Is dog-napping the latest craze/moral panic?

[Lencoboy]

Various reasons but one relevant to now would be Patel's anti protest Bill.

I think you're right, as it's all kicked off in Bristol today.

Cue various inevitable copycat attacks on the police and police stations up and down the country over the coming days.

Then probably schools and hospitals.

And then shops and so on.

Just like August 2011 all over again!!

[MyNameIsTerry]

I think you're right, as it's all kicked off in Bristol today.

Cue various inevitable copycat attacks on the police and police stations up and down the country over the coming days.

Then probably schools and hospitals.

And then shops and so on.

Just like August 2011 all over again!!

Same types that just want to smash stuff up. Need for fairness or hatred of the police? The chants and graffiti seem more the latter.

Bristol seems like a follow on from the BLM troubles.

[Lencoboy]

Same types that just want to smash stuff up. Need for fairness or hatred of the police? The chants and graffiti seem more the latter.

Bristol seems like a follow on from the BLM troubles.

It does seem like Bristol has been fair game for aggro since last summer.

First of all, the BLM kerfuffle with the toppling of the Colston statue, now all this anti-police nonsense!

Probably just brain-dead morons who have been spoiling for a riot for ages.

[BlueIris]

Colston was a slave trader, though. Do you not see the need for progress? You calling BLM a kerfuffle as a white dude only goes to prove the need for it.

Additionally, I know I'm going to get fire and brimstone rained down on me for this, but the police need to be held accountable. Not talking about the lockdown protests - it's been a long year and people are fractious and yes, some are acting like idiots. That said, there's a long history of the police literally getting away with murder, and now the government seem to be doing their best to ban people from speaking up about it. It's terrifying - people need the right to speak up to power and it worries me to my core that these rights are being slowly stripped away.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Progress through peaceful demonstration. Not violence. Progress isn't mob justice either. Unintended consequences: maybe we all want to tear something down? Isn't that point of law?

Are we sleepwalking into authoritarianism or marching ourselves into it through our own actions? Patel gets to raise this Bill off the back of these events and a lot of people in the public who disapprove.

Personally I think the police have enough to already deal with this. They've been dealing with public demos and riots for decades. It feels more like the government forcing a reluctant police force into action. But just because Patel passes a law who says the same police will use it if they are hesitant with valid existing powers?

[BlueIris]

It is, yes, but peaceful demonstrations are also being banned or heavily policed. It's a tricky line to walk, but I think that sometimes people need to speak up.

I also find it rather fishy that this latest clampdown comes directly after a senior police officer is accused of having done something unspeakable.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Blue, I don't see why you will get fire & brimstone for wanting the police to be as accountable to the law as the rest of us. It's nothing new, corruption has been around since the first plod walked a beat. It's just typical of human beings and power no matter what the industry. They cover up for their own.

Maybe Dick wanted to brush it under the carpet to take the spotlight off her? If she did she's naive. But all public demos should be clamped down on until this virus is under control. Now the Met have retreated back to their previous tactics of standing around.

[MyNameIsTerry]

It's also worth noting nothing is forever. Another party can gain a majority and overturn this. The lack of opposition is a problem right now but that can change.

[Lencoboy]

Blue, I don't see why you will get fire & brimstone for wanting the police to be as accountable to the law as the rest of us. It's nothing new, corruption has been around since the first plod walked a beat. It's just typical of human beings and power no matter what the industry. They cover up for their own.

Maybe Dick wanted to brush it under the carpet to take the spotlight off her? If she did she's naive. But all public demos should be clamped down on until this virus is under control. Now the Met have retreated back to their previous tactics of standing around.

Like you implied in your last paragraph, these protests are bad timing as we're still in a pandemic. And whilst I can understand many people now feeling a sense of restlessness after being denied many things they would usually otherwise take for granted, and especially one year after the start of our first national lockdown, it does seem like the usual anarchists suddenly seeping out of the woodwork en masse who just want a scrap for the sake of it, rather than protesting against 'real' injustices relating to policing in the UK.

Let's face it, our plod aren't routinely armed nor routinely trigger-happy (unlike other countries). And like you said, corruption has existed both in the police force and in virtually all other establishments pretty much since time immemorial, so hardly exclusive to early 2020s Britain.

I wonder why it was specifically Bristol that was the scene of yesterday's incident?

At least the BBC acted fairly responsibly by not referring to said event as a 'riot'.

[WiredIncorrectly]

Pet theft is a real worry for some people (me included), so my cats only go out when i am watching them, so i can be sure they are safe.

i dont have dogs.

I've lived here about 6 years and had 4 cats. First was outdoor, he went missing. Second was indoor, he escaped and went missing. Same with the third and fourth. I've decided not to get another cat. Somebody is stealing them, or eating them. I haven't seen any of them since.