Macaroo wrote:
And if people started carrying signs saying, "God hates people who say God hates fags", would they arrest them, too? 
Thereby the big problem. Even saying that illegal acts are not covered, so you can picket God hates Paedos is dubious since the law changes and so for that matter do individual interpretations of just when Paedophilia starts - some would say underage at 16, others with statutory rape at 13 (unconstitutional in Ireland), and yet others agree with the (peculiar if well-intentioned) British law that makes sex illegal under 18 for money but not for free except in circumstances involving positions of authority.

In fact, Britain has always had quite enough alternative laws to silence anything it doesn't like (and some new ones since 1980 aimed at rave parties) except where sanctioned like the Houses of Parliament and Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park. When all else fails, Conspiracy can be and has been used against acts which were either not criminal in themselves or carried a trivial penalty - like sit-ins.

That may well be the way out, though in reverse. It would be easy to legislate specific occasions when and where it is reasonable to restrict expression while allowing it elsewhere. Religious sites and observances should be fairly obvious or you could in theory allow religious discrimination by allowing one sect or religion to picket another during services.


"The idea that you can buy anything has replaced the notion that you are perfectly free to create anything or that you are perfectly free to change the world"
Stew Albert, political activist (1939-2006)