[voodoo]

Great-grandmother given an electronic tag and curfew for selling a goldfish to a 14 year-old - Telegraph

Granny who runs a petshop sells one goldfish to a 14 year old kid. The fuzz finds out and she is arrested and tried in a trial that lasts for 8 months. That is time well spent for any justice system, because otherwise it would just waste its time on some frivolous trumped up charges - like murders, thefts, fraud, assault .... you know? Irrelevant stuff.

Finally she is found guilty, but doesn't have to serve the full year of prison the law allows for. Perhaps her crime wasn't as heinous as it could have been, she could have been selling hamsters to 13 year olds!! So she just got a 1000 pound fine and an electronic tag around her ancle along with a nighttime curfew.

After all she might try to sneak away when it gets dark and sell some more fish. To more 14 year old boys, sent by the government to 'test' you.

Now... is this dumbass story even true? I don't know. It sounds so incredibly mindnumbingly dumb, that I don't believe it. These laws, were they real, reflect incredibly poorly on the legal ability of the UK legislative body. Furthermore, assuming they are real, it reflects incredibly poorly on the respective UK administrative body that chose to enforce this loony law in the first place.

Not all blame can be put on the shoulders of politicians. People actually have to be stupid enough to enforce dumbass laws like that. It is a sorry day for the UK if people like that actually exist.

Finally if all the above is true and the judge in this case (or jury as the case might be) finds it remotely fair to convict and sentence that fish-criminal for more than a single pound.. well then the judge is loony as well.

I don't really believe this happened, because that means I would have to accept the fact that the UK has gone bonkers. It hasn't, has it?

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by voodoo 

I don't really believe this happened, because that means I would have to accept the fact that the UK has gone bonkers. It hasn't, has it?

Yes it has V. Utterly bonkers.

...To the point where I'm not even going to try to figure out which is the April fool story this morning.

[Spheric Harlot]

That's amazing.

I mean really, if you want to enforce that law (however sensible or not it may be), fine her 50 quid and she'll never sell without checking the buyer's age again, end of story.

Edit: I'll let this comment stand as proof that I've been had for April Fools' joke for the first time in years. Need coffee.

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by Rand

Did you really think that we wanted those laws to be observed? . . . We want them broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against - then you'll know that this is not the age for beautiful gestures. We're after power and we mean it. You fellows were pikers, but we know the real trick, and you'd better get wise to it. There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted - and you create a nation of law-breakers - and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with.

There ya go.

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

Edit: I'll let this comment stand as proof that I've been had for April Fools' joke for the first time in years.

The Mail ran the story two days ago, so you're safe.

[voodoo]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

Yes it has V. Utterly bonkers.

...To the point where I'm not even going to try to figure out which is the April fool story this morning.

Well at least the British society still has good and proper individual such as yourself.

[Wiskedjak]

Wow. There's a law forbidding the sale of pets to children under 16 ... but there's no law forbidding the employment of children under 16 in elaborate sting operations?