Category Archives: Diary

As the end of March approaches, we have reached both the first anniversary of Britain’s coronavirus state of emergency – and at the same time the end of this blog. We have kept this diary for a year now, first daily, then weekly, and now monthly. The past year has seen the enforcement of theContinue reading “March 2021 Update & Final One”

POLICING In late February, the National Police Chiefs Council published the latest statistics (PDF) on coronavirus fixed penalty notices. This indicated that 68,9522 notices have been recorded as having been issued in England (63,201) and Wales (5,751) between Friday 27th March 2020 and Monday 14th February 2021. There was a sharp rise in the numberContinue reading “February 2021 Update”

Both the Undercover Research Group and Netpol are particularly busy and cannot update this diary as regularly as usual. This is a summary of policing of coronavirus restrictions over the last month. POLICING As 2020 drew to a close, around the country there were reports that police had clamped down on unauthorised New Year gatherings.Continue reading “January 2021 Update”

Both the Undercover Research Group and Netpol have been particularly busy in November with, respectively, the start of the Undercover Policing Inquiry and the launch of a new report on the policing of this summer’s Black Lives Matter protests. We have not had the capacity to update this blog as regularly as usual. This is,Continue reading “Update 28 October – 25 November”

POLICING The issuing of fixed penalty notices all over the country has ground relentlessly on over the last week. In Tyneside, police fined 12 members of a football team who told bar staff they were single household. Police broke up a student house party in Exeter on 24 October and in south-east London, the MetropolitanContinue reading “20 -27 October Update”

POLICING Yet another sign that the government is unable to abandon its public order approach to embrace a public health crisis one instead, is that the police will get access to the details of members of the public in England who have been told to self-isolate through NHS Test and Trace. The BBC reported that thisContinue reading “13-19 October Update”

POLICING On 2 October it was reported that the Metropolitan Police had launched an investigation into Scottish National Party MP Margaret Ferrier, over alleged breaches of coronavirus rules that included travelling by train journey between London and Glasgow after receiving a positive Covid-19 test. Ten days on, she continues to resist calls to resign asContinue reading “1 – 12 October Update”

Kevin Blowe and Eveline Lubbers This article was written in the summer of 2020 and first appeared in issue 85 of the Haldane Society magazine Socialist Lawyer When the Network for Police Monitoring (Netpol) and the Undercover Research Group started the “Policing The Corona State” diary1 back in March to document the policing of Britain’sContinue reading “Villains of The Pandemic”

POLICING From Monday 28 September, police were granted extra powers, including self-isolation “spot checks” in high-risk areas based on “local intelligence” (neighbours reporting on each other), as new local lockdowns and more fines from £1000 to £10,000 come into force in England. For instance, you can now get a £10,000 fine for breaking self-isolation rules.Continue reading “24 – 30 September Update”

There was another avalanche of changes in the coronavirus regulations over the last week, in advance of predictions of the second wave of infections and the next lockdown looming. While we will point at good summaries here, our concern is – as ever – the enforcement by the police. There remains a complete lack ofContinue reading “16 – 23 September Update”