@GeriatricGardener @ChrisMayLA6
I felt utterly let down by the guardian over their treatment of Corbyn. We expect it from the rest of the media but this was shameful and doubtless contributed to him not being elected.
The guardian has done some great work in other areas, exposing the #spycops scandal for example.
Why did they set out to undermine Corbyn? Where did the pressure come from?

Striking miners were extensively spied on by state agents during the 1984-5 strike. The National Union of Mineworkers is a core participant at the Undercover Policing Inquiry.

@pasttense
Despite the horrendous things this man and the other spycops did, they have never been brought to justice.
Despite the recent TV series I'm sure that the public are still unaware of exactly what they did and the illegal activities they were permitted to carry out.
#spycops
#boblambert

#SpyCops Report: “Libertarian Industrial Network” (1976) https://www.ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/UCPI0000012329.pdf

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/undercover-police-and-policing

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/undercover-with-paul-lewis-and-rob-evans/2013/oct/25/undercover-police-and-policing-police-and-crime-commissioners

More
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/undercover-police-and-policing

Spycops Research
https://www.spycopsresearch.info/

Euro
https://powerbase.info/index.php/European_Cooperation_Group_on_Undercover_Activities

The book itself is very easy to read, it reads like a first rate thriller.
I hope the trial outcome and the book itself gives Kate some sort of closure. She'll never get back those years or recover from the damage done to her, nor will the many other women in similar relationships, nor the hundreds of well meaning activists spied on.
#spycops
#katewilson
#sumaccentre
#ACAB
#ukpolitics

Well yes. Undercover cops having sexual relationships with female activists who were doing nothing wrong or illegal is indefensible.
These tactics went on for decades, and likely still do
How much did all this cost the taxpayer?
Destroying people's private lives and those of the cops' own families?
The only illegal activities uncovered seem to be those committed by cops themselves-for which they were given permission by higher authorities!
#spycops
#katewilson
#ACAB
#ukpolitics

There's a lot of interesting detail in the book.
One that stands out is that SOCA - Serious Organised Crime Authority reported that the NPOIU (the spycops unit) "lacked any form of operational impact or outcome assessment....."
And "lack of any real measure of success or otherwise of the operation makes proportionality in its widest sense difficult to justify to the public"
#spycops
#katewilson
#ukpolitics

This is an issue close to me but there were revelations that still surprised me. Notably the constant communication between the spycop and his handler, who was never far away. There's no way they really believed the UCO was in any danger. There were calls several times a day with the minutiae of people's daily lives being recorded.
Also the level of intrusive personal reporting, a family trip to IKEA and attending an activist's father's funeral.
#spycops
#katewilson
#ACAB
#ukpolitics

Finished the book in under 2 days, I couldn't put it down.

Kate Wilson is an incredible woman, she spent over 10 years fighting this case against the police. And she won!
In the end the police hardly even defended themselves despite doing everything they could to stop her getting justice. They knew their tactics were indefensible.

This wasn't just about bringing the police to justice, this was standing up to state oppression.

#spycops
#katewilson
#activism
#sumaccentre
#ukpolitics