« Bingley Caught Cavorting With Green Lady ~ Film at 11 | Main | Meet the Force With Force »
April 05, 2005
The Slippery Slope In Action?
Kind, sweet and pure Eccentrica G (whom Ken so kindly informed me has a brother Kenny) has post up about some scary legislation being discussed in Britain.
Here's the money quote:
The government estimates binge-drinking costs Britain about £20bn a year and MPs want pubs to pay more towards policing drink-fuelled disorder.
Under this rationale there is nothing that the government can not outlaw, in the interest of equity and cost savings.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at April 5, 2005 10:42 PM
Comments
"Under this rationale there is nothing that the government can not outlaw, in the interest of equity and cost savings."
Um, there indeed is nothing the British government cannot outlaw. That's the peril of an "unwritten onstitution," even though it worked rather well enough until now. Parliament is legally sovereign and omnipotent, which means in practice that the government can do anything it likes.
If I had to bet, I'd say there's a major constitutional crisis coming shortly in the UK: a Labour government reelected with a reduced majority of seats in the Commons, but the Tories actually getting the most votes, and getting a plurality of seats in England, thus forcing Labour to rely on Scottish and Welsh MP's to stay in power even though English MP's can't vote on many issues in the devolved Celtic fringe.
Posted by: Dave J at April 5, 2005 11:30 PM
Oddly, even with that beard he looks like he has less testosterone than Eccentrica.
Posted by: Ken Summers at April 6, 2005 12:10 AM
Eccentrica is of no relation to that devil's spawn of a "musician"! Don't make her sick her lawyers on you! Triple breasted whores from Eroticon VI have a lot of money to burn on legal costs, you know.
Posted by: Eccentrica G at April 6, 2005 10:49 AM
Oh, you were Picasso's model? I always thought he just couldn't count.
Posted by: Ken Summers at April 6, 2005 11:23 AM
I thought he had cataracts. It's good to know how wrong I was.
And Dave, compared to the U.K. in it's present form (just watch poor old DCI Jane Tennison trying to footsie around a suspect) my Celtic cousins would be 'E'volved, having the good sense to break free...almost.
Posted by: tree hugging sister at April 6, 2005 11:28 AM
Alas, the Tories are such basket cases that I don't see how they could do well in general elections. Apparently they thought they'd just clone Thatcher a few dozen times and all would be well.
Posted by: Nightfly at April 6, 2005 12:31 PM
Nightfly, I resemble that remark. ;-) I worked for the Tories in 1996 when John Major's government was in the midst of crumbling to pieces, and while they've been in awful shape since even before then, their situation is no longer as hopeless as it was even a few moths ago. They hired the guy who won John Howard a fourth term in Australia, and things have been looking up ever since. Don't count the oldest political party in the world out just yet.
Posted by: Dave J at April 6, 2005 12:50 PM
Damn, Dave! You are one bizzy guy!
Posted by: tree hugging sister at April 6, 2005 01:02 PM
Dave - it's nice to get an update from a fellow in the know. Thanks.
Posted by: Nightfly at April 6, 2005 04:10 PM