It is rather pleasant to read a straightforward article which cuts to the quick towards the likely actual victims of this law change.
That said, it is still the splitting of proverbial hairs for which the police have neither the funding nor time to dwell on these newer nuances which, in the longer term, are destined to fill up the statue books rather than newspaper columns.
I would suggest that it is because the act allows complaints of hate crime to be subjective, unevidenced and anonymous that the opposition has been as fierce as it has been. It is a procedure so obviously open to weaponisation and abuse, it’s laughable.
Does the law in England allow anonymous reporting of 'crimes', as decided by the subjective personal feelings of the complainant, which are submitted to or via sites outside the usual legal infrastructure, sites as assorted as a sex shop and a mushroom farm? Are people who are the subjects of such complaints in England informed of the complaints made against them, and indeed of the recorded outcomes of the complaints? Are such complaints permitted following private conversations inside the home of the complainant and/or the subject of the complaint? Has the law in England been the subject of concerns expressed by the overwhelming majority of civic institutions in that country? Does English law take the position that any online content emanating from outside the country can be treated, if opened within England, as being liable to scrutiny, complaint and/or prosecution under English law?
There is a way out.... Simply adopt Kiswahili which has one single pronoun group [yeye/yake] that can be used of any single person, irrespective of gender or sex, instead of English, Scots, or Doric. Of course, it will not stop the hatred, just iron out a linguistic hiccup.
It is rather pleasant to read a straightforward article which cuts to the quick towards the likely actual victims of this law change.
That said, it is still the splitting of proverbial hairs for which the police have neither the funding nor time to dwell on these newer nuances which, in the longer term, are destined to fill up the statue books rather than newspaper columns.
I would suggest that it is because the act allows complaints of hate crime to be subjective, unevidenced and anonymous that the opposition has been as fierce as it has been. It is a procedure so obviously open to weaponisation and abuse, it’s laughable.
Does the law in England allow anonymous reporting of 'crimes', as decided by the subjective personal feelings of the complainant, which are submitted to or via sites outside the usual legal infrastructure, sites as assorted as a sex shop and a mushroom farm? Are people who are the subjects of such complaints in England informed of the complaints made against them, and indeed of the recorded outcomes of the complaints? Are such complaints permitted following private conversations inside the home of the complainant and/or the subject of the complaint? Has the law in England been the subject of concerns expressed by the overwhelming majority of civic institutions in that country? Does English law take the position that any online content emanating from outside the country can be treated, if opened within England, as being liable to scrutiny, complaint and/or prosecution under English law?
There is a way out.... Simply adopt Kiswahili which has one single pronoun group [yeye/yake] that can be used of any single person, irrespective of gender or sex, instead of English, Scots, or Doric. Of course, it will not stop the hatred, just iron out a linguistic hiccup.