[Thread] Inspired by @sarahchurchwell to share my warnings from the past, not in an "I told you so" manner, but as a justification of the really important work that A LOT of historians have been doing in these dark times.

A journey down (bad) memory lane. . .

A quick thread about the legal issues surrounding the imposition of a “quarantine at a hotel” requirement for international travellers. These are initial thoughts: would welcome thoughts and contributions! NB I’m thinking about 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 only but this probably applies equally to 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿.

The basic power is in section 45B of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984.

Subsection (2)(b) refers to the “detention, isolation, or quarantine of persons”.

So the legal basis looks clear. But regulations will also have to meet requirements of rationality. And since detaining people in a hotel room engages fundamental human rights (Article 5 of the ECHR), HRA tests of proportionality are in play too.

Though NB that Art 5(3)(e) ECHR expressly contemplates lawful detention for the prevention of the spreading of infectious disease.

Yesterday #StanSwamy died, after eight months in prison conditions that exacerbated his Parkinson's. He was one of the jailed human-rights advocates aka #BhimaKoregaon 16.
The story of the evidence against them is... amazing and bizarre, and is worth going over. A thread.

2. After the first arrests in June of 2018, police began to leak sensational 'electronic evidence' – letters found on the activists' laptops, which showed their links to Maoist guerillas. The most shocking letter even proposed a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Modi.

3. The letters were strangely explicit: Conspirators used each others' real names, instead of aliases as Maoists typically do.
They openly detailed requirements for arms and planned attacks, without using code-words.

4. The correspondence also implicated “Congress friends” and leaders, and a range of civil-society groups and youth leaders, like Jignesh Mevani and Umar Khalid...

5. In short, the letters outlined an 'Urban Naxal' ecosystem, which neatly matched the right-wing's projection of the grand anti-national conspiracy: Armed guerillas, human rights activists, opposition parties, Dalit and Muslim student leaders – all in the bag.

The solution to knife crime is not a quick fix and it isn't something that is going to come cheaply, I have been involved in local task forces discussions with MP's and been on countless marches but the problem is no one listens to the people on the ground;

millions of pounds get wasted producing white papers;
that never get anything done. 

 The current Government rhetoric about being tough on crime ; is all well and good but being tough is not a deterrent,

nowhere in the world is there any evidence that supports the theory that harsher sentences reduce crime,
giving a bigger sentence for using, only deals with problem after the event;
what needs to happen is much early intervention and a deeper look at the
problems in society

It is no secret that crime and poverty are linked if you have more poverty you have more crime, if the environment that people live in is run down and uncared for, then you have more crime

There is also a link between crime, care, and school exclusions.  The current figures show that  you are  12 times more likely to end up in prison if you are excluded;  and in UK prisons it shows that around 63% of prisoners had some form of school exclusion