tough on what?

[VectraMan]

Is anybody beginning to think that it is not crime that worries the government, but lack of control of the populace?

No. I've been thinking that for some time.

[DimPrawn]

You make me laugh expat. A once rabid Labour/Socialist now facing the realisation of what you've voted in over the years.

[expat]

You make me laugh expat. A once rabid Labour/Socialist now facing the realisation of what you've voted in over the years.

Wrong on more counts that I thought possible in one short sentence. Not rabid, nor socialist, never labour, have never voted for them, not just coming to realisation, and most importantly it is not just New Labour, nor even just Labour.

Glad I make you laugh though.

[minestrone]

Dim

[Peoplesoft bloke]

In England and Wales, slightly over half of burglaries are "hot burglaries" i.e. there is someone at home at the time. In the USA the proportion is less than one-eigth. Spot the difference in the mind of the intruder.

So you think burglar Bill always checks there's no-one in before breaking in in the USA? Or could it be that there are more unattended properties at a given time in the US? The septics are always on about how they work longer hours and take fewer holidays so it's no wonder they aren't at home.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

BTW - the handgun ban (which I'm not a big fan of) was brought in as a result of the Dunblane school massacre. How many school massacres have they had in the USA since we had Dunblane?

[pzz76077]

Im not a fan of gun bans as they never achieve anything that benefits socidety. I am in favor of a properly funded and resourced evaluation process that stops guns falling into the wrong hands.

Ive been a gun owner since 14 and now own (legally-Im non UK based) several guns. All of my kids have learnt to shoot at an early age and I would trust them to handle a gun safely.
Its all about education at the end of the day and making sure users of guns know what they are doing and what their social responsibilities are.


PZZ

BTW- Ive noticed that the streets around my neighborhood are very clean these days- does that mean the authorities are getting tough on the causes of grime??

[xoggoth]

Dunno. I quite like the idea of being able to shoot burglars (or my neighbour MR PIKEY SCUM) but the lack of controls in parts of the US is a problem.

Criminals/gangsters will get guns anyway but by and large they only shoot each other. Lack of control gives guns to the nutters, misfits who probably would not know how to get a gun if the law did not make it so easy, who go out and blast a large random section of the populace.

[TriggerHippy]

For the purpose of terrorism. It's a pretty narrow definition. Nobody (AFAIK) has been arrested (let alone successfully prosecuted) under these new rules as yet.

There's actually been quite a bit of blatant harassment for taking photos:

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article....4&in_a_source=
http://www.epuk.org/News/662/notting...r-found-guilty
http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/offi...a-little-list/

[Moscow Mule]

There's actually been quite a bit of blatant harassment for taking photos:

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article....4&in_a_source=
http://www.epuk.org/News/662/notting...r-found-guilty
http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/offi...a-little-list/

Well now I am. Troubling times indeed.

The guy who was convicted seems pretty unlucky - was there an appeal?