kindagood

I'm sure in Scotland the age of majority is 16. If it works there why not in the rest of the UK

I agree, but the real issue is the adversarial nature of our justice system. The system is not actually designed to get to the truth, but it is designed to apportion blame. Until we rebalance the system, and look for what actually happened and why the system will continue to fail all those who have to take part in it

Sending people to prison does not stop crime. If it did the USA would be a low crime paradise and Scandanavia would be a crime ridden nightmare. However I think we can all agree that is not the case. Crime is caused by a range of factors including poverty, lack of equality of opportunities, and lack of social mobility. These factors are high in the UK, and US. We need to challenge these issues amongst others. Also a lot of crime is economic in nature, why? Lack of equality. Until we make the world fairer this will continue

There is a conundrum in the UK free speech is not absolute. The press is not totally free. (D notices etc). Should a newspaper be allowed to report on a private individual who has committed no crime? The daily mail is not the most reputable or impartial news media, but should it matter what views they have? Should they be allowed to say anything. Also who owns the media? Do they advance their own agendas or do they reflect the wider society? There are lots of questions. However a media owned by the few, which promotes a certain agenda that benefits that group can not really be deemed a free press. Where are the dissenting voices and the well researched journalism, free of partisan opinions? This is why especially in Scotland many people read alternative news blogs. The free press have already failed society. Press regulation doesn't really change anything, it's a veneer to hide the reality that until we change the ownership rules, and stop allowing huge interest to control the media including the BBC our media will always have a bias.

Who votes in local election? Most Labour voters don't, but conservatives do. I don't support either. I don't think local elections tell you anything about the state of national elections. There are often lots of local issues dominating the vote

The sad truth is that you and the people who always get on your case are actually on the same side of the argument (unless you are in the top 10% of society in terms of wealth). They can see the structural problems of the capitalist system which only works for the very few. After the WW2 there was a consensus to act more fairly, but that is long gone. Now we are left with a system that actually punishes low paid workers for working, and demonized those who don't or can't work. The sad truth is the majority of the nation is weeks sway from poverty and homelessness, yet the media and the elite tell us all is well, and things will get better. They will but only for them

But that is the point of a hate crime. You can't just flip it around. The inequality minority groups face can't be flipped around and be experienced by the majority group. There is the other dimension that not all crime by say whites against blacks, Asians, etc is a hate crime. There has to be a clear intent that the difference was a factor. Inequality is a component of society, and those with privilege don't, and can't experience it.

He may be a racist, but that doesn't excuse someone abusing him. Whether he gets it or not. Instead of abuse you should feel pity for him. If he doesn't have the ability to emphasise with disadvantaged groups, the chances are his own life is empty and lacking love. This is when tolerance of the messenger, but not the message is required. A hard thing to always stick too, but attacking him will only reinforce his view and shut down a dialogue which may take a lifetime to convince him.

Although I understand your anger, do you believe being abusive is helpful in this situation? Isn't it better to try and educate in a situation like this. I understand the view this poster has. They clearly don't get that people who are from minority populations can't committ hate crimes because they do not have the power to do so. Yes they can committ dreadful, nasty crimes, but no these aren't hate crimes because they are perpertrated against someone from the majority group. Hate crimes are poorly understood by those who have privilege, mostly because this privilege is silent. Most of us who share privilege are completely unaware of it, because we often don't realise it, we too have struggles in our daily lives, and don't recognise the advantages we do have over people considered 'other' because we too feel life's struggle. Now think how much harder that struggle would be if everyday you were also judged and treated differently because of something you can't change,race, sex, sexual orientation, etc... that is when a crime becomes a hate crime, when the perpertrater is targetting this otherness as a driving factor in the crime. It cant be otherness if you are white, because that is the accepted majority. So race hate crimes only affect those from non white groups, and hate based sexual orientation crimes only affect non-heterosexuals, and hate based gender crimes only affect women, these are the disadvataged groups in our society. The media needs to play a part in this education, instead of reinforcing privilege.

You shouldn't think of people as opponents. The system and how it works are the opponents of the working and middle class. It's just a pity not enough people realise how we have been indoctornated into believing that the poor are to blame for the lack of equality of opportunies they have. The middle class are much closer to being poor than wealthy, yet the belief is fostered by the media that you to can be rich, if only you work hard enough. Yet work isn't rewarded enough to make anyone wealthy. Only resources bring super wealth, and 90 %of us will never have enough to never worry about money again. Why would anyone defend a system that produces such unfavourable results? If you could have chosen a system of economics to be born into, without knowing where your place in the system would be, would you have honestly chosen this one we live in?

While abhorrent. It is not a hate crime

The gender pay gap also relates to female dominated professions being less well paid than male professions of equal qualification or other training standards. E.g. nursing home staff who are trained and female dominated being paid less than say road workers a male dominated profession.

What do you mean when you say all hate crime victims? Not just those traditionally seen as victims? You do realise this is a pretty meaningless statement! A hate crime involves reinforcing the structural oppression of an individual by targeting that which makes the victim a target. A hate crime cannot be committed against someone who has the privilege of the majority, whether that be white, heterosexual, or male privilege.

How does having the right to vote protect us from structural oppression? The ideas of the ruling class are ingrained in us all. These ideas are parroted by people who are badly affected by them, because they have become the accepted conversation. We understand more about the elite, than we do about our neighbour who struggles to feed her family, even though she works full time. The multinational she works for on minimum wage gets a larger corporate hand out than it pays in tax, and makes more profit every year, yet the majority of it's workforce get in work benefits, that is the workhouse of today.

What technology. Computers would have been basic.and it would have been based on returns from record stores which would have required manual counting. If the Monday was a bank holiday there would have been no one to count the returns until the Tuesday.