Some readers may have come across reports about how Substack is restricting the access of people based in the UK and Australia to some or all content unless they have subjected themselves to an age-verification process.
The new head of MI6, Blaise Metreweli, says in her first major speech in the job, which was all about telling us how she's going to 'keep us safe' supposedly: "Over the years, I’ve listened to . . . . . . . . people trapped in authoritarian regimes who know, deep down, that their humanity is being chipped away."
So, will she now listen to us British people whose humanity is being chipped away by an authoritarian regime with the supposed aim of 'keeping us safe'? I'm guessing probably not. I'll be moving from Substack too if they keep kowtowing to the Starmer regime.
I wonder whether she knows what she is talking about rather than stating what are the "correct" positions. I spent a fair bit of time working in Eastern Europe in the 5 years leading up to the complete breakdown of the Soviet bloc. What I observed was complete disdain and cynicism for the nomenklatura, even among those who were nominally members of it. The system survived only because of a combination of Soviet money and Soviet force. Both ran out and everything collapsed very quickly because, except among the very old who remembered WWII, nobody believed the rhetoric and the incompetence & dishonesty was clear to everyone.
A similar moral collapse is possible though not certain here. The failure is not so extreme and there are more people who still benefit from the system. What keeps things going is not "safety" but the fear that everything will collapse if the familiar structures and beliefs are discarded. However, gradually people reach the stage of believing that nothing can be worse than a continuation of stasis and decline.
Perhaps this is what she means when she says that one of the security challenges which present a danger is the collapse of the old ethical framework:
"Across the globe, we are now confronting not one single danger, but an interlocking web of security challenges – military, technological, social, ethical even – each shaping the other in complex ways."
The disintegration of social and ethical norms in the face of widespread corruption, incompetence and mass disillusionment is certainly an ever present danger - to the continuance of the regime.
pertinent comments. I ran into the age verification barrier on Substack for an el gato malo post the other day. Quite annoying, given there was nothing "adult" in the post as I saw upon reading it in my email. Did not submit to the age verification.
Thanks for this advice. I hope that a competitor to Substack appears, with a better approach that doesn't kill legitimate authorship such as mine. I am now barred from gaining subscribers, who are not allowed to comment (neither am I) and so their number will dwindle. The UK is becoming a tyranny.
Amazing coincidence. Somebody has sent me a private message on Substack and when I tried to read it I was met with the message that it's restricted content and I would need to verify my age! Outrageous.
Also, every time I publish a post now, I lose a subscriber within 30 mins of publishing. Something's definitely not right with this platform now. I'll be going elsewhere.
Thank you Gordon. The erosion of freedom is very distressing. The Russians and Chinese rightly get blamed for a lot, but this is the home side and I take it, do-gooders have poorly drafted legislation. (My definition of a do-gooder is a person who helps someone across the road, wether they wanted to cross or not.)
Remember that much legislation is only a framework, poor though that may be. In the case of the Online Safety Act as much blame should fall on Ofcom as on bureaucrats, parliamentary lawyers and politicians. But that is a large issue that I plan to write about soon.
The new head of MI6, Blaise Metreweli, says in her first major speech in the job, which was all about telling us how she's going to 'keep us safe' supposedly: "Over the years, I’ve listened to . . . . . . . . people trapped in authoritarian regimes who know, deep down, that their humanity is being chipped away."
So, will she now listen to us British people whose humanity is being chipped away by an authoritarian regime with the supposed aim of 'keeping us safe'? I'm guessing probably not. I'll be moving from Substack too if they keep kowtowing to the Starmer regime.
I wonder whether she knows what she is talking about rather than stating what are the "correct" positions. I spent a fair bit of time working in Eastern Europe in the 5 years leading up to the complete breakdown of the Soviet bloc. What I observed was complete disdain and cynicism for the nomenklatura, even among those who were nominally members of it. The system survived only because of a combination of Soviet money and Soviet force. Both ran out and everything collapsed very quickly because, except among the very old who remembered WWII, nobody believed the rhetoric and the incompetence & dishonesty was clear to everyone.
A similar moral collapse is possible though not certain here. The failure is not so extreme and there are more people who still benefit from the system. What keeps things going is not "safety" but the fear that everything will collapse if the familiar structures and beliefs are discarded. However, gradually people reach the stage of believing that nothing can be worse than a continuation of stasis and decline.
Perhaps this is what she means when she says that one of the security challenges which present a danger is the collapse of the old ethical framework:
"Across the globe, we are now confronting not one single danger, but an interlocking web of security challenges – military, technological, social, ethical even – each shaping the other in complex ways."
The disintegration of social and ethical norms in the face of widespread corruption, incompetence and mass disillusionment is certainly an ever present danger - to the continuance of the regime.
pertinent comments. I ran into the age verification barrier on Substack for an el gato malo post the other day. Quite annoying, given there was nothing "adult" in the post as I saw upon reading it in my email. Did not submit to the age verification.
Thanks for this advice. I hope that a competitor to Substack appears, with a better approach that doesn't kill legitimate authorship such as mine. I am now barred from gaining subscribers, who are not allowed to comment (neither am I) and so their number will dwindle. The UK is becoming a tyranny.
Amazing coincidence. Somebody has sent me a private message on Substack and when I tried to read it I was met with the message that it's restricted content and I would need to verify my age! Outrageous.
Also, every time I publish a post now, I lose a subscriber within 30 mins of publishing. Something's definitely not right with this platform now. I'll be going elsewhere.
Thank you Gordon. The erosion of freedom is very distressing. The Russians and Chinese rightly get blamed for a lot, but this is the home side and I take it, do-gooders have poorly drafted legislation. (My definition of a do-gooder is a person who helps someone across the road, wether they wanted to cross or not.)
As far as I can tell, the UK Parliament hasn't passed anything but badly drafted legislation for decades.
Considering that legislation is their day job, it's a bit poor isn't it?
Well, exactly. It's a demonstration of the poor quality of people in Government, the Civil Service and Parliament.
Remember that much legislation is only a framework, poor though that may be. In the case of the Online Safety Act as much blame should fall on Ofcom as on bureaucrats, parliamentary lawyers and politicians. But that is a large issue that I plan to write about soon.
Thoughtful as ever. Thankyou
Thank you.