Hacker News Reader

Comment by josscrowcroft | Hacker News Reader

What a wonderful press release. Compare this to the UK government's small-dog-loud-bark assertion that Snowden "is not welcome here... you know, just in case he was thinking about coming..." and the relative certainty that he would have been arrested instantly upon arrival here. What does that say?

View on HN

Think about it. The reason the UK government made a show of preemptively denying Snowden entry to the UK is to avoid the insane dilemma it would have caused them. The US would have exerted pressure to extradite, and the hugely-skewed-in-US-favour US-UK extradition treaty would have made it almost certain an extradition attempt would have succeeded. On the other hand, the electorate would have been up in arms over it, and it would have been a huge political issue that the opposition would have seized upon; not exactly something a coalition government needs.

In other words, they are trying to prevent what happened with Assange. Speaking of which, is he still stuck in te Ecuadorian embassy?

Exactly. Yep.

it says lapdog

The UK would rather be a member of the US than the EU.

> The UK Government would rather be a member of the US than the EU.

FTFY

> The elected UK Government would rather be a member of the US than the EU.

Not quite. No one voted for the coalition.

That's not quite how parliamentary system works. You don't vote for the executive government. Never has, never will. Even before the Coalition, did anyone vote for Tony Blair to be prime minister? Technically, that is.

> it says lapdog

Interestingly, "lapdog" appears to be an Americanism.

Going by headlines in British newspapers, the equivalent British expression appears to be "poodle."

The Economist: "Tony Blair is not George Bush's poodle. It's much worse than that."

The Guardian: "Special relationship is over, MPs say. Now stop calling us America's poodle."

So you don't think it would have been right for the UK to hold up its end of mutual extradition treaties with the US?

Aren't they required to protect their people's interest above all? This guy comes up and screams 'they are spying on all of you day and night', and the right reaction is 'please don't come here.'? I dont think the brits are so apathetic

That wasn't my point - nobody (publicly) prompted the UK government to make the "Stay away Snowden" message. It was high-level PR and arse-kissing, at best.

You're right, I over-exaggerated my point, sorry.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com