Tuesday 22 April 2014

Sumoking's Libertarian Corner - How regulation works

With a little (paraphrased) help from comedian Doug Stanhope, because he is 1. funnier than me, and 2. I am buggered for time to do a proper post (though one is slowly coming together, maybe, by 2018). 

"They say if you give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day, but if you teach a man to fish.... 

  • then he's gotta get a fishing license, but he doesn't have any money.
  • So he's got to get a job and get into the Social Security system and pay taxes, and now you're gonna audit the poor bugger, 'cause he's not really good with maths.
  • So you'll pull the HMRC van up to his house, and you'll take all his stuff. You'll take his black velvet Elvis and his Batman toothbrush, and his penis pump, and that all goes up for auction with the burden of proof on him because he forgot to carry the one,
  • 'cause he was just worried about eating a fucking fish, and he couldn't even cook the fish 'cause he needed a permit for an open flame. Then the Department of Rural Affair and the Environment Agency is going to start asking a lot of questions about where are you going to dump the scales and the guts. 'This is not a sanitary environment', and ladies and gentlemen if you get sick of it all at the end of the day...
  • not even legal to kill yourself (this is a bit american focused but for Sucicide in the UK, it was decriminalised in England under 1961 Suicide act and not really ever directly a crime in Scots law, but, if you don't keep it private it might be a breach of the peace, consolation for those commuters held up by someone jumping in front of their train).

8 comments:

benj said...

It's pretty much illegal to kill any wild freshwater fish in the UK now, so you have to go to a stocked trout fishery anyway.

The price of which can be much higher than the annual rod licence(£27).

So, if you are poor, you a best off in the freezer section of your supermarket if you want to eat fish.

The licence is also conditional that you stick to approved fishing methods. The fee is used by the EA to manage waterways on behalf of the users.

This is an overcrowded Island. Unfortunately, we need some rules to preserve our ever shrinking natural habitat.

SumoKing said...

"This is an overcrowded Island. Unfortunately, we need some rules to preserve our ever shrinking natural habitat"

These both seem unlikely

benj said...

@ Sumoking

In England there is no "natural habitat" left. There is a tiny piece of Caledonian forest in Scotland, and the Glens of Antrim in Northern Island. Less than 0.1% of UK land area.

So while it may seem unlikely, there is some still left ;)

BTW, I doubt if any of the UK's millions of fishermen resent paying the rod licence. Most would happily pay more it helped preserve their sport.

Mark Wadsworth said...

The UK is indeed not "overcrowded" and how much "natural" space is left depends on how you define it.

As to angling, it's not like they refuse to fish at straightened rivers, reservoirs, canals, weirs and other "man made" environments.

Suffice to say, a fishing licence is a bit like rent; you have to pay "a bit" but anglers benefit from the extra space/fish/tranquility they get because others are not prepared to pay "a bit", so it seems like a good source of revenue to me, however modest.

Kj said...

Fishing in the sea by rod is still free though isn't it?

Derek said...

A fishing license is a payment for access to natural resources, so basically a form of LVT.

Bayard said...

"It's pretty much illegal to kill any wild freshwater fish in the UK"

Well nearly all of them are inedible, so there's not much point in killing them.

Mark Wadsworth said...

SL, maybe, but who eats the French?