Everyday life is being criminalised
An ‘British Thought Leaders’ interview with the Manifesto Club director, about the aims of the club and the trends towards regulation of everyday life.
Manifesto Club
The Officious State: Interview with Josie Appleton
An analysis of how the officious state restricts our everyday lives. The interview with Josie Appleton is by Tom Jokinen, a freelance journalist from Winnipeg, Canada.
1500 people fined for breaching ‘busybody’ orders
New data shows that 25% of all council-issued Community Protection Notices (CPNs) were punished with a £100 on-the-spot fine. Community Protection Notices (CPN) are on-the-spot legal orders that can be issued if a council or police officer judges a person’s conduct to…
‘Hate monster’ and ‘hate hubs’ – the legacy of the Scottish Hate Crime Act
The Manifesto Club supported the Free to Disagree campaign against the Scottish Hate Crime Bill – legislation that meant you could be imprisoned for being ‘hateful’ in your own home. Here is a guest post by Stuart Waiton, a Scottish academic who was one of the leading figures in the campaign. It’s difficult to know what to make of the Hate Crime Act in Scotland. It was launched with such stupidity and so many own goals that by the end of the first day of its existence the first minister Humza Yousaf had received more ‘hate’ complaints than any other individual in…
Council forced to scrap ‘cowboy’ cycling fines
Colchester Council has been forced to scrap fines issued to cyclists under its Public Spaces Protection Order, after people were wrongfully fined for actions including cycling on shared-use paths, cycling in cycling areas, and cycling slowly on a pavement to avoid a dangerous roundabout. Colchester’s PSPO prohibits – Using a skateboard, bicycle, scooter, skates, or any other self-propelled wheeled vehicle, including electric scooters in such a manner as to cause or is likely to cause intimidation, harassment, alarm, distress, nuisance, or annoyance to any person. As we noted in our PSPOs report last year, there is a growing trend for councils to…
Police strip searching of children is the real child protection scandal
The Manifesto Club has long criticised ‘no touch’ policies for children. Some primary schools ban teachers from putting an arm around a child to comfort them, or ban putting on sunscreen. (The NUT only allows application of sunscreen after a ‘suitable risk…
Report shows police misuse of ASB powers
Successive governments have set the police on a dangerous course of ‘fast and loose’ policing. This prioritises the high use of increasingly flexible powers, with low benchmarks for issue, and carrying increasingly heavy penalties. There is no credible official data on the…
CPW for allowing leaves to drift on to neighbour’s drive
I was given a Community Protection Warning by Nottinghamshire Police for allegedly allowing garden materials onto a neighbouring drive. I was told that this concerned materials such as a bark chippings (which I use as mulch), and leaves. I am very have upset by their action as I had made every reasonable attempt to contain the material, building walls and barriers. The same neighbour reported me to the police on another occasion for my Christmas decorations. In response to directives in the CPW I have ripped up part of my garden, and erected netting to catch the leaves and bark that Nottingham…
Hotel owner issued CPW for non-existent dog fouling
I am a hotel owner in Blackpool, and I was issued a Community Protection Warning Letter (CPW) in June 2023 from Blackpool Council, served at my home by a police officer and PSCO from Lancashire Constabulary on the council’s behalf. The CPW was based on a single argument with a neighbour, and fictitious allegations made by the same neighbour that I allowed my dog Max to ‘regularly foul on the public footpath and never pick it up’. I was more upset about the dog poo allegation than the argument. I pick up plastic from the beach on a daily basis, and I…
Imprisoned for feeding the pigeons
We have been in touch with an elderly man who received a series of Community Protection Notices, Civil Injunctions, and now a Criminal Behaviour Order, for the offence of feeding the birds. The gentleman says that feeding the birds has helped him with grief after the loss of his partner, and with alcoholism and mental health issues. This is someone who requires help and sensitive treatment. Yet the council has responded only with criminalisation, issuing a series of legal orders and breach prosecutions, one of which resulted in a 15-week spell in prison. The man says that the council’s actions have left…
Thinkpiece: Behaviour Control Orders
Manifesto Club Thinkpieces put our campaigning in broader perspective, exploring the underlying dynamics behind the state regulation of public spaces and informal life. This Thinkpiece on Behaviour Control Orders explores this new form of state control of individual and public conduct. It…
Elderly pensioner issued CPN for alleged ‘banging on ceiling’
(Guest post by the Manna Society) An 80-year-old pensioner was served with a Community Protection Notice (CPN) following a complaint by their upstairs neighbour alleging that the pensioner was hitting their ceiling at unsociable hours and disturbing them. On receipt of the CPN, the pensioner brought it to the attention of the Manna Society, a charity running a day centre they were using daily. The pensioner was adamant that they were not responsible for the noise nuisance and could not be responsible due to health issues. The pensioner was absolutely incensed – they had been resident for over 25 years, and up…