This is another one of those stories that ought to be shocking but is unlikely to move the dial.<p>While the UK police are generally not that corrupt, Special Branch enjoy secrecy and closeness to power, which they interpret as a license to commit crimes against leftwing groups they consider anti-government. There's a long history of this from complicity in murders in Northern Ireland to present day highly intrusive surveillance against demonstrators.<p>> Evidence given to Parliament suggested that one undercover officer who infiltrated Mr Smith's union was Mark "Cassidy" Jenner, a member of Scotland Yard's now disbanded Special Demonstration Squad (SDS).<p>That's the Mark Jenner who also spent years having a relationship with the environmental activists he was spying on, the subject of a separate set of court cases and inquiries.<p>See also Hillsborough and the Miner's Strike.<p>(Oh, and disrupting the possibility of effective union action has been a priority of the government since the days of Thatcher)
Apparently this was on the BBC front page this morning, but somehow I blinked and missed it.<p>I don't have any trade union axe to grind, but I'm pretty shocked both by the security services behaviour, and by the lack of coverage this is getting.<p>Whatever your opinion on trade unions, it's a pretty fundamental threat to democracy when the security services monitor legal behaviour and can destroy someone's livelihood for behaviour they disapprove of.<p>And .. why isn't this on the BBC News front page all day? I get most of my news there, and now I worry how many other democracy-shaking stories I might have missed.
> It uncovered a list of more than 3,000 workers - which in some instances also included details of personal relationships and their political activity as well as their trade union links on building sites<p>This is what I think the average person doesn't understand about pervasive surveillance. This is the kind of shit that it causes. When the government has to know who you're sleeping with, where or whether you pray, who you associate with, etc., it always ends up with this kind of shit. Usually worse.
Worth also noting - there are strong signs that this blacklisting is still continuing, despite the court cases (although not necessarily with involvement from the police) - <a href="https://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/blacklisting-battles-continue" rel="nofollow">https://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/blacklistin...</a>
Just moved from London to the continent because of Brexit. And it's amazing how quickly I stopped giving a damn about stories like this one since the move. I pity the victims though.