I am Not Prepared to Carry on This Entry Whilst You are Calling Me a Wanker
Posted by Hazel Stone | Filed under Buttinskis, Over The Seas
It’s Thursday, let’s see how things are across the pond, shall we?
Fined for having your parking sticker upside down? Seems a bit…nitpicky. The wardens have back troubles, do they? Can’t quite turn sideways and tilt the old noggin? Feh.
Ticketed for allegedly tossing down your cigarette butt? Ok, I only flicked off ash…produce the butt. What’s that? You can’t, but you’re going to ticket me anyway? Huzzah for the one sensible magistrate in the entire country for tossing this nonsense out.
Banned fire extinguishers because they’re too dangerous?? Attempting to survive a fire without one is fairly sodding dangerous as well, no?
Taxed for a business you do not own…but “might someday”? How about I pay you when I actually open this imaginary business, eh?
Fined for calling a bin inspector a wanker, or a jobsworth? Er, what if he actually *is* a wanker and a jobsworth?
Ordered to remove your pot(ted) plants from outside your home, lest someone be injured by them? They’re 3 feet tall. Unless it’s a community of Liliputians, I’d say the average human has little to fear.
It’s so good to see that Britain, like the United States, has solved all other crimes and can concentrate on poncy crap like this
Tags: (formerly) great britain, death of common sense
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March 13th, 2008
It’s like the Nanny State and the Police State have collided and they are working together to destroy the UK in an orgy or regulation and fines.
I don’t want to watch, really, I don’t, but the analogy of a train wreck is not even close to what is going on over there and I CAN’T TURN AWAY!!!
March 13th, 2008
Well, the vast amounts of money spent in various grand socialist experiments in the UK have to come from somewhere… Increasing the already sky-high tax rates would be political suicide, so instead the national and local government chases law-abiding citizens who traditionally are soft targets and extracts money via various schemes: overzealous parking wardens, rigged speed cameras and several other bogus charges. It has really become ridiculous.
Regards,
George
March 13th, 2008
Good to see you casting your beady eye across the pond. Believe me, you’re just scratching the surface.
Here’s another little scratch (I brazenly nicked it off a web page, but I remember the original reports):
” This is a quote from a recent Sunday Times edition;
“The Met, as ever, looks a good bet for top place with their wonderful prosecution of two Tube workers who were wrongly accused of biting the heads off some black jelly babies in a racially intimidating manner. It took 2 years and cost £250,000 to prosecute Carlo Rozza and Victor Cooney. It took the jury 58 minutes to realise that the charges were fantastically stupid.
However, some experts suspect that Central Scotland police might snatch this year’s title with their brilliant but aborted prosecution of Ronnie Hutton, a mechanic from Stirling, for “revving his car in a racist manner”. Thames Valley police, meanwhile, are expected to receive lifetime achievement awards for arresting a chap who suggested that a police horse might be “gay”, thus — according to the boys in blue — causing offence and distress to “both the police officer and his horse”. ”
These are all true – and the bloke in Scotland who revved his car, spent two days in the pokey and got a £150 ($300 at todays xchange rate) fine.
Kids getting arrested for climbing a tree …
And they say what happens in America happens here eventually. On nanny I disagree – we are years ahead of you. You’ve got it to come – it’s going to get far worse before it starts getting better. We’re still getting worse.
March 13th, 2008
They have never had the experience of standing up and taking back power from their government. Every single change of government has been because of the death of the ruler, whether said death was peaceful (with a designated heir) or not, but the troubles never came very far down the social scale like it did here. When we fought for our freedom, it was the common farmer or merchant who was fighting in his own yard to drive out usurpers and tyrants.
When the Brits did it, it ended up being the same people in charge, except at the very top, and the commoner never even knew what was happening unless his own bread and beer was affected.
If the Nanny State starts to get that bad, while the Brit (or any other Euro-peon) would think, “well, somebody up there must know what he’s doing”, an American citizen would take a step back and ask “What the French, Toast?”
It also helps that almost half of our population is armed, and a sizable chunk are veterans (most of whom have at least some training in basic tactics and How Not To Panic In A Crunch), so if it ever comes down to the Gummint pushing down, Americans are likely to push back.
We even have a long-revered precedent:
The British people have no such precedent (except on the losing end of that particular fracas); but it all boils down to one thing. The English and the American people might share a language and a history, but we don’t share a mindset.
March 13th, 2008
“It’s like the Nanny State and the Police State have collided and they are working together…”
They complement one another nicely.
Mom used to say: “just wait till your father comes home”, when I did something really bad. Dad was “old school”, if you get my meaning.
This is the same concept.
March 13th, 2008
My mom never said that, she just took things in hand when needed and when Dad got home, he re-enforced the lesson.
March 13th, 2008
Ha! Make no mistake, mom had a “hands on” approach.
And now we get to re-live our childhood all over again! Who needs a Fountain of Youth when you have plastic surgery and statism!
March 14th, 2008
Morgan – Great googly moogly. How, I ask you, does one rev their car’s engine in a racist fashion? And WTF happened to the UK, can you tell me? You all used to be such good little imperialists.
I kid (a little bit). You definitely have some local-level officials that need a beat-down, though. It all sounds like tin-pot little dictators in each case, and if you all just stood up and said, “Oi! Back the *$%# off!” things would improve.
DW – “It also helps that almost half of our population is armed, and a sizable chunk are veterans (most of whom have at least some training in basic tactics and How Not To Panic In A Crunch), so if it ever comes down to the Gummint pushing down, Americans are likely to push back.”
Hooah.
WT and Ted – Being a girl, I was FAR more interested in never getting spanked. I suppose that’s why I’m sneakier.
March 16th, 2008
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