4 ms·

Some ministers had opposed the amendment and suggested the new ban would have been difficult to implement because, under the law in England and Wales, it is not

Some ministers had opposed the amendment and suggested the new ban would have been difficult to implement because, under the law in England and Wales, it is not illegal for adults who are step-related to engage in a sexual relationship. This is amusing to me. Legal to do, but not legal to film.

UI_at_80x24 6mo ago
In the infamous words of George Carlin: "Selling is legal, and fucking is legal; but selling fucking is not legal."
- handfuloflight 6mo ago
  "Driving is legal. Drinking is legal. But drinking and driving is not legal."
  - lucianbr 6mo ago
    People forget Carlin was a comedian. "It's a big club and you ain't in it". Obviously the problem is the club is too small, that's why for most of the people it is true that they are not part of it. "Half the population is stupider than how stupid the average person is". As if somehow there's not a single person exactly on the median. In fact there is probably a huge number of people there, and within a margin of error of it.
    - handfuloflight 6mo ago
      I am quite acquainted with Carlin. If there's anyone that can have their absurd logic repeated back to them, it would be a comedian. And That Right Soon.
    - ceejayoz 6mo ago
      > People forget Carlin was a comedian. That would seem to include you?
      - lucianbr 6mo ago
        How do you figure? I don't have a problem with Carlin, but with people who quote him as a source of wisdom. The commenter who quoted him here in the thread meant to make a joke and I didn't get it? I thought he quoted him as a point against the law we are discussing.
        ceejayoz 6mo ago
        You're semantically quibbling with a clear joke and using those quibbles to avoid engaging with the point it's making.
        lucianbr 6mo ago
        > "Selling is legal, and fucking is legal; but selling fucking is not legal." I don't get it. The literal interpretation is a clear joke, as you say. So what's the point that it is making? To be clear, I think the law discussed is stupid. I also think the argument that if both parts are legal they should also be legal together is wrong. What am I avoiding?
        ceejayoz 6mo ago
        I'm referring to the two other jokes you quoted.
        lucianbr 6mo ago
        What was I avoiding with those?
  - Chance-Device 6mo ago
    Or, to be true to the original:“Driving is legal, and drinking is legal; but driving an alcoholic beverage is not legal.” Maybe it’s just not street legal but you could do it on a race track?
    - st_goliath 6mo ago
      > driving an alcoholic beverage is not legal Not sure, probably isn't street legal. But for the curious, it has been done before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fqpp-IAXF0&t=25s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fqpp-IAXF0&t=25s
  - burnte 6mo ago
    One kills people the other makes people, they're not the same.
    - handfuloflight 6mo ago
      You know what really makes people? Polygamy. And I want my f*king human rights, now! Just like President Jimmi Carta says.
- Jiro 6mo ago
  A politician voting for a bill is legal. Giving money to a politician is legal. But giving money to a politician so he'll vote for a bill is not legal.
  - johnea 6mo ago
    What are you talking about? This is how laws are passed in the US 8-/ The private money delivering entity often writes the bill! Which the politician often doesn't even read, just sends to the house from committee for vote...
- gjsman-1000 6mo ago
  Moving your finger is legal, holding and aiming a gun is legal, pulling your finger to fire a gun is sometimes not legal. Framing the gun debate as a restriction on finger movement would also not be productive.
_heimdall 6mo ago
The greater irony to me is how this relates to the sometimes interwoven family tree of British royalty.
- cineticdaffodil 6mo ago
  Royaly screwed: Prince Andrew starring in "stiff upper habsburg lip" - the movie
Liskni_si 6mo ago
That's not that unusual though. Many countries' age of consent is ~15 so you can legally do it sooner than you can film it.
bigbadfeline 6mo ago
> This is amusing to me. Legal to do, but not legal to film. I don't know if it's amusing but the comparison is incorrect. Doing it in public is not legal. These laws are about the public part, not about the doing part. Carlin's quote in this thread suffers from the same problem, he was eager to say something amusing, instead of correct, and did it prematurely.
tialaramex 6mo ago
There are several edge cases like this in the UK. It's obviously not legal for say, me, a middle aged man, to possess a photograph of some 17 year old girl with her tits out. Right? Except well... wait no, because what if I have a photo of my middle aged wife shortly after we first met, so the photo shows a 17 year old girl with her tits out, but the person is my wife, who is like "Yeah, remember when I had long hair? Also, I wish my tits still looked like that". So clearly that is OK after all, it's legal. And then we have a huge row, she divorces me, now that photo is illegal after all, because I'm definitely not allowed to have photos of under-age girls with their tits out, and now the photo isn't of my wife... not any more. Knife laws similarly have weird edge cases. 12" long sharp blade? Crime. In a Kebab shop to make delicious kebabs? Legal. I took it with me to the pub after work? Crime; Walking down the street with an ordinary Swiss Army Knife (oversize)? Crime. Tiny version of that knife? Legal. Sword, like an actual medieval sword? Crime. But I need it for this mock battle we're staging? Still a crime. No swords. Use a fake sword which can't hurt anybody or go to jail. Edited: The "original" Swiss Army Knife is barely short enough that it's always legal, but some oversize variants are not. Like that Kebab knife you can have a lawful reason you needed to carry the knife regardless of size but I hope your reason make sense ("Self defence" is never a lawful reason to carry weapons in the UK)
- defrost 6mo ago
  The double edge of the UK version of Roman Law is that Man on the Clapham omnibus - all these edge cases fall to a judge .. who may or may not be as reasonable as your first cousin on the back seat of the omnibus.
- subscribed 6mo ago
  I believe nudity is generally not illegal at all, as in in itself. Like... Come on, _of course_ it's the UK, not Europe or US.... Are we there yet? Nude children are or were in the recent past displayed in Britain's museums (National Gallery, Tate Britain and Tate Modern (afair paintings and sculptures, infamous pictures of Brooke Shields), British Museum (antiques)) For example if you were to photograph your own kids frolicking in the garden to immortalise the moments of joy and fun, that'd be also okay BUT of course I'm certain Google/Apple would immediately report you, lock your account and then you'd have to get a lawyer to point the sheer absurdity of it. And that's at the same time it's perfectly fine for such children to play on the public beaches for example. ...but of course I'm aware we're supposed to police ourselves. Brits love being gravely offended and prude and the new law further reinforces this notion -- at the moment when the possession of the fake video or fake story of incest relationship is a criminal offence, having a sexual relationship with, say, first cousin is perfectly fine in the UK. I mean: you can legally and lawfully have a child with your cousin, but if you wrote a story about that INSTEAD that's 2 years in prison. I can't help myself but I think too many MPs and Lords have affairs with cousins; perhaps worse.

UI_at_80x24 6mo ago

In the infamous words of George Carlin: "Selling is legal, and fucking is legal; but selling fucking is not legal."

handfuloflight 6mo ago
"Driving is legal. Drinking is legal. But drinking and driving is not legal."
- lucianbr 6mo ago
  People forget Carlin was a comedian. "It's a big club and you ain't in it". Obviously the problem is the club is too small, that's why for most of the people it is true that they are not part of it. "Half the population is stupider than how stupid the average person is". As if somehow there's not a single person exactly on the median. In fact there is probably a huge number of people there, and within a margin of error of it.
  - handfuloflight 6mo ago
    I am quite acquainted with Carlin. If there's anyone that can have their absurd logic repeated back to them, it would be a comedian. And That Right Soon.
  - ceejayoz 6mo ago
    > People forget Carlin was a comedian. That would seem to include you?
    - lucianbr 6mo ago
      How do you figure? I don't have a problem with Carlin, but with people who quote him as a source of wisdom. The commenter who quoted him here in the thread meant to make a joke and I didn't get it? I thought he quoted him as a point against the law we are discussing.
      - ceejayoz 6mo ago
        You're semantically quibbling with a clear joke and using those quibbles to avoid engaging with the point it's making.
        lucianbr 6mo ago
        > "Selling is legal, and fucking is legal; but selling fucking is not legal." I don't get it. The literal interpretation is a clear joke, as you say. So what's the point that it is making? To be clear, I think the law discussed is stupid. I also think the argument that if both parts are legal they should also be legal together is wrong. What am I avoiding?
        ceejayoz 6mo ago
        I'm referring to the two other jokes you quoted.
        lucianbr 6mo ago
        What was I avoiding with those?
- Chance-Device 6mo ago
  Or, to be true to the original:“Driving is legal, and drinking is legal; but driving an alcoholic beverage is not legal.” Maybe it’s just not street legal but you could do it on a race track?
  - st_goliath 6mo ago
    > driving an alcoholic beverage is not legal Not sure, probably isn't street legal. But for the curious, it has been done before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fqpp-IAXF0&t=25s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fqpp-IAXF0&t=25s
- burnte 6mo ago
  One kills people the other makes people, they're not the same.
  - handfuloflight 6mo ago
    You know what really makes people? Polygamy. And I want my f*king human rights, now! Just like President Jimmi Carta says.
Jiro 6mo ago
A politician voting for a bill is legal. Giving money to a politician is legal. But giving money to a politician so he'll vote for a bill is not legal.
- johnea 6mo ago
  What are you talking about? This is how laws are passed in the US 8-/ The private money delivering entity often writes the bill! Which the politician often doesn't even read, just sends to the house from committee for vote...
gjsman-1000 6mo ago
Moving your finger is legal, holding and aiming a gun is legal, pulling your finger to fire a gun is sometimes not legal. Framing the gun debate as a restriction on finger movement would also not be productive.

_heimdall 6mo ago

The greater irony to me is how this relates to the sometimes interwoven family tree of British royalty.

cineticdaffodil 6mo ago
Royaly screwed: Prince Andrew starring in "stiff upper habsburg lip" - the movie

Liskni_si 6mo ago

That's not that unusual though. Many countries' age of consent is ~15 so you can legally do it sooner than you can film it.

bigbadfeline 6mo ago

> This is amusing to me. Legal to do, but not legal to film. I don't know if it's amusing but the comparison is incorrect. Doing it in public is not legal. These laws are about the public part, not about the doing part. Carlin's quote in this thread suffers from the same problem, he was eager to say something amusing, instead of correct, and did it prematurely.

tialaramex 6mo ago

There are several edge cases like this in the UK. It's obviously not legal for say, me, a middle aged man, to possess a photograph of some 17 year old girl with her tits out. Right? Except well... wait no, because what if I have a photo of my middle aged wife shortly after we first met, so the photo shows a 17 year old girl with her tits out, but the person is my wife, who is like "Yeah, remember when I had long hair? Also, I wish my tits still looked like that". So clearly that is OK after all, it's legal. And then we have a huge row, she divorces me, now that photo is illegal after all, because I'm definitely not allowed to have photos of under-age girls with their tits out, and now the photo isn't of my wife... not any more. Knife laws similarly have weird edge cases. 12" long sharp blade? Crime. In a Kebab shop to make delicious kebabs? Legal. I took it with me to the pub after work? Crime; Walking down the street with an ordinary Swiss Army Knife (oversize)? Crime. Tiny version of that knife? Legal. Sword, like an actual medieval sword? Crime. But I need it for this mock battle we're staging? Still a crime. No swords. Use a fake sword which can't hurt anybody or go to jail. Edited: The "original" Swiss Army Knife is barely short enough that it's always legal, but some oversize variants are not. Like that Kebab knife you can have a lawful reason you needed to carry the knife regardless of size but I hope your reason make sense ("Self defence" is never a lawful reason to carry weapons in the UK)

defrost 6mo ago
The double edge of the UK version of Roman Law is that Man on the Clapham omnibus - all these edge cases fall to a judge .. who may or may not be as reasonable as your first cousin on the back seat of the omnibus.
subscribed 6mo ago
I believe nudity is generally not illegal at all, as in in itself. Like... Come on, _of course_ it's the UK, not Europe or US.... Are we there yet? Nude children are or were in the recent past displayed in Britain's museums (National Gallery, Tate Britain and Tate Modern (afair paintings and sculptures, infamous pictures of Brooke Shields), British Museum (antiques)) For example if you were to photograph your own kids frolicking in the garden to immortalise the moments of joy and fun, that'd be also okay BUT of course I'm certain Google/Apple would immediately report you, lock your account and then you'd have to get a lawyer to point the sheer absurdity of it. And that's at the same time it's perfectly fine for such children to play on the public beaches for example. ...but of course I'm aware we're supposed to police ourselves. Brits love being gravely offended and prude and the new law further reinforces this notion -- at the moment when the possession of the fake video or fake story of incest relationship is a criminal offence, having a sexual relationship with, say, first cousin is perfectly fine in the UK. I mean: you can legally and lawfully have a child with your cousin, but if you wrote a story about that INSTEAD that's 2 years in prison. I can't help myself but I think too many MPs and Lords have affairs with cousins; perhaps worse.