Apparently there are people talking about making flag burning illegal in the UK. When I saw this on the BBC Homepage a day or two ago I assumed it was one of those, all too frequent, non-stories which are created when someone insignificant utters inconsequential tripe and it ends up being reported with an entirely ridiculous headline. And it probably, hopefully, is but I now notice that the dagger wielding Tom Watson MP reckons it is a good idea. He says
I think that I agree with Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur that burning flags is a uniquely provocative act. Shahid Malik also makes the point that very small numbers of extremists often do this to hijack peaceful demonstrations.This is a stupid, stupid idea and I can't believe that supposedly serious people are spending time thinking about it.
Seriously. At this point it would be expected I suppose that one would try to justify and back up one's opinion. I feel that would be almost redundant as I actually can't think of a single good reason for introducing flag burning legislation. Apart from the unenforceability of such legislation and practical issues like what counts as a flag, surely such legislation would simply promote the flag to a pedestal which would make more successful any affected protest. These people have too much time on their hands.
Posted by Paul in Justice Politics at October 30, 2006 04:27 AM
