Too many rules

 Good morning. 

I didn't post yesterday because I did three posts the day before. Sometimes I get ahead of myself, so I create a pause to allow people to catch up. Nobody has to read my blog, or comment, if they don't want to. But it's there if someone wants to dip in. 

I try and avoid rules if I can. Yes in some instances there needs to be some rules to help things run smoothly. I had enough rules rammed down my throat when I was driving. I followed the letter of the law regarding the legal side of driving a lorry. I valued my licence and wanted to keep it. 

Now I am retired I can relax a bit. I can pick and choose which rules I am willing to follow, and which I can walk away from. For me, rules have to make sense, and at the moment, the rules about free speech make no sense at all. What we are allowed to say, and what we are not allowed to say, could mean the difference between being ostracised by most of humanity, or thrown in jail.  

People are getting their knickers in a twist. What the heck does mis-information and dis-information mean? As I see it the biggest purveyors of these two accusations are the UK Government and mainstream media. The big players being the BBC, and all paid for news programmes. It is in their best interests to spin a tale so far away from the truth, that it becomes complete fiction. 

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Ofcom have sent a letter to online service providers about the risk of their platforms being used to stir up hatred, provoke violence, and commit other offences within UK law. I copy parts of the letter, you can read it here. 

Providers have duties under the UK’s Online Safety Act to protect people in the UK from illegal content, and Ofcom’s job is to make sure sites and apps have appropriate measures in place to comply with these duties, rather than tell platforms which specific posts or accounts to take down.

Your responsibilities to protect people in the UK from illegal content

Under the UK’s laws, you are required to act quickly to remove illegal content when you become aware of it. Companies can use our guidance when judging whether content or activity is illegal.

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If you want to join this group as a volunteer litter picker, these are their rules. 

Just a reminder that we expect people in the group to abide by our group rules at all times. 

If you make an unsupportive, rude or negative comment we will remove the comment and quite possibly ban you from the group. 

We are a public group with over 2300 members across the globe and have responsibility to keep it kind. 

If you are posting or commenting please think first, is it positive and upbeat? Is it kind? If it isn’t then please don’t post or comment. Try to turn it into a positive instead. 

In this group, we don’t point a finger at any particular community, ethnicity, race, gender, or age. We are all humans and people from ALL walks of life litter. 

Thank you for reading and keeping our group a positive, encouraging and upbeat place to be.

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It's a bit cold this morning. Rain is expected. I shall be sewing and gardening.

Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona