This e-mail about a proposed change to UK law might amuse you. Was sent to me by a friend of mine who is a Justice of the Peace, amongst other things, and so likes to keep up on the law in case he has deal with such cases...
Ewan gives two explanations for this bill, I have a third: they've all been out in the midday sun too long and the country is run by lunatics. Seems to fit the facts pretty well! Or even more intriguing, do they know something about the availability of nuclear weapons that they're not telling us? (The government's lame excuse was some nonsense about international treaties demanding it.)
Date: Mon, 18 Aug 1997 14:02:48 +0100 (BST)
From: E Hawthorn <egh@holyrood.ed.ac.uk>
Subject: Hurry, while you still can
John,
I discovered, this morning, an interesting bill before Parliament: The Nuclear Explosions (Prohibition) Bill. This will make it an offence to cause a nuclear explosion in the UK. Two possible explanations seem to exist. Either Parliament has been somewhat remiss in only just getting round to making it illegal to set off a nuclear explosion in the UK (if you plan to do so be quick before the bill receives the Royal Assent); or they are duplicating the proscription of what already is unlawful. In the former case, it strikes me as rather more urgent than the proscription of single shot .22 calibre handguns.
I'm sure that, in Scotland at least, it would be covered as a Breach of the Peace at Common Law. "...that on or about the 18th of August in Motherwell you did conduct yourself in a disorderly manner, set off a nuclear explosion and commit a breach of the peace." (Perhaps a defence of "necessity" in the case of Motherwell?)
Ewan
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1998/1998007.htm
