Interesting Links for 02-07-2020

[andrewducker]

Water firms discharged raw sewage into England's rivers 200,000 times in 2019

(tags:UK rivers pollution water )

England's privatised water firms paid £57bn in dividends since 1991 (Scottish Water is, of course, publicly owned)

(tags:UK water capitalism )

Lego joins hundreds of companies and pulls ads on Facebook over hate speech

(tags:abuse advertising Facebook )

The government's "rough sex" law doesn't actually change anything

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1278411380836708353.html
(tags:law sex murder bdsm uk )

Sweeping climate-crisis plan would bring US to zero emissions in 30 years

(tags:USA globalwarming thefuture politics )

A Former BNP Councillor to Become Mayor of Stoke on Trent

(tags:racism UK politics OhForFucksSake bnp )

Finland′s air force logo drops swastika

(tags:logo Finland Nazis history )

Comments

[haggis]

The thread on the 'rough sex' law was helpful and also a relief because I was worried about further criminalisation of consensual BDSM practices. Increasing criminalisation makes life more dangerous for people to seek advice or medical help if there is a problem, more dangerous for people to provide the safety advice that would protect people and also puts people at risk of blackmail and abuse. And, as the Spanner case (R vs Brown), this stuff hits hardest against minorities such as LGBT people.

[andrewducker]

Yeah. I hope it doesn't impact on them too much.

[haggis]

As far as I can tell, the situation remains effectively the same as before.

IANAL, happy to be corrected on the info below.

If your activities leaves marks that are 'transient and trifling", you are reasonably legally safe. If it is more than that, both parties are potentially at risk of prosecution, if the police/CPS decide to pursue it. Assault, GBH etc are crimes against the state so they can prosecute even if the 'victim' confirms that it was consensual (in which case the 'victim' could be charged as an accessory).

To protect yourself, it's really important to educate yourself on all the health risks, basic first aid AND to really understand the way that eg subspace, restraints or gags can make it harder for people to communicate if there is a problem. Also, to only do stuff with people that you trust or in venues that are responsible.

However, if something goes wrong that requires medical help, seeking help is always the priority.