British Council Spies

www.independent.co.uk...

Councils used listening devices, cameras and private detectives to spy on the public for more than 50,000 days over a five year period after receiving permission under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa).

Designed to fight terrorism and serious crime, Ripa is not supposed to be used for trivial purposes and should only be utilised if criminal activity was suspected.

In the comments we find this.

"Permission was also granted to a number of councils to perform covert surveillance on benefit claimants. Tens of thousands of days were racked up doing this."

I don't remember that being part of the snooper's charter.

When my business failed this year I thought my pc was on it's way out after its performance halved around the time I signed on. Now I know it's just the government monitors hovering over my shoulder to make sure I do my 35 hours of jobsearch activities. Repeat to self, depression and stress is character building.

I did wonder how they could possibly check the hours you search, and now we know they can't unless they're hooked up to your pc literally watching you do it & costing taxpayers more than I get paid in Universal Credit

I've got evidence of hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of fraud and mismanagement by my local council and their close associates. It relates mainly to a fake renewable energy scam. Some of the evidence has been posted on YouTube and some photographic evidence is lodged with my MP.

It seems odd they were incapable of watching themselves.

I'm almost tempted to put this in the rant forum when I think back on the behaviour I saw at the time. When I was expected to back someone in a lie In order to cover-up their very expensive mistake I knew I was dealing with crooks.

They should spy on themselves first, then look to others.

a reply to: Kester


Thats the reason I am against them getting the *extra* money from the government

for looking after the 'old peoples needs' the extra funds will disappear and we will

be back to square one and the 'old' will be neglected again


Council workers have been cut back over the last 5/10 years, while the leaders

of the councils have had heafty salary rises.

a reply to: Kester


One rule for one and another rule for another,

I do not trust the council or any social service in the UK anymore, their agendas are down right scary at times..

On the other side however I see so many people taking the down right piss with benefits and if you are the guy/girl that toes the line does a 9-5 and some POS is claiming thousands each year with their loop hole scams you would want something done but then I agree that needs to be proportionate to the crime.

Sub letting of council properties is a huge issue as is false claims of single parenthood to gain monies and property, I viewed documents regarding a housing estate not far from the Edgware road in London where over 60% of the properties in one block where illegally being sub let.


Moving onto mismanagement the pit is endless when it comes to local authorities I was passing through Waltham forest where they have a road closure system that is designed for cyclist called a mini Hollland, the issue is now the roads are at a stand still as every vehicle is pushed onto a already over crowded network, emergency services can no longer gain access readily to certain areas this has already caused some deaths of patients and public transport is at a standstill. Oh and no f#cking cyclist are using the area anyway. Who got a fat backhander out of the £27 Million that was spent on the road re design and works I wonder?? (Yes £27 f#cking million)...

www.theguardian.com...

www.guardian-series.co.uk...



RA

a reply to: Kester

My council also has its fair share of questionable activities that conveniently get brushed under the carpet and forgotten about , ours is not to question ours is to pay our Council Tax like good little lambs , where there are troughs snouts will usually be found.

Allerdale borough council used Ripa to gather evidence on those guilty of feeding pigeons

A heinous crime , Council Tax well spent.

a reply to: Kester

A relative of mine work's in the west lancashire council (secretarial and administration role) and back when they had a chief executive based in Ormskirk he would on the council's tab along with other high level members of this local authority have a fully paid flight at the council tax payers expense to london were they would spend the weekend at a health and fitness spa also paid for by the council tax payer's, flight down on Friday evening, Friday night, Saturday day and night and Sunday day would be spent at this spa receiving massage etc then on the Sunday evening they would come back on there charter plane to be fresh and ready for the Monday's business of finding more way's to rip off the local public expenses in there 4 and a half day week, not bad pay either, the chief executive was on over £100.000 per anum.

This is why I believe that DEVOLUTION of local authority's from central government control was a terrible mistake that just allowed every dog to get it's own bite out of the public purse and never helped the local community's one iota, if only we could reverse the last thirty years of high level corruption and mal administration by the UK government, also devolution no longer makes sense after Brexit so let's see how much more they wreck our country before some bright spark finally decides to re centralize it all in order to hold there account's to public enquiry.

What you are Suffering Kester is a very common story, think how many ill they are putting through it, how many have lost all hope and killed themselves since the Condem Coalition and now the Tory's on there own have come to power, how many of OUR Kid's not the immigrant's but OUR kid's are on the street's living in the gutter getting pissed on by yob's and scum, sexually assaulted and otherwise treated worse than dog's by the rest of the public.

But what do people do, they sit there paralyzed and divided, hypnotized by there TV's and working too many hours for too little money to be able to spend some of there time fighting for there right's against a group of utterly contemptuous scumbag's in parliament AND in there local authority's.

a reply to: Kester

Disturbing

a reply to: Kester

It appears this kind of thing happens on both sides of the pond, huh?

They seem to think and operate like the pigs in George Orwell's Animal Farm:

"All animals are equal. Some animals are more equal than others."

Only the toothless unemployed parasite class will be enraged by this, meanwhile the the rest of the hardworking people will quietly be pleased that hopefully a few entirely fit but extremely lazy people will have their benefits stopped .

a reply to: ColaTesla

Only the toothless unemployed parasite class will be enraged by this,

I'm neither toothless or unemployed , why wouldn't I be enraged by Council Tax money being wasted on this and Terrorism legislation being used to allow it ?
I would rather see that money spent on public services than criminalising residents , or seeking out nepotism and corruption in the halls of local government.

originally posted by: ColaTesla
Only the toothless unemployed parasite class will be enraged by this, meanwhile the the rest of the hardworking people will quietly be pleased that hopefully a few entirely fit but extremely lazy people will have their benefits stopped .

May god strike me off this earth if I am wrong but that is one utterly contemptuous and evil attitude toward the down trodden and the needy, I certainly hope you find out what it is to be in that very difficult situation for yourself as it may very well change not only your reprehensible point of view and attitude but could very well save your sorry soul or are you just trolling for the sake of it.

originally posted by: ColaTesla
Only the toothless unemployed parasite class will be enraged by this, meanwhile the the rest of the hardworking people will quietly be pleased that hopefully a few entirely fit but extremely lazy people will have their benefits stopped .

I assume you are trolling because this is one of the most misguided statements I have seen on here for some time.

RIPA was initially put in place to monitor terrorist, paedophile and major crime perpetrators. Instead it is used by councils to bypass systems which would otherwise protecte people from unnecessary invasion of privacy.

There are hundreds of cases whereby thousands of pounds and hundreds of police man hours being spent on investigating an individual for using the wrong parking space or letting a dog crap on a pavement. There was a high profile cases in Harringay a few years ago where a social worker was put under investigation using RIPA legislation and almost lost their children because of a personal grievance. The council couldn't get authorisation through other means to watch them. They spent several thousand pounds and countless resources watching this person, and eventually used out of context footage to try to prosecute them. It cost tens of thousands to take it through court and the social worker was eventually exonerated of all wrong doing. Hardly a.member of the 'toothless, unemployed parasite class'.

If you think that this is only used to investigate benefits fraud then you need to get your head out of the Daily Mail. Anyone, rich/poor/guilty/innocent can be subject to observation using RIPA legislation and it is virtually unchallenged when applied for.

If nothing else it is a massive misallocation of public funds.

a reply to: PaddyInf

. . . used out of context footage to try to prosecute them.

This attitude rings alarm bells for me. From what I saw of my council I'm convinced there must be excessive coc aine use among the decision makers.

I'm not being flippant. I've helped recovering coke users, I mean really major use, that sort of airhead thinking is standard.

originally posted by: LABTECH767

originally posted by: ColaTesla
Only the toothless unemployed parasite class will be enraged by this, meanwhile the the rest of the hardworking people will quietly be pleased that hopefully a few entirely fit but extremely lazy people will have their benefits stopped .

May god strike me off this earth if I am wrong but that is one utterly contemptuous and evil attitude toward the down trodden and the needy, I certainly hope you find out what it is to be in that very difficult situation for yourself as it may very well change not only your reprehensible point of view and attitude but could very well save your sorry soul or are you just trolling for the sake of it.

Im serious, If i ever come to power anyone on benefits more than 6 months will be neutered, And receive no money only enough food stamps to buy enough food to purchase 2400 calories worth of food every day, And they must be got daily, 800 calories worth at 5.30am in the morning, 800 at 1.00pm and the last 800 at 6.00pm. + while receiving benefits they must carry out 8 hours work on weekdays in the local community.

The genuinely sick, disabled and elderly would receive 3x the amount of money that they currently get.

The unemployed figure would be culled overnight.....

a reply to: PaddyInf

I agree that they are using the wrong law, but they are looking in the right areas....

a reply to: Kester

50,000 days over a five year period....... theres 10,000 days in a year?

a reply to: ColaTesla

OK so you would have people doing mandatory unpaid work each day to receive the bare minimum recommended calorific intake to survive and with no financial means to occupy any free time? What you are describing already exists. It's called slavery.

Your plan would have virtually no impact on unemployment rates. While there are many people who choose not to work and who abuse the system, the numbers are no where near that implied by certain government and media sectors. There are simply not the jobs to employ everyone of working age. There are usually dozens (sometimes hundreds) of applications for most jobs advertised.

If you remove all disposable income from people without gainful employment you will have people with no mental outlet. In this scenario crime rate/public order disturbance rises as they have no means or method to fill time. (The reason they give TVs etc to prisoners for example isn't to be nice - it is because without a way to occupy their time the prisoners are far more difficult to control and are more likely to riot). Increasing mental health problems follow, causing increased drain on medical and social care resources which are already in short supply. Reduced disposable income also results in reduced demand for goods as fewer people buy them. This creates further job losses and increasing unemployment. Financial strain increases family breakdown, decreasing mental and physical health and an increased suicide risk.

Consider a 50 year old unskilled worker. His employer lays him off due to increased mechanisation. He has worked the same job for 30 years. Do you suggest that he spends the next few months learning a new skill in the hope that he gets a job? There are 100 applications for every job he applies for. An employer will invariably take a younger worker due to more potential years of work and fewer potential sick days. Would you put this man who has paid his taxes for 30yrs but who, through no fault of his own can't get a job, onto the dung heap with his 3x800kcal ration?

I am by no means advocating the current system which can give people more money on benefits than many in full time employment. However real life is a lot more complicated than you describe and it is a sad state of affairs when a society demonised its most vulnerable members.

a reply to: ColaTesla

Thanks for that.

I have worked since the age of 16, never claimed benefits and now, at the age of 55 i have just been made redundant, diagnosed with cancer and am currently sitting in hospital being tube fed through the nose and have been on IV fluids for the last 2 weeks. Things are looking bleak if i ever do get out, i wouldn't even know how to start claiming, what to claim or any of the BS ins or outs

Really looking forward to getting out when you are in charge so i can claim my calories 3x per day while living in a tent, as i'm pretty sure my mortgage company will not give a # either.

Just saying, Merry Christmas and a happy 2017 to you, hope you enjoyed your festive food and drink

a reply to: corblimeyguvnor

I am sorry to hear about your woes, However, You misunderstood my post, The people who are genuinely needy would get 3 x the cash they receive now, It is only the bone idle that would be affected and receive the bare minimum, The sick, elderly and disabled would be much better off.

a reply to: PaddyInf

It is not slavery, Its called "contributing" And would be seen as a harsh incentive to find paid work, i have given some thought of Your example of the 50 year old "long time worker" With the billions saved by the harsh get back to work measures, Incentives could be given to employers to hire people exactly like the example you shared, this could take the form of tax breaks and pension contributions, And be quite generous so that employers are actively looking for those category of workers.

long time workers would receive cash instead of food stamps while they search for new employment, They have contributed and would be looked after. I would only want the harsh measure to affect the lazy and they families that been on benefits for generations and would never work otherwise, these are the people responsible for most of the crime statistics, so crime rates would fall aswell, if they refuse to work, they would be neutered and unable to breed, This way the cycle would be broken within 2 decades, But i predict only a small "protest" majority would go down that route....

Spying on benefit cheats aint a new thing I have a pal whose job it is to do so.
I was out playing golf once and the couple ahead of us well the bloke was playing and Baz took a load of photos because he knew he was on benefits and claimed he couldn't walk...saved the tax payer in the end.
I hate benefit cheats and hope councils continue to weed them out...it will save us money in the long run.