Mike German thinks it's laughable to break the law

Looking for a way out of this one, Mike ? Good Luck

by john of gwent

Sometimes the postman brings nothing but grief. Sometimes he doesn't bring at all, but keeps for himself (like the one who diverted the debit cards - and the PIN numbers to go with them - sent to me by the Royal Bank Of Scotland with whom I ran my company bank accounts. But sometimes they bring amusement too.

Like yesterday for example.

While the Liberal Democrats Conference was on I e-mailed Mike German who is my regional welsh assembly member, and therefore the nearest thing I have to a costituency MP of yellow hue. The two matters I wished to obtain Mr German's opinion on were published on the Green Arrow Blog here but in brief :-

1. In the light of their statement by their health spokesman that people should be given a card to swipe each time they attend a gym session in order to be given a health and fitness tax break, and given the revenue's particular susceptibility to identity fraud, have the liberal democrats now done a U turn on their "No To ID Cards" stance ?
2. In the light of Mr Lembit Opik's recent criminal act of riding a Segway on the public highway and public pavements in violation of the Highways Act, are the Lib Dems a party of lawmakers or lawbreakers

In short, are the Lib Dems going to call Mr Ian Blair and have Mr Opik arrested and his Segway confiscated and crushed, which is what the police do to illegal riders of unlicensed, untaxed, uninsured mini-motos which like the Segway cannot be ridden on public roads because they violate the Construction and Use regulations, or are they now jumping on the bandwagon that has been set rolling by the court's decision that protestors who trespassed onto the site os a coal fired power station, climbed the chimneys and erected propaganda banners and did various other things, all of which specialists had to be brought in to undo at a cost of £30,000, were not guilty of criminal damage because they were protesting about alleged environmental damage and that means it wasn't a crime.

Well, Mr German's reply is in. And he thinks I'm having a laugh.

Specifically, he says Mr Opik's action was "light-hearted" and in any case "The Segway is legal in many other countries"

Well, Mr German, I like the cut of your jib. I like the idea that because something is legal in another country, it should be enthusiastically welcomed here. So I'm off to brew up a big bowl of khat, after which I'm going to take my motorbike out without a helmet, find myself a fourteen year old brazilian who fancies a bit of consensual sex and after that I might just hang a few gays by the neck. I take it can call upon you, Mike German, as a character witness in my defence, as after all, every one of those actions is legal in another country (and one of them is legal here, apparently) .....

On the other hand I might actually consider voting for a political party who believe in law and order, believe in the right of the British Parliament to make the laws that apply to all who live in the sovereigh territory of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and believe that no-one is above those laws.

Anyone got any suggestions as to who that party might be.....