The UK Government is systematically mismanaging the conditions necessary for the survival of democracy.

It’s giving the vote to everyone aged 16+ whilst removing younger ones from social media that might offer wider political perspective, nannying them condescendingly whilst practically encouraging circumvention of the rule of (badly drafted) law, and Orwellian dystopia.

What wins? Right Wing Populism:

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It's not even (entirely) the policy, it's the implementation. ISPs already have parental controls, it shouldn't be a national ban or age verification for childless households. It's like mandating that every car must have a child booster seat fitted regardless of having no kids.

— Bobble Bardsley (@bobblebardsley) November 11, 2026

I should add that I don't support the death penalty and think it's probably worse than online age checks.

— Bobble Bardsley (@bobblebardsley) November 11, 2026

It worries me who I am forced to be mostly-agreeing with nowadays, and (as as with the replies to the above tweet) it’s only the right-wing loons and the digital natives who actually seem to care about the issues rather than:

“think [narrowly] of the children!”

Who will be stopped?

Paedophiles often use the dark web and untraceable phones I believe.

Parents use phones. Normal phones. It’s the number one way most of us record our children growing up.

In the summer my 8 year old got sun burn on her upper back. The Skegness breeze… https://t.co/wHaCGDnAGa

— Annunziata Rees-Mogg (@zatzi) November 11, 2026

Quote:

Who will be stopped? Paedophiles often use the dark web and untraceable phones I believe. Parents use phones. Normal phones. It’s the number one way most of us record our children growing up.

In the summer my 8 year old got sun burn on her upper back. The Skegness breeze had masked the heat of the sun and husband didn’t reapply sun lotion often enough for her skin – her brother was fine.

I was a little concerned and couldn’t find our aloe vera so I used AI for alternatives. Or tried to. I took a photo of my daughter’s upper back. It was not in anyway explicit. It was the skin of her neck and a few inches of her back above where her swimming costume had been. It was sunburnt skin. It had been on display on the beach that afternoon as it was above her one-piece swimmer. I asked for advice on that level of sunburn. AI said immediately blurred out the image and said “you know I cannot do that” I said “why?” – it was so innocent it hadn’t occurred to me it could be anything inappropriate. It said “you are being inappropriate and I cannot help you” and terminated the session.

Mandatory scanning of all Britons’ phones will create far more innocent parents to come under suspicion. Baby smiling in the bath, children playing at the beach, a rash on your child’s tummy? All could be not only blurred but reported for the police to investigate. But the evil perpetrators of child abuse will carry on as before.