Six former Metropolitan Police officers have been charged with sending offensive messages in a private WhatsApp group. The Critic’s Freddie Attenborough cites the case as an example of the state’s creeping campaign of mass surveillance and censorship. Here’s an excerpt:
Six former police officers who served in the Met’s Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command during their time with the force have been charged with sending grossly offensive and racist messages by public communication and will appear at Westminster magistrates court next month.
The officers, who retired between 2001 and 2015, have been charged with offences under Section 127 (1) (a) of the Communications Act 2003. It is alleged all six were members of the WhatsApp group, and that the messages that led to the criminal charges were sent and received between August 2018 and September 2022, after their service in the Met had ended.
The charges follow a BBC Newsnight investigation late last year into dozens of messages shared within the chat that the producers were handed by a member of the group. Subsequent media coverage of the case led, in turn, to an investigation by the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards.
Although the BBC decided not to reproduce the messages because some of them contained “strong racial slurs”, Newsnight reported that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex featured in several images alongside racist remarks. Some of the posts also referenced the Government sending migrants to Rwanda, while others joked about recent flooding in Pakistan, which left almost 1,700 people dead.
There’s no question that messages of this kind would make for grim, deeply unpleasant reading – indeed, had the members of this group still been serving police officers, you could certainly have made a good case for the Met suspending or expelling them for breach of contract. But the key point here is that the intended recipients of these messages were adult members of a private WhatsApp group.
What’s so troubling about the CPS’s decision to charge these six former police officers under s.127 is that it provides yet more evidence of a form of legislative ‘mission creep’, with the state now looking to use the Communications Act 2003 to police not just public, but private interactions.
As things stand, s.127 makes it a crime punishable by up to six months in prison to post anything “grossly offensive” on an “electronic communications network”. Specifically, S.127 (1) (a) reads as follows:
A person is guilty of an offence if he:
- sends by means of a public electronic communications network a message or other matter that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character.
Before we even start to consider the current (mis)application of this provision to private conversations, it’s worth pointing out that there are several things wrong with it as a means to police public communication.
First, any idea of what constitutes the “gross” and the “offensive” is, by definition, a matter of opinion – a situation which has essentially granted carte blanche to judges to criminalise anything they think is unpleasant or hurtful.
Worse still, s.127 is regarded as largely compliant with Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, because statements made by means of a public telecommunications system currently need to have artistic or political meaning to receive its protection. Inevitably, that means that in most cases any appeal to human rights laws is closed off (although that’s something the Free Speech Union hopes to challenge with one of its impending cases).
Finally, there’s the fact that the legislation presupposes, but never articulates, its understanding of a concept that is crucial to any sophisticated approach to communication, namely, the ‘recipient’ – and, more specifically, ‘the intended recipient’.
These problems notwithstanding, in recent years police and prosecutors have jumped at any opportunity to enforce this law whenever someone complains that they feel hurt by what they have seen online or on social media. People who’ve been brought to heel in this manner include Scottish comedian Count Dankula (convicted of a hate crime for filming a pet dog giving Nazi salutes), Kate Scottow (fined for being rude to a trans activist on social media), Caroline Farrow (threatened with a criminal record for misgendering a trans activist) and Joe Kelly (someone the FSU is currently supporting in his appeal against a conviction for a social media post in which he rejoiced at the death of Captain Sir Tom Moore).
And yet, however shocking we may find these cases, there is at least a certain logic to the application of the law.
In each case, we are dealing with an utterance sent by means of a “public electronic communications network” that had as its intended recipient ‘the public’.
That’s in marked contrast to the case of the six Met police officers, where the messages in question were never intended to be seen, heard or read by the public.
What that means is that when this case reaches Westminster magistrates court next month, a judge will essentially be ruling on the entirely hypothetical question of whether certain messages might be considered “grossly offensive” to a public that never actually encountered them, and was never in any danger of encountering them. The fact that in the preceding sentence you can replace the word ‘messages’ with ‘thoughts’ without any loss of meaning gives an indication of just how troubling this application of the law really is.
Worth reading in full.
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“U.S. school apologises for ‘inexcusably insensitive’ Black History Month lunch”
I find this absolutely hilarious… Woke will eat itself…
…actually I’m grossly offended whenever anyone tries to give me a Yorkshire pudding with my Sunday lunch…just cause I’m from Yorkshire…..bloody bigots!!!
LOL!
“It’s about time we got real with how we do energy in the U.K.”
Well, d’uh. Looks like we’ve found one politician willing to say it as it is.
I’m so bored with politicians expelling hot air and doing precisely nothing. I have to check sometimes and see if I am still alive by feeling my pulse when these people start saying the same old thing yet again. It’s all very well that they say these things but it’s within a strict boundary. I would be more impressed if they’d just said that the climate crisis is a huge hoax designed to create enormous wealth for some and punish all the rest and to look at why we have this ridiculous ‘religion’ in the first place. Yes, I know they’d be laughed off the programme and called a ‘conspiwacy thewist’ or some such title to diminish and ridicule any position that does not support the creed.
“Globe puts ‘misogyny and racism’ warning on Shakespeare classic”
Woke cowards…
And all history books must contain, by law, a statement: “Could contain upsetting descriptions of war, battles, deceit, murder, revolt, hanging, beheading, drawing and quartering, slavery, death, plague, and general turmoil. If you are of a nervous disposition, it might be better to study knitting, macramé, cooking etc”
And it’s speciesist too, mocking donkeys and those identifying as, or translated into, donkeys.
This is a very good article about censorship and how it has become more widespread these last few years;
”During what has colloquiolly become known as ‘Covid Times’ many academics have reported incidents of censorship linked to their attempts to publish scientific work presenting findings that disent from the mainstream Covid narrative. At the same time, many pro-Covid academics have been able to publish work that can only be described as incredible (that is, not credible). Inter alia (among other things), these include that: (i) Covid-19 would kill 500,000 people in the UK in only 6 weeks ; (ii) the existence of models to estimate the number of lives saved by covid vaccines means lives were actually saved; (iii) that Covid vaccines saved 20mill lives in one year; and (iv) that covid vaccines that we know definitely arent, are 100% effective.
Censorship of scientific results, academic discourse and informed debate is wrong.
Therefore governments, politicians, institutions, employers, journals and preprint websites that engage in censorship are also wrong.
Laws like the Online Harms Bill that purport to protect one group, while actively censoring the thoughts, ideas and right of expression of another are also wrong.”
https://lawhealthandtech.substack.com/p/sceleratus-censores-the-criminal
Mogs,
Interesting MD4CE meeting yesterday with a presentation by Katherine Watt of Balliwick News who explained precisely how this situation came about through legislation. This means that there was no legal requirement for any trials to be carried out, no safety studies, no efficacy data. All it took was for a politician to say that it was so.
The presentation was chilling & demonstrated that this is no cock up but has been long in the planning for the regulatory framework to enable the tyranny to be put in place.
Presentation will be available late today/early tomorrow here:
cbkovess
Great, thanks for the heads up.
Yes this is what people seem to struggle with getting their heads around apparently. All that pseudo-legal framework so that the culprits could perpetrate their crimes with impunity took years to implement, which proves this was 100% premeditated and the intent to harm is irrefutable. Katherine and Sasha have done a stellar job of highlighting the evidence for anyone willing to see. Yet people want to hang on to the vestiges of wishful thinking that this is all some sort of epic blunder or just straightforward power or greed. Perhaps people are already getting desensitized to the excess deaths and decreased births that are not getting any better and normalizing it all away as some inevitable consequence or collateral damage.
Maybe everyone saw this before but a better summary of the ‘Chicken Licken: the sky is falling in’ nature of the global pandemic response would be hard to find:
‘….the thing that shouts most loudly about this graph is that the years of Covid pandemic panic really do not look that much different from the previous three years. Half close your eyes, and there is almost nothing to see.’
‘Covid was not, repeat not, a pandemic of unique power, and destructiveness. It could have never have remotely justified the drastic actions that were taken to combat it.’
‘The comparative analysis of different countries showed that the assumption of lockdowns’ effectiveness cannot be supported by evidence—neither regarding the present COVID-19 pandemic, nor regarding the 1918–1920 Spanish Flu and other less-severe pandemics in the past.
The price tag of lockdowns in terms of public health is high: by using the known connection between health and wealth, we estimate that lockdowns may claim 20 times more life years than they save.’
https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2023/01/31/returning-to-covid19/
And then a good summary of the disgraceful, quite possibly actionable, behaviour of ‘democratic’ socialist fascist governments and government agencies:
‘….they have not even slept at the switch but rather turned outright upon those they were supposed to protect and kept the facts from those who needed them in order to support a narrative that could not stand up to analysis if we the people were given the straight dope.
a reckoning is owed and these agencies cannot be allowed to continue to exist in their current forms.’
https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/kyoto-university-professor-sues-japans
‘fascist government’?
‘It’s a communist one party state, we said. We couldn’t get away with it in Europe, we thought… and then Italy did it. And we realised we could.’
Prof N. Ferguson, Imperial College, London
The entire public sector, parastatal sector and most of the population of this country should take a long hard look in the mirror…..
Save planet from Net Zero lunacy
*****
Stand in the Park Make friends & keep sane
Sundays 10.30am to 11.30am
Elms Field
near Everyman Cinema & play area
Wokingham RG40 2FE
………
Dr Malone with a very interesting and thorough article on why the fake emergency is ending in the US in May ( very precise date ) and making comparisons with the Spanish Flu demonstrating what a non-event this all would have been had there been no countermeasures deployed;
”In terms of raw cumulative mortality (not adjusted for changes in total global population) that would make the 1918 H1N1 outbreak (which probably had other infectious cofactors) about seven times more lethal than COVID-19. Adjusted for population (1917 global population about 1.8 billion, current global population about 7.8 billion) that would be a relative mortality of around 50M/1800M= 2.7% (1918 H1N1) compared to 6.8M/7,800M = 0.087% (2020-2023 COVID-19). In the case of the 1918 RNA respiratory virus outbreak, there were few if any significant medical countermeasures (such as antiviral drugs or vaccines) available, and quenching of the outbreak was primarily consequent to development of “natural immunity” within the global population.
Comparing these high level mortality statistics reveals that the global distribution of COVID-19 attributed “mortality” is not even, and a strong case can be made that access to and deployment of these “medical countermeasures” is not only not correlated with access and uptake of these treatments, but may even be inversely correlated. Compounding the challenges in objectively assessing aggregate “mortality” or case/infection fatality rate are the perverse incentives to overcount morbidity and mortality which may exist in various “first world” economies (notably the United States) and other variables which may result in under- or overcounting disease and death attributed to SARS-CoV-2.”
https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/p/ending-the-usg-covid-19-public-health
It appears we have to be so vigilant on so many fronts not to be railroaded into authoritarian rule.
-CBDC
-Low traffic neighbourhoods (UK100)
-ULEZ expansion
-right to protest
-race to net Zero
-right to free speech
-WHO pandemic plan (link to James Roguski’s Substack in which he explains why this is all such a bad idea)
https://open.substack.com/pub/jamesroguski/p/the-final-report-of-the-international?r=ylgqf&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
All these issues appear to fly under the radar of most people and rely on outcomes of public consultations to be pushed forward (and in the case of ULEZ even public consultations mean nada).
So maybe we should pay some more attention to the use of public consultations? These are often very difficult to find, poorly constructed and very undemocratic.
Just a Wednesday morning thought.
You’re absolutely right, Myra. Much of the ‘agenda’ flies under the radar as you say while people’s attentions are focused elsewhere – Ukraine, Grammys, is Keir Starmer made of dough? etc. Introduced in drib and drabs, the changes probably don’t seem to be that bad to ordinary people but join up all the dots and we have the image of the control grid being constructed as if in some sort of dystopian science fiction film. However, there is push-back albeit not that visible. On the 18th, for instance, there will be a huge turnout in Oxford to protest against the council’s 15 minute city plans. I get the impression they will ignore this or try to deflect but this is enormously important. If Oxford ‘falls’, then other cities will follow suit. We can but fight back and resist. Much of what they are doing in undemocratic, despite what they say about ‘public consultations, and we have the opportunity to throw out undemocratic laws/legislation (they’re both different) by reconvening the ‘jural assemblies’ – assemblies of jurors. This is about reclaiming our rights under common law as spelt out in the constitution – yes, we do have one. It’s an arduous process but one that is underway. We the people are sovereign, not parliament, and we are the master and they are the servant although they would have you think it was the other way round!
Grammys, Mercury Prize and Brits and whatever else awards there are seem to be utterly meaningless and pointless for musicians. In my day, when I were a kid, bands just played music and singers sang. If they were popular, people would buy their records, go to their concerts and get the t-shirt and DJs would play their music on the airwaves or introduce them in esoteric programme like TOGWT. I can’t imagine Jerry Garcia, late of the Grateful Dead, clutching a trophy while thanking his mother and father etc. To me, therefore, awards seem to to just highlight our world of narcissism and entitlement. The ceremonies are fashion shows for the cultists and the sheepulace are meant to gawp in stupefied fascination as another prize goes to a major name and not to the people making real music in back alleys, garages, bedrooms, four ale bars, tube stations, forest clearings etc. Just my worthless opinions….
Not worthless opinions. Nearly all the good music began with bunches of enthusiasts working in small clubs for peanuts, or nothing, for the love of that music. I can’t resist a very incomplete list just relating to the UK – jazz clubs in the 30s, skiffle and R&R at London’s 2is in the 50s, R&B clubs for mods, folk and blues clubs leading to revivals of both (and to folk-rock and prog-rock), northern soul clubs, punk rock joints, etc.
There was always an uneasy interface with the music business, since none of these club scenes were sufficient to sustain more than a handful of professionals. “Success” meant compromise, but the result was often good, original stuff. But whenever the “suits” get the upper hand, or musicians lose their vision in favour of money and fame, you end up with a moribund musical culture. And Halls of Fame…
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/epstein-gates-and-the-united-racketeers-of-america/
Yes, it’s Gates and the Clinton’s. Evil, murderous parasites running the world.
The trial of one of our ‘Covid heroes’…Pastor Artur Pawlowski is just about to start in Canada…
It all seems so long ago, but is still a massive reality for some…..
Unbelievable…
https://www.foxnews.com/media/pastor-facing-10-years-prison-preaching-canada-trucker-blockade-protesting-vaccine-mandates
I cannot believe that this man, who did absolutely nothing wrong and certainly broke no laws, is still being persecuted. Canada, under dictator Turdeau, is one sick and nasty country and I feel bad for anyone that has to live there.
..the first time I saw him, when they were throwing the police out of church, criticising them for interrupting the service and shouting Nazi at them…brilliant!…….I’ll never forget it……it really stiffened my resolve…..A great man, and I’m sure he will have a lot of support..
(2) Polish Pastor Chases Cops Out of Church on Easter Weekend: ‘Get Out! You Nazis!’ – YouTube
LOL.. brilliant, but of course in reality I think he is right and it makes it so sad and shocking that it could even happen…
“Mother regrets letting her son, 4, transition….”.
I can’t trust myself to make a comment..
This episode of ‘Redacted’ is quite something….
…it includes the speech that Trump gave saying he would ‘to stop the chemical, medical and emotional mutilation of our children’..if he was elected President…and which has sent the Democrats and Wokeists into a frenzy…
Personally I can’t disagree with him….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbC1Pq6QMzQ
Clayton Morris: We are watching EVERYTHING collapse and here’s the proof
Deep dive by a Professor into the contentious German insurers and doctors association ICD code data. Signals on Myocardities/Pericarditis, birth rates, still births, child autism and mental health issues correlating with the ‘vaccine’ rollout indeed.
That they are due to the ‘vaccine’ could (only) be proven, if the data could be further split into vaxxed/unvaxxed.
Obviously, the providers refuse to do so, with various excuses.
In German, but worth translating for people who looked into this deeper before.
https://multipolar-magazin.de/artikel/kbv-daten-risikosignale
Good one on the now oh so popular ‘denier’ smear. https://brownstone.org/articles/denialism-a-woke-way-to-stifle-dissent/
First analysis of vaxxed Vs unvaxxed all cause death data from Connecticut. Some surprising conclusions. https://stevekirsch.substack.com/p/exclusive-what-the-medicare-data
A Bill that would prohibit the use of of mRNA vaccines (SB 2384) was debated by the legislative branch of North Dakota yesterday:-
https://video.ndlegis.gov/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20230208/-1/28912?startposition=20230207092901
It’s good to see democracy is still alive and well somewhere.
Because of Sanctions (..or economic terrorism, which is what it really is..) this is the Syrian Arab Red Crescent pretty much begging for assistance from Europe and the USA, for the people affected by the Earthquake…
The so-called humane and democratic ‘West’ found wanting when it matters..as usual…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNgaStvW5GI