Matt Severn
@mattsevern.bsky.social
LibDem councillor, fe support staff, former bookseller, Dad, husband, Christian, non league fan x2 clubs, strategy gamer, very amateur HEMA fighter, SF&F reader, 4 x Parliamentary candidate. Mostly found in Cumbria and North Lancashire.
And if the language of marriage is a problem for you, which it is for some people, you can have a civil partnership, which will give you the same legal rights and protection. But it does, again, require you to make a commitment to the other person.
"If you want to skip the big wedding, a no-frills ceremony at a registry office will set you back £62, plus £46.50 per person to give notice – akin to renewing a passport. Crucially, though, this requires a decision to bind your lives together." www.newstatesman.com/politics/fut...
Treating cohabiting couples like they're married is a mad idea
A new government initiative wants to "modernise" relationships by considering couples as de facto married - whether or not they've tied the knot
newstatesman.com
This didn't just happen because of the tech bros and the media, but because across the political spectrum there was an assumption that Europe was impregnable, and didn't really have to make choices whether tax and spend, investment, healthcare, you name it. But we do.
Grim Monday with racist blackshirts on the streets of the UK and winning in one German state. Governments are struggling with the modern world - particularly in UK, France, and Germany. But I'm afraid we're all part of a story of frustrated expectations.
This is domestic terrorism. It's that simple. They are using violence to advance a political position. We have seen time and again how left wing protestors are treated by police and yet the police and government are allowing this fascist vigilantism to enjoy impunity.
Sunder Katwala (sundersays)@sundersays.bsky.social · 7h ago"Roads are all blocked. They are never going to be allowed to leave". The news reports do not yet include if any arrests were made or not in Portsmouth last night. A couple of police cars had their windows smashed. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Far right extremism is now the biggest cause of referrals to Prevent. The far right are assessed to have the highest terror threat. The security services *should* be focused in on it. So if this has escaped notice thats a major, major issue
What utter, utter pricks. This is going to be a pattern now, isnt it.
Emma Yeomans@yeomans.bsky.social · 16h agoExtreme right-wing protesters are in a stand-off with the RNLI in Portsmouth. The group, led by Danny Tommo, are waist-deep in the sea and threatening to go "under the water" if police try to arrest them. Six lifeboats monitoring. Volunteer rescuers giving up their evening for this.
Again, the police are caught on the hop and again the government are silent
Emma Yeomans@yeomans.bsky.social · 16h agoExtreme right-wing protesters are in a stand-off with the RNLI in Portsmouth. The group, led by Danny Tommo, are waist-deep in the sea and threatening to go "under the water" if police try to arrest them. Six lifeboats monitoring. Volunteer rescuers giving up their evening for this.
When push comes to shove, can the government, media, and police accurately describe the problem? This is a pre requisite to tackling it. If they can’t describe and condemn the presence of blackshirt thugs threatening infrastructure then they won’t be able to prevent them going further.
"Exceptionally well organised". I thought it was a "spontaneous protest"? Stop making excuses. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Police slow to respond to Dover protest, says council boss
The "exceptionally well organised" protest "caught several agencies on the hoof", the leader says.
bbc.co.uk
Why hasn’t the government condemned this in the strongest terms? Why no reassurance to the public that this is being taken seriously, that they have no intention of letting organised fascist thugs shut down key infrastructure, and that we should expect arrests and charges to follow?
Lee Anderson had a lunchtime riff about how much he'd enjoyed the violence meted out on one of Friday's protesters. thecritic.co.uk/nigel-and-th...
So in one week: 1) Reform get stung for dodgy finances, and the regulators play pass the parcel about enforcement 2) Farage announces plans to largely dismantle independent scrutiny of govt, and barely any press discussion of it 3) Masked thugs blockade a port, with narry a word from senior govt
These people are organised fascists attempting a show of strength, and succeeding, how hard is it to condemn them for what they are
Labour may have a small polling lead currently, but Tory+Reform+Restore is consistently on 45% and above. With our voting system, that can very easily deliver a Commons majority. The far-right threat remains and if they get power, that's it, game over. We lose our democracy
I can’t *believe* we had to, still have to, listen to all that talk about how competent and ruthless Shabana Mahmood is, and then we get a day like today and we don’t have a Home Secretary
Were I the prime minister, right now the chief constable and police & crime commissioner for Kent would be in my office having a meeting strictly without tea or biscuits, and this evening I’d be doing a broadcast reassuring the nation that fascist mobs will not be tolerated on our streets.
If Hope Not Hate can find all this out within a few hours so can the police and so can the government.
HOPE not hate@hopenothate.org.uk · 2d ago🚨 BREAKING: Patriot Platform, a new far right group launched by Tommy Robinson’s right hand man Daniel Thomas (AKA Danny Tommo) has blockaded the port and several roads in Dover. The masked men are from subgroups of PP, including Sussex, Essex, and South East Patriots Here’s all you need to know.
I know we're all snarking away and it's all fun and games but it really is quite frightening that some kind of wannabe fascist militia are blockading our main port and the government and police don't seem to have a problem with it.
Well it appears that the UK political and media class have decided that tutting loudly is the most appropriate response to a large gang of masked racists. Utterly pathetic.
David Henig@davidheniguk.bsky.social · 2d agoEurope has a far right problem and the US government plus various tech bros are encouraging it. The centre right insofar as it remains is stuck in paralysis as to what to do, and much of the media likewise, including supposedly "progressive" titles (yes you, staggers).
