[B0ycey]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-57853164

Can't say I have ever been a fan of The Sun since Hillsborough, but clearly they respect their sources and as such they should be applauded for at least that. Nonetheless it seems the Tories are going for full Stasi over the whole affair. But given this is clearly in the public interest and Hancocks couldn't even keep to his own rules, I hope the whistle-blower get all the support they deserve from the press given without them the media will lose their sources and scoops and the politicians will get a free pass in illegal activities.

[Politics_Observer]

@B0ycey

Well you know what they say B0ycey, the secret to business is to sell something nobody needs. People buy what they want, they don't buy what they need. Fox News, here in the U.S. sells propaganda and misinformation. It's not what their target market needs but it's what they want. People don't want the truth because objective, truthful journalism forces people to confront uncomfortable truths about themselves and their society.

So, it's easier to pretend that truth doesn't exist and simply be told what you WANT to hear instead of what you NEED to hear which is the truth. And that's what Fox News and most of the right wing media's business model is based around is selling what nobody needs and only what they want. But what they want, is not what they need.

Same thing with fast food joints. You know, nobody needs that, especially with the obesity rates and health problems that come obesity here in the U.S. but it's what people want. People buy what they want and not what they need and so that's why selling something nobody needs is a money making business model. Right now the Surgeon General here in the U.S. is characterizing misinformation such that which comes from Fox News as a public health threat. And he's right. But so is fast food for that matter.

[B0ycey]

I wouldn't disagree with your post @Politics_Observer, but from my understanding the whistleblower was angry that Hancocks was breaking his own rules when people were unable to visit dying relatives. Also Hancocks lambasted Ferguson for doing the same thing which was revealed by media scoop. And as such we should applaud whistleblowers anyway for nothing else because it brings people to account that otherwise would avoid criticism due to legal technicality in data breach. What is happening here is the Tories basically having a hiss because one of the boys was caught with his trousers down.

[Puffer Fish]

Nonetheless it seems the Tories are going for full Stasi over the whole affair.

I just want to let you know that Conservatives are not as authoritarian in the US, although there are some.
"Freedom" and "civil liberties" don't really seem to be so much part of Conservative values in the UK. I guess that is due to different histories. That and the Conservatives running the UK almost entirely seem to come from the big cities.
Maybe if you elected some Conservatives from a quaint rural area they would be less like the Stasi.

[Puffer Fish]

Nonetheless it seems the Tories are going for full Stasi over the whole affair.

I just want to point out that Conservatives in the US (at least traditional Conservatives) are not anywhere near as totalitarian as Conservatives in the UK.
I guess in the UK, the notion of individual liberties never developed as much.

And the situation in the US was more complicated. There were many on the moderate Left who ardently supported the persecution of whistleblowers, though the rest of the Left pretended not to notice that.
Probably at one point there was even more enthusiasm for going after whistleblowers coming from a faction within the Left than there was coming from the Right.

[Potemkin]

I just want to let you know that Conservatives are not as authoritarian in the US, although there are some.
"Freedom" and "civil liberties" don't really seem to be so much part of Conservative values in the UK. I guess that is due to different histories. That and the Conservatives running the UK almost entirely seem to come from the big cities.
Maybe if you elected some Conservatives from a quaint rural area they would be less like the Stasi.

The demographics of Conservatism in the UK are very, very different from the demographics of Conservatism in the USA. In American terms, British Conservatives are these guys....

rather than these guys....

[Politics_Observer]

@Potemkin

Narcissists like Trump are predators and find people when they are vulnerable and weak and gets them while they are in this state. They then manipulate them by telling these people what they want to hear rather than what they need to hear. People are easy to control, manipulate, trick and con when they are at a weak point in their lives and vulnerable.

[Negotiator]

@B0ycey
Well you know what they say B0ycey, the secret to business is to sell something nobody needs.

Average people have less and less money, which means businesses based on that will do worse and worse.

[snapdragon]

I fail to see what most of these posts have to do with op?

Boycey is right. Matt Hancock was caught out breaking his own rules and got what he deserved and is spitting his dummy out.

I wonder if the IOC would go to all this bother for some ordinary bloke?

I hate tories. Always have and always will, but I hate this lot more than any of them