UK police state?

[KEND]

First it was the gypsies and jews, then anyone who doesnt conform, then there was no one left so they came for you. No matter what you think about 'them' never give up your basic freedoms.
He's got some balls

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UK NEWSSIN BINS FOR WORST FAMILIES



Children's Secretary Ed Balls
Thursday July 23,2009
By Alison Little Have your say(38)
THOUSANDS of the worst families in England are to be put in “sin bins” in a bid to change their bad behaviour, Ed Balls announced yesterday.


The Children’s Secretary set out £400million plans to put 20,000 problem families under 24-hour CCTV super-vision in their own homes.

They will be monitored to ensure that children attend school, go to bed on time and eat proper meals.

Private security guards will also be sent round to carry out home checks, while parents will be given help to combat drug and alcohol addiction.

Around 2,000 families have gone through these Family Intervention Projects so far.

But ministers want to target 20,000 more in the next two years, with each costing between £5,000 and £20,000 – a potential total bill of £400million.

Ministers hope the move will reduce the number of youngsters who get drawn into crime because of their chaotic family lives, as portrayed in Channel 4 comedy drama Shameless.

Sin bin projects operate in half of council areas already but Mr Balls wants every local authority to fund them.

He said: “This is pretty tough and non-negotiable support for families to get to the root of the problem. There should be Family Intervention Projects in every local authority area because every area has families that need support.”

But Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said: “This is all much too little, much too late.

“This Government has been in power for more than a decade during which time anti-social behaviour, family breakdown and problems like alcohol abuse and truancy have just got worse and worse.”

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Mr Balls also said responsible parents who make sure their children behave in school will get new rights to complain about those who allow their children to disrupt lessons.

Pupils and their families will have to sign behaviour contracts known as Home School Agreements before the start of every year, which will set out parents’ duties to ensure children behave and do their homework.

The updated Youth Crime Action Plan also called for a crackdown on violent girl gangs as well as drug and alcohol abuse among young women.

But a decision to give ministers new powers to intervene with failing local authority Youth Offending Teams was criticised by council leaders.

Les Lawrence, of the Local Government Association, said they did “crucial” work and such intervention was “completely unnecessary”.

[TaoJoannes]

"They will be monitored to ensure that children attend school, go to bed on time and eat proper meals.

Private security guards will also be sent round to carry out home checks, while parents will be given help to combat drug and alcohol addiction."

It's better than having children yanked from families and placed in some shitty foster home. Which happens daily in the US.

[RobP2]

It's all just cash for their pals who run private security firms

[Iskendar]

Ah, the UK, that marvelous place where someone in charge figured that this somehow would serve to reassure people:

[yusuf]

Ah, the UK, that marvelous place where someone in charge figured that this somehow would serve to reassure people:

Don;t start dude... there have been some seriously fucked up attempts to restrict our liberties in so many areas, just to carry the banner headlines in arse wipe newspapers .. and the opposition tories are just as bad as incumbent labour...

the real problem is that this much pressure on a populace, coupled with a deeper recession, will lead to social unrest or worse...

[TaoJoannes]

[Teazer]

First it was the gypsies and jews, then anyone who doesnt conform,

In this case, first it was the pain-in-the-ass always causing trouble & breaking the law neighbours.

http://www.respect.gov.uk/members/article.aspx?id=8678
It sounds better than the previous option to deal with these kind of families, which tended to involve some neighbour or several beating the crap out of the kids when they catch them in the act. Still, since I'm not living over there these days, I can't comment on how well it gets implemented.

[GrahamB]

I wouldn't believe everything you read in the Daily Express.

[mrtoes]

It's fucking depressing. Police state - not quite yet but I've seen enough real police states to know which direction we're going in. Much of this rubbish is the flailings of a dying government that is desperately trying to remain relevant but I can't see the conservatives repealing anything of substance when they come in.

What is most alarming is that the general populace welcomes it. Stop almost anyone on the street and they will say that CCTV helps them feel safe, solves crimes etc. Present the threat of the external bogeyman and watch people lie supine whilst their liberties are stripped away. Over in countries like Germany with a recent history of police states (Hitler followed by the Stasi) they are looking at what is happening here with horror.

Matthew.

[Chanchu]

USA is heading that direction to-- very fast

"What is most alarming is that the general populace welcomes it."

Yes, and I think that people who do want to protest it and speak out are scared of the political administration now- cowed so to speak. Less and less privacy, erosion of free speech, subtle attacks on the right to self defense on so on.

[TaoJoannes]

We've already got house arrest with GPS tracking, surprise visits from child welfare, and previously illegal phone taps. Restrictions on travel for certain citizens. And the cops always like to fuck with the populace.

As far as speech is concerned, yeah, we're limiting free speech in some contexts, but at the same time, more things are being protected under the guise of free speech, such as where you spend your money to promote an agenda.

Ummm, yeah, we're still a long way from a police state, but the groundwork is there. If folks ever start getting out of the trap of partisan thinking, we might have a chance of making something good of it.