The Stream

Civil servants or government informants?

The Stream examines the effectiveness of the UK’s counter-terrorism efforts.

Why are the UK’s National Health Service employees undergoing counter-terrorism training? The government says healthcare professionals are key players in identifying those vulnerable to radicalisation. They are being trained to look for signs like “identity crisis”, “unemployment”, “rejection of UK foreign policy” and “mistrust of Western media” as indicators of vulnerability. But critics say this move is turning health workers into government informants. 

In this episode of The Stream, we speak with:

Dr. Adnan Siddiqui @AdnanRSiddiqui0
General practitioner, National Health Service
cageuk.org

Sue Southern @WMPolice
Head, Counterterrorism Unit

Imran Awan @ImranELSS
Criminologist, Birmingham City University 

Jahan Mahmood @jahanmahmood
Former university lecturer

What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.