A Question of Law: Retain, Reform or Repeal?
A reader survey to find your favourite - and least favourite - laws.
Tony Blair wrote that the Freedom of Information Act was his greatest mistake.1
Whether or not one agrees with him, there is no doubt that it has entered the pantheon of Britain’s most iconic laws - loved by some, hated by others, debated by many.
This survey is a chance to say what you think about Britain’s most famous laws - from the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 to the Equality Act 2010 and more.
Like an ultra-nerdy2 version of ‘Kiss, Marry or Kill’3, for each law you simply have to say whether you would retain it, repeal it or significantly reform it. There are also options to say you don't know or don't care, and any question can be skipped.4
There are 25 iconic5 laws from 1701 to 2023 for you to give your verdict on, plus a few questions at the end on the law of gravity and Murphy's Law, just for fun.
The survey will be open until Sunday 8 March and results will be published shortly after that.
Most people would have said it was invading Iraq, but each to their own.
Though let’s be honest, not as nerdy as Desert Island Bible Books survey
Of ‘Food, Friend or Foe’ if you are Sheldon Cooper at an aquarium.
In most cases I have avoided trying to describe each law so as not to bias the reader. In a few cases, however, where an iconic provision (such as banning smoking in indoor public places) is contained within an Act with an entirely non-obvious name, I’ve added a note to say what it is.
Mainly iconic. A couple of less famous ones are also included because I worked on them.
I'd love to see a reform of the 2nd law of thermodynamics. Would increase potential a lot of new creative engineering ideas and so make me less worried AI would put me out of a job.
I think there would be IMMENSE benefit in scrapping all modern copyright laws and returning to the original copyright law that things remain in copyright for 28 years after their publication (which should apply to everything: printed media, art, music and video). In fact, one of the reasons I voted for Brexit is that we wouldn't be able to do this without leaving the EU.
If everything over 28 years old was out of copyright, people would be able to do so much in terms of republishing or repackaging old media, or creating new works inspired by those media. For example, I would like to be able to legally watch the original "unimproved" Star Wars trilogy, and I would like to be able to read Francis Spufford's unauthorised Narnia book, The Stone Table.