Vote "Leave Us Alone"

Stephen Pound MP has the chance to introduce a bill to Parliament so he's put it to the vote on Radio 4. Free Democrat has the dirty details. I'd point out that the first four options are horrible, but that's inevitable. Pound isn't introducing these bills because he perceives a real need for them (otherwise why put it to the vote), he's doing it for the same reason the dog licks his own nads: because he can.

No doubt, Pound would claim it's all harmless fun, but it shows what's wrong with modern politics. Nothing has screwed up politics more than the idea that Parliament exists to pass laws. Not only have we been landed with a mountain of insane laws, but the public sector has been allowed to go bananas while the folks who are supposed to be keeping it honest are working on the Public Singing Act 2004. Similarly, we're suffering the effects of the capture of the political agenda by single issue fanatics and the corollary to that fanaticism - the belief that the ends justify the means, or at least that personal preferences demand legislation. Did we really kill a King to be free of Christmas light abuse ?