow for things like repatriation, jail and so on.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Conv...on_Human_Rights

 

I thought he was particularly eloquent on the fact that the HRA is especially important for prisoners, those whose civil rights have been suspended.

 

 

The key is this: it's the interpretation of the HRA which is questionable, not the set of fundamental rights itself. That's why Theresa May got so roundly shat on, as a home secretary that doesn't think a human rights act is a good idea is, frankly, a dangerous prospect. Don't forget the HRA was a major factor in derailing the last government's attempts to destroy habeus corpus by bringing in 90 days without trial detention.

Edited by Loki
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Aye, watching it now finally and have to agree with Loki/Billy Bragg to be fairNot sure about the horribly xenophobic and bigotted audience, especially the women who was anti everything and ended up being laughed at audibly by other members of the audience. Though I assume its a hang over from the Manchester/Salford riots and an increasingly media lead for an almost eye for eye situation.The thing about deporting criminals who arent from this country, is that it has many pitfalls. Ive not checked this but istr there was a case of an italian being deported or at least threatened with it after serving his sentence here, possibly the murderer of Phillip Lawrence. The problem was that he hadnt actually lived in Italy since he was very young. Italy wasnt therefore his natural home, and never had been it was just his country of origin. The majority of his socialization and upbringing was in the UK, his life was in the UK. So once he had served his sentence despite being a killer he had the human right to remain here, because that was where he was effectively from. Not Italy where although born there, he had no association with it.Baroness Warsi's hardline stance is all well and dandy, it scores points, especially with a section of the populus who think 'they' (who ever they are) are taking over the country and thus shouldnt remain here. I can see the point about repatriation, but it would have to be a case by case stance and those who had their lives in this country as per the above should remain here those who hadnt could be concieveably returned to the country of where they are socialisedIts probably an over simplistic view, and it probably isnt as clear cut as that. I feel though that a modicum of common sense should be applied rather than the blanket of saying they are from another country and should be deported if they commit a crime as there are other factors at work, in some cases to the detriment of a criminals human rights. The Human Rights Act, isnt wrong, the interpretations and media lead/political lead drive to break it for the 'good' of us all is. The destruction of habeus corpus as mentioned by Loki above is one such point, without the HRA arguments surely we would have been back in the early 19th Century when habeus corpus was iirc suspended to deal with the Corn Law rioters and the Chartists. A very slippery slope that is akin to the Gitmo stuff that was Billy Bragg's point in the first place, that the HRA is there to help those who need it most and without it, then there is the possibility of, trouble.Edit:- The Fat Tax discussion was pretty eye opening in that the politicos seemed to agree that the Fat Tax is a daft idea. YAY!

Edited by patdfb
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