That just seems like bad reporting. I'm sure (and I'd hope) that he was tried under very specific provisions in the Public Order Act.
You'd think that in this day and age journalists would provide a link to the actual court transcripts rather than implicitly saying "just trust that I'm not making this up. You don't need to see my sources." If this were Wikipedia there'd be a horde of people saying "citation required."
Some clickety-click reveals that there is indeed a "Miscellaneous and General" section which includes "Contamination of or interference with goods with intention of causing public alarm or anxiety, etc" in that act.
But it's the chain of acting silly in front of friend's camera -> getting a chair hurled at him -> facing a six month sentence for intentional contamination that caused the WTF in my case. Aren't laws like that more about crazy people/wannabe-terrorists/anarchists/extortionists who actually tamper with foods in grocery stores etc?
And hurling chairs at people you've seen doing silly things on Youtube? Do I need to wear a helmet next time I visit the UK? :-)
3 comments so far
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/west_midlands/7937945.stm
("miscellaneous provisions in the Public Order Act"? is it just me, or is Britain a much more consistent supplier of WTF than the US these days?)
8 months, 2 weeks ago by effbot
That just seems like bad reporting. I'm sure (and I'd hope) that he was tried under very specific provisions in the Public Order Act.
You'd think that in this day and age journalists would provide a link to the actual court transcripts rather than implicitly saying "just trust that I'm not making this up. You don't need to see my sources." If this were Wikipedia there'd be a horde of people saying "citation required."
8 months, 2 weeks ago by adewale
Some clickety-click reveals that there is indeed a "Miscellaneous and General" section which includes "Contamination of or interference with goods with intention of causing public alarm or anxiety, etc" in that act.
But it's the chain of acting silly in front of friend's camera -> getting a chair hurled at him -> facing a six month sentence for intentional contamination that caused the WTF in my case. Aren't laws like that more about crazy people/wannabe-terrorists/anarchists/extortionists who actually tamper with foods in grocery stores etc?
And hurling chairs at people you've seen doing silly things on Youtube? Do I need to wear a helmet next time I visit the UK? :-)
8 months, 2 weeks ago by effbot