Friday 12 September 2008

No To the Spirit of the Law

I watched this clip from the BBC News site: link

As soon as landowners talked about people following "the spirit of the law instead of the letter of the law", I thought "sod that". As I've said in the past, the letter of the law is good enough - these guys aren't "wild campers", they forfeit the right to access as soon as they disobey the law.

Leaving litter, using a heavyweight tent chucked out of a car, lighting fires in an irresponsible way, etc etc. All are handled within the letter of the law, not the spirit of the law. I must have said this before, folks: RTFM. These lawbreakers are not wild campers. Education and enforcement are the issues, not the law.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

SO true Duncan. Law is Law - end of story. We catch the flak for all the dim s**ts who can't be bothered to take any respect into the countryside. They should have been put down at birth. They, of course, would complain that their Human Rights were being denied. What about our Human Rights? But, of course, we are honest tax paying stalwarts of the system - we only pay the politicians wages!.

AktoMan said...

"nature or nurture" - if it isn't in their nature, 'we' need to nurture good behaviour.

I can't condone extermination.

I also don't see why I should clean up their mess - so, well done to the volunteers who hike out with packs of rubbish that these divs have dumped. The scumsucking mutants probably do the same on city streets.

BG! said...

The text on and below the clip says "Open access laws are ruining a beauty spot in the Cairngorms, national park officials have claimed." Well, they're just plain wrong. The laws are ruining nothing. Those irresponsible *^&$"^%#s that fail to stick to the rules are the cause of the ruin.

Alan Sloman said...

I agree with you all!

Get the polce to arrest the bastards.

AktoMan said...

Was the person from the Invercauld Estate being classed as one of the "national park officials" in the subheading?

I fear this is the standard of 'reportage' rather than a piece of journalism. If I was writing about a legal document, I'd want to know a bit about it before submitting the work to the interested populace.

Otherwise it is just opinion. I don't care what A's opinion of the law is, I want to know what the law says, and what is being done, or not done, to enforce it.

We have lots of laws in this country, but the lawmakers don't often seem to consider their enforcement. Give the relevant authorities the tools and finances to do the job that government asks of them.

Be pure
Be vigilant
Behave

Martin Rye said...

BG summed it up with .."Those irresponsible *^&$"^%#s that fail to stick to the rules are the cause of the ruin"..Me I would chin em happily. Best solution is Alan's and get the Police. I wont mention the BBC..... Tempted to moan.

AktoMan said...

aye, no-one ever moans here ... much ;-)

Trouble with the police is that they have other things to do. It is also difficult to prove person A left litter Z. Photographic evidence? One tent looks pretty much like another.

Community officers/rangers?

Martin Rye said...

Rangers do patrol the paths say in the Peak District. They move on wild campers, up high. Just need to patrol the lower down bits. Rangers could be empowered more to issue fines on the spot etc.