I'd Not Join Any Club That Would Have Me As a Member

The Guardian, based in the UK, has remained one of the last bastions of honest free and independent journalism. That's an industry that's dead in the U.S., as demonstrated by the collapse of independence at CBS. Please let's not pretend the Wall Street Journal has editorial independence when Jeff Bezos' hands are all over it.

So, when the Guardian reports that the Sentient Cheeto government is accusing the UK of stifling free speech you do a double take.

Let's not be delusional here, the UK isn't exactly a paragon of free speech. There's no equivalent to the increasingly meaningless Bill or Rights or Canada's increasingly meaningless Charter of Rights and Freedoms^[1]. British citizens live in a surveillance society, and rights are routinely suspended when major events such as the recent coronation of King Charles take place (protests were banned for several days.)

Still, what's potentially worse than a society which is, frankly, quite transparent about the lack of rights but generally respects them day to day is a tyranical government that stealthily suppresses rights by shutting down opposing voices and forcing compliance as has happend with major new networks, univrsities and scientific research in the United States.

I rather prefer the transparency. At least when the slope starts slipping you can see it coming.

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1. The notwithstanding clause is increasingly being used for frivoulous and non-significant reasons, which is exactly what we feared when that horrible comporomise was introduced. ↩︎