Monday, July 20, 2009

No, no, fuck-off, no

This.

Not for the reasons you might suspect - the government actually has a responsibility to ensure that taxpayers money is only paid out in compensation where it is either deserved (or legally entitled - we can argue about the mismatch between the two later). This is the other side of the responsibility it has to ensure that compensation is paid out when deserved (or legally ...)

Now, I have no idea on the number of squaddies who are actually exaggerating the effects of an injury to claim compensation but exaggerating the effects of an injury to avoid work / get on light duties / get some additional time off is an military pastime of considerable antiquity (rather than an 'honoured tradition'). And, to move uniforms for a moment, the number of police officers retiring on medical grounds, especially to avoid a disciplinary investigation, is something that has quite correctly attracted considerable opprobrium. So it isn't impossible, despite the overwhelming majority who, I am sure, are doing their best to get back to a reasonable life after horrific injury, that one or two are trying it on a bit.

Any way, back to the point. RIPA is not a fucking anti-terrorist law. It is not the "Regulation of Terrorist Investigations" Act. Yes, some of the powers available under the Act should only be used to investigation more serious crimes (calling Hazel Blears - a better example than Jacqui Smith - a thieving scumbag - for example) but the Act brought in to a regulatory / legal framework a whole bunch of investigatory techniques (i.e. covert surveillance, confidential informants) that were used anyway, as well as replacing the previous and largely inadequate regimes for other forms of surveillance.

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