Priv

TimWorstall reports on the Daily Telegraph's report about some new government law/statute thing, yet again celebrating being given a right that we already had.

I was moaning about rights the other day, but this thing keeps on rolling. I was worried about rights being given and taken away, when they should be self-evident and undeniable, but it was on the radio yesterday morning, some police chief reacting the calls for tougher sentences to people who cause accidents by careless or danger driving, I think the quote was "Driving on British roads is a privilege, not a right". That got me swearing in my car. Driving on private roads that are owned by private individuals is a privilege, driving on a public road, that's what the fucking road is there for, its not something you need to ask permission to do.

Sure, having a a driving lisence, insurance and road tax are requirements to drive a car legally, but its not a privilege to drive on a road. That's codifying the wrong thing, and whichever officials are acting on the public's behalf to codify such things ought to be kicked in the crotch and flung out of their profession and into something more productive, like writing ISO2001 documentation perhaps.