andrewducker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
andrewducker) wrote2018-09-17 12:00 pm
andrewducker) wrote2018-09-17 12:00 pm
Entry tags:
Interesting Links for 17-09-2018
- Reading nerve signals in your arms to control a computer
- I really really want one of these. I hope they can make it into a viable product.
(tags: cyborg thefuture Technology ) - Katie Hopkins files for IVA amid crippling debts 18 months after losing libel case against Jack Monroe
- (tags: GoodNews racism uk money )
- Ruth Davidson has shown again why she's a unique politician
- (tags: Scotland politics Conservatives )
- French bookshops revolt after prize selects novel self-published on Amazon
- (tags: France publishing awards amazon )
- Most of the Daily Mail's 'Commentors' Don't Even Exist
- (tags: comments DailyMail fraud )
- Linus Torvalds apologises for his behaviour, takes some time off
- (tags: linustorvalds linux opensource management behaviour community )
- Rain ruins one of Norway’s richest men
- (tags: electricity investment epicfail )
- I had no idea Pumpkin Spice flavour wasn't actually pumpkin flavour at all!
- (tags: Halloween autumn food )
Katie Hopkins
And her defamation of Jack Monroe seemed pretty clear cut and what defamation is for.
KH: Jack Monroe did this!
JM: Nope, that's someone else you're thinking of. Do you want to say sorry?
KH: Nope! Don't care. Ha ha ha.
But I'm not delighted that defamation laws are used to restrict freedom of speach by making public statements about people very, very risky.
Re: Katie Hopkins
Any signs that this isn't the case at the moment?
Re: Katie Hopkins
I think there is evidence that the current UK regimes for defamation have a chilling effect on public discussion.
Your main defence to a claim of defamation is that what you said is true and IIRC the onus is on you to prove that what you said is true.
So in situations where X has probably done a Very Bad Thing you ought not to mention it in case you can't prove that X actually and provably did do the Very Bad Thing.
I think had Katie Hopkins immediately apologised, retracted her statement and explained who she had made come to make the mistake that she had then she'd have not had to even pay the £5k donation. Her decision to stick to her guns when confronted with her error seems to have damned her.
Re: Katie Hopkins
Re: Katie Hopkins
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McAlpine_v_Bercow
What I think makes the difference between Katie Hopkins apologising and "getting away with it" is that she seems to have made a negligent mistake about the identity of the person, which is easy to retract, and she was offered an opportunity to retract and apologise, which she declined to do, whereas Bercow had not made a mistake about the person involved and wasn't asked to apologise but to .
A factor in the "getting away with it" is what steps you've taken to rectify the situation once the person you have made a comment about has complained. IIRC that's a factor that any judge is going to be interested in. If Katie Hopkins had immediately retracted the tweet, publically said she was mistaken, undertaken to be more careful in future and used her time on LBC or her Daily Mail column to uniquivocally set the record straight then a trial judge is likely to ask Monroe what her problem is and suggest to her that her complaint has been answered in full and speedily. The relatively low damages are also a problem - a not huge loss to a not huge reputation and a situation where the complainant didn't seem very hurt or upset or suffering from consequential loss.
Try suggesting that Bastard, Inc (a Delaware corporation), the owners of Wholesome Goodness Food and Drink (Scotland) Ltd, have deliberately poured toxic waste in to the River Spey and their CEO Mr Bastard McBastard the Third laughed when he saw the cost savings and see how far your apology gets you.
Or try suggesting that Bastard McBastard the Third sexually assaulted you in private when you were 17 and auditioning for his film, Toxic Whisky Galore. Would you like to repeat your (unfounded) allegation in public and be sued for millions or would you like to sign this NDA, pocket $100k and leave dozens of other innocent and vulnerable teenagers to their fate?
I had no idea Pumpkin Spice flavour wasn't actually pumpkin flavour at all!
Re: I had no idea Pumpkin Spice flavour wasn't actually pumpkin flavour at all!
There are places where a person can taste the difference between cloves, clove oil, and appropriately-diluted eugenol. A spice blend that's been on the shelf for a year and is mixed with COFFEE? No way.
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There's also the more general point that the leader of the Scottish Conservatives should perhaps be asked policy questions on what has happened to mental health care under the Tories.
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