In the UK...Liberty is Going Up in Smoke
I Thought Things Were Bad, But...
In today's "Daily Telegraph" (see here) there is an opinion piece ("With all these laws, our precious liberty is going up in smoke") detailing the various laws introduced by the Labour government to regulate various personal activities. I've commented before on fox hunting and the proposed ban on smoking in most public places but I didn't realise what else was regulated. Here's some examples of the insanity.
"The Housing Bill will make it an offence to place your own home on the market without first spending £600 or more on a home information pack"
and
"Since June, it has been illegal to own a horse, donkey or a Shetland pony without obtaining an ID card for the animal to ensure it does not poison anyone who eats it. "
and
"Even teenage "canoodling'' is now criminalised under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, which forbids under-16s from engaging in any sexual activity, though police and prosecutors have been issued with guidance to ignore the law where it seems to them appropriate to do so."
It would be hard to make this stuff up! Of course, while the government seems quite happy to meddle in the lives of ordinary law-abiding citizens, it seems reluctant to protect those same citizens:
"Yet, at the same time, the Government has introduced a new regulation whereby a thief who steals goods worth £200 or less from a shop will not automatically be arrested and taken to the police station but handed an £80 fixed penalty notice, without any criminal record provided it is paid on time."
Which leads to the observation:
"So, you can go to prison for not getting a horse an ID card when it has been perfectly lawful to own an animal without state interference since our forebears painted their faces blue. But if you are a thief, expect a rap on the knuckles, apparently because it takes up too much police time to deal effectively with "low-grade" shoplifters."
I can only shake my head at this lamentable state of affairs. Let this be a warning to those of us living in societies such as Australia and the USA are that are still relatively free. These seemingly trivial restrictions are just the thin end of the wedge and will lead to much worse. As an example...
"From next August, as a result of an EU directive accepted by our government, an estimated 5,000 vitamin and mineral supplements will become illegal. Any shopkeeper who continues to sell them will be committing a criminal offence."
This is the result of the notorious Codex regulations which are nothing more than a conspiracy by the big drug companies to stamp out competition from natural supplements.
Readers might think it odd that I would rail against big business in this manner. However, I am pro the free-market, not pro big-business per se. Big business often colludes with government to thwart the free-market. Of course, this would not be possible if government refrained from over-regulation and kept out of things that they have no business being involved with.
In today's "Daily Telegraph" (see here) there is an opinion piece ("With all these laws, our precious liberty is going up in smoke") detailing the various laws introduced by the Labour government to regulate various personal activities. I've commented before on fox hunting and the proposed ban on smoking in most public places but I didn't realise what else was regulated. Here's some examples of the insanity.
"The Housing Bill will make it an offence to place your own home on the market without first spending £600 or more on a home information pack"
and
"Since June, it has been illegal to own a horse, donkey or a Shetland pony without obtaining an ID card for the animal to ensure it does not poison anyone who eats it. "
and
"Even teenage "canoodling'' is now criminalised under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, which forbids under-16s from engaging in any sexual activity, though police and prosecutors have been issued with guidance to ignore the law where it seems to them appropriate to do so."
It would be hard to make this stuff up! Of course, while the government seems quite happy to meddle in the lives of ordinary law-abiding citizens, it seems reluctant to protect those same citizens:
"Yet, at the same time, the Government has introduced a new regulation whereby a thief who steals goods worth £200 or less from a shop will not automatically be arrested and taken to the police station but handed an £80 fixed penalty notice, without any criminal record provided it is paid on time."
Which leads to the observation:
"So, you can go to prison for not getting a horse an ID card when it has been perfectly lawful to own an animal without state interference since our forebears painted their faces blue. But if you are a thief, expect a rap on the knuckles, apparently because it takes up too much police time to deal effectively with "low-grade" shoplifters."
I can only shake my head at this lamentable state of affairs. Let this be a warning to those of us living in societies such as Australia and the USA are that are still relatively free. These seemingly trivial restrictions are just the thin end of the wedge and will lead to much worse. As an example...
"From next August, as a result of an EU directive accepted by our government, an estimated 5,000 vitamin and mineral supplements will become illegal. Any shopkeeper who continues to sell them will be committing a criminal offence."
This is the result of the notorious Codex regulations which are nothing more than a conspiracy by the big drug companies to stamp out competition from natural supplements.
Readers might think it odd that I would rail against big business in this manner. However, I am pro the free-market, not pro big-business per se. Big business often colludes with government to thwart the free-market. Of course, this would not be possible if government refrained from over-regulation and kept out of things that they have no business being involved with.
posted by Kevin Francis at
4:59 pm
