#england and wales

[thoughtlessarse]

In 2006, Martin Myers got in a scrape over a cigarette. He asked a young man if he had a spare fag. The man declined to give him one. Myers came from a well-known Traveller family. The man, Myers says, made a derogatory comment about Travellers, so Myers gave up the niceties. He threatened to punch him if he didn’t hand him a cigarette. The young man ran away. He then went to the police in Luton and told them what had happened. The police were familiar with Myers. He had previous convictions for dangerous driving, assault, theft and burglary. Myers was arrested, charged and convicted of attempted street robbery. On 8 March 2006, he was given a tariff – the minimum time he could serve – of 19 months and 27 days. Myers, 42, has now served 18 years in jail for the attempted robbery of that cigarette. He was given an indeterminate sentence, known as imprisonment for public protection (IPP). This meant that while he could be released after 19 months and 27 days, he could also be jailed for up to 99 years. IPP was first used as a sentence in England and Wales in 2005, having been introduced by Labour in 2003 to detain in prison people who posed a significant risk of causing harm to the public. It was a controversial sentence. Critics said that jailing people for what they could do, rather than what they had done, contradicted the basic principle of justice: that people are innocent until proven guilty. In September 2012, the European court of human rights ruled that detaining individuals serving IPPs beyond their tariff indefinitely “was arbitrary and therefore unlawful” if reasonable access to rehabilitation was not provided. On 3 December 2012, IPP was abolished. But while the sentence could no longer be handed out by judges, it wasn’t abolished for those already serving it. Last week, David Blunkett, who introduced the sentence as home secretary, told me: “What has happened with this sentence is the biggest regret I have in terms of the outcome of all the many things that I was involved in the eight years I was in government.” Today, more than 11 years after IPPs were banned and 16 years after his tariff ended, Myers is one of almost 3,000 people imprisoned in England and Wales still serving an indeterminate sentence – with no release date in sight.

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Labour saw Clinton did much the same thing in the US and said, “We're having that.” And like Clinton they now regret the introduction of such measures.

I've no doubt discrimination against travellers played a large part in the whole affair, from the man threatened right up to the judge who passed sentence.

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Elizabeth Gloster

Elizabeth Gloster was born in 1949. Gloster was called to the bar in 1971, and appointed a Queen's Counsel in 1989. In 2004, she became the first woman to be appointed a judge on the Commercial Court of England and Wales. In 2010, Gloster was appointed Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court, and in 2013, she was appointed a Lady Justice of Appeal. She sat on several important financial and commercial cases. Gloster retired from the court in 2018.

[spiced-wine-fic]

England and Wales are now minority Christian countries.

1) Shamanism is on the rise

Shamanism is expanding faster than any other religion, with the number of people saying they practise it rising from 650 in 2011 to 8,000 in 2021 in England and Wales. The result might prove controversial, as the Shamanism UK website asserts “it is not a religion, more an authentic expression of mankind’s spirituality”.

2) Pagans and wiccans are becoming more established

More established are pagans, who number 74,000 people (up from 57,000 in 2011) and who gather most in Ceredigion, Cornwall and Somerset, and wiccans, who number 13,000. Wicca is sometimes described as a witchcraft tradition whose roots lie in pre-Christian religious traditions, folklore, folk witchcraft and ritual magic.

3) Romanian is the fastest growing language

“Bine ati venit!” Welcome to the fastest growing language in England and Wales: Romanian. 472,000 people now describe the romance language as their main tongue – up from 68,000 in 2011. The centre of the Romanian-speaking population is Harrow in north-west London.

[illustratus]

Transept of Tintern Abbey, Monmouthshire by Joseph Mallord William Turner

[killjoygem]

Random Q, if English degrees are only 3 years when do you do the honours years? Like is it the last year? Or do you only do one year of sub honours? Or is there just no distinction?

[demonsandpieohmy]

[peacefulandcozy]

Instagram credit: acalmwalk

[rhysands-rightknee]

to your independence irish, welsh, and scottish people

[hobohobgoblim]

[dolceminerva97]

I wondered how I could update Arthur's style to current trends so he isn't wearing that godforsaken green sweater with a red tie that he's had since fucking 1930 lmao. A looser fit for his clothes esp his trousers and white sneakers for a casual look will do the job without losing his essence. Then I got carried away and gave him two more fits

Together they're the Rowdyruff boys 🫶 daft cunts, all of them

[senditothemoonn]

My headcanon is that the bros are prone to a rather intense board game night

[hematite2]

Ok. SO:

Scotland is pushing for another referendum for independence in 2023.

There's the Irish reunification of 2024.

C'mon Wales, you can do it..we're all counting on you!

[justarandomgirly]

Henry: Im a world class insomniac

Also Henry:

[sunflower--meadows]

OK, as an Indian person and ESPECIALLY as a Scottish person I have to say this.

The current Palestinian Genocide (let's call a spade a spade) and lack of response is an unambiguously, direct result of British Colonialism.

Palestine was given/promised/whatever word you want to use to describe it to Israel by the British Empire to whom it "belonged" as a colony.

Everything that happened thereafter, the Nakba, every invasion, every injustice is a result of that colonial attitude from which Israel was born.

Everywhere the British Empire has been it has sewn chaos and promoted the abuse of human rights as it left. It has happened in India, it happened in Nigeria, South Africa, Cameroon and Australia.

The reason for such a lax UK governmental response is because if they acknowledge what's going on is fucked they have to take responsibility for so much more. By leaving these countries originally the UK has "washed their hands of it."

I want to make this extremely clear.

Britain's hands will NEVER be clean

The British Empire has committed the greatest atrocities known to mankind and the British Government does not want to acknowledge that.

Israel has been built from these imperial attitudes, has repeatedly and continually committed war crimes and human rights abuses and governments just... don't care

It's actually insane and we need to recognise the root of these humanitarian calamities and hold our government accountable.

Write to your MPs, your MSPs, your MSs make your voice heard in whatever way that you can! Your voice may seem weak but it is so incredibly powerful if enough people speak up, if enough people make sure that the government never forgets about these things we can make REAL CHANGE. The link below will allow for you to find your government representative be that N.Ireland Assembly Scottish, Welsh or UK Parliament as well as their emails.

https://www.theyworkforyou.com/

Tell them how horrible things are in Gaza, tell them about Israel's repeated and continuous mistreatment of the Palestinian people, tell them how the UK cannot continue to plug our ears and ignore the fallout of our past. Just say something!

[brightokyolights]

Hello UK peeps 📢🇵🇸📢🇵🇸

Parliament is going to be voting on a ceasefire again on Wednesday 21st February 2024!

Please email your MP to ask them to join in voting for a ceasefire (template in link) and there will also be a demonstration that you should attend if you can!

More info available on the *Palestine Solidarity Campaign website.*

Keep speaking up, keep donating and keep educating yourself ❤️💚🖤🤍

Free Palestine 🇵🇸

(Pic from PSC)

[zakuramochi]

As requested, here's a translation of the bonus page from the newly-released Volume 8 of Hetalia World Stars! Please enjoy!