Quote:
Originally Posted by Vlad_Dracul
BBKING spake thus >b) This being Britain and a free country with a long tradition of liberty, one of our main legal principles is that things are legal unless there's an explicit law against
BB you are pushing at an open door here.
Unfortunately the principle to which you refer seems rather etheral and even if it were so,its general acceptance as a principle would be counterbalanced by a generally accepted standard of morality and behaviour which may have existed in the past but now,sadly,is not quite so prevalent.
Hence the need for explicit legislation.
i.e in the past there may not have been an explicit law against drinking in public but most right minded people would have considered it bad form,bad mannered and unacceptable. Now its mob rule,do as you like so we HAVE to legislate.
Unfortunatly legislation and enforcement are two different matters.
The train drivers should have walked out instead of being complicit in this vulgar and unruly display.
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Well my problem with all the latest nannyesque banning of everything 'bad' is where does it stop?I'm also severely annoyed that because of the actions of small groups of the wider community the majority are slowly having their freedom eroded in the interest of the public good.If I choose to drink a can of lager on the bus why not provided I annoy no one and am not drunk and incapable?It's not as if doing so is illegal and the implication that I can't behave myself and control my behaviour really,really pees me off.
The sort of law that gave rise to the one only rule in china re the law about only being allowed to have one child.This led in turn to forced abortions/exposure/abandoned baby girl death wards all of which have been argued to be for the good of the Chinese people.
I know it seems a small issue but if we don't fight for the small issues in life what happens when we arrive at removing rather more important freedoms,such as the right to legal representation when charged for some minor nanny banned infringement, like chewing gum, on the grounds that gum is bad for the environment?