Party Vibe

@Tryptameanie 566183 wrote:

I never said it had to be your own postcode.

There does appear to be some basic validation of the postcode – if its not correct the sample is tested but the results aren’t published (so the Govt wins either way).

The form does only ask for the outward postcode; theoretically they could check that it is in the correct region if RM have correctly cancelled the stamp at the first sorting office but this isn’t always done with the official kit; often its just a handwritten cross through the stamp or its not cancelled at all (modern British stamps are made so if you pick them off to re-use for posting holes appear in them but the stamp itself can still be recovered by collectors).

Any printed barcodes, UV dots or other stuff that appear on the envelope (they get added to all sorts of mail irrespective of content) would only decode as the Welsh destination sorting office.

I’m equally surprised this service should randomly appear in the UK under a Conservative government; but I’ve worked in Government service previously with a lot of very intelligent Welsh folk; they are particularly resourceful and good at making the best of a bad situation.

@Tryptameanie 566711 wrote:

If people with minor drug convictions can’t be an MP, why the fuck should someone who SHOULD have a criminal record be allowed. BASTARDS.
/rant

as flawed as the UK’s drugs laws may be, with regard to standing for election the current situation In Great Britain (not sure about NI as they have slightly different rules) is the only disqualification (for criminal records) is for someone who has been sentenced to prison for over a year; and the guidance implies it only applies during the sentence itself (or if they have escaped from jail!)

That would mean that someone who got 5 years for class A dealing but was let out early on license might not be allowed to stand until after the whole sentence period has expired.

There are numerous politicians of all parties who have minor criminal records including a fair few for for drugs possession; and other stuff like criminal damage/public order. A lot (but not all) are in the Green Party and the more left wing cliques of Labour as the older ones tended to both take drugs and get involved in protest actions (many of the younger lot don’t even know what the popular drugs are; I had to explain the history of MDMA prohibition to one of them). the Greens still support decriminalisation but the overt support of this (and harm reduction) has been removed from their website (there used to be a Drugs Group website; I think the group is still there (the policies are the same) but they didn’t want to be stereotyped,

TBH a lot of politicians as well as even more Police Officers and Civil Servants would prefer Britain to at the very least adopt the same policies as NL and DK; many have believed that for 20-30 years or more. Britains drugs laws (especially with regard to RC/NPS) are more tolerant than those of Germany. What is holding them back is a combination of the predominantly English culture of stubbornness; and that a lot of middle class middle aged folk with teenage or young adult children migrate from the North European countries to the UK; the reason being that “taxes and controls on business are lower; and the UK is not soft on criminals like their home countries”. Many people do not notice these immigrants (or even welcome them) as they are white European, speak good English and are wealthy…

@Tryptameanie 566729 wrote:

Sorry, I’d made a mistake. I thought I was looking at a government proposal from 2013, when actually it was just a petition asking that it be considered. As far as I can tell, the only party supporting reworking the drug laws seem to be the liberals. I know there are other MPs who believe the current laws are bad but they seem to not have the conviction to say it very loudly, if at all. As for Theresa May, admitting smoking cannabis then saying “but I didn’t enjoy it” as if that makes a difference pisses me off. If I got pulled with some weed and said I didn’t enjoy it, would that get me off? Or would saying I didn’t inhale be better?

The Green Party policy is here (it is the same thing from the late 1990s). The Liberal Democrats are a combination of two parties; (the original Liberal party and a short lived Social Democratic Party); current UK politics is flawed in comparison to elsewhere in Europe because it does not have proportional representation nor an extra level of local government that dates back from ancient Germanic/Scandinavian democracy; but those things cost money that is paid for in taxes.

the Green Party | Drug Use

At least President Obama has admitted he did like drugs (I think he even said to the journos that it would be pointless taking the risk if they weren’t any good!) and isn’t exactly rushing to stop the experiments with decrminalisation in some bits of the USA but even he had to tone down his comments to prevent a backlash from his own supporters.

The other more global problem is that the UK and NL actively encouraged drug use in their former colonies as a distraction technique to keep the natives from fighting back against them – older generations in these countries remember this. The death penalty for drugs in Malaysia and Indonesia was introduced after independence ; it is only now these two countries have become a lot more politically and economically powerful (but suffer from problems with emigration and low birth rates) that it rarely used and that change happened as recently as 2012.