Prevention

[drdoug]

As an academic, I am now required legally to have "due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism" and other forms of extremism. The Government says "We also include in our definition of extremism calls for the death of members of our armed forces, whether in this country or overseas

Comments

[makyo]

I have a final-year student whose parents are investment bankers, who works in Lloyds' investment banking division over his summer holidays, and who is going to work as an investment banker after he graduates. Given the monumentally destructive effect of investment banking on society, and the use of anti-terrorism legislation against Icelandic bankers a few years ago, should I regard my student as a radicalised terrorist from an extremist terrorist home background?

[thekumquat]

Even without being a pacifist, it is tempting to report any people calling for the deployment of the armed forces to conflict zones, on the grounds that those are almost certain to result in the death of members of the armed forces, if that's the argument they are using for counting anyone as an "extremist", which looks more and more like "anyone we don't like".
I do wonder if lawyers for Govt get ordered to make something illegal that would be daft, and deliberately make it as wide-ranging as possible in order to improve the chances of nothing ever being convicted under it.