Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

You are given the power to make three things illegal. What would you choose?

705 replies

SpringSunshineanddaffodils · 27/04/2025 08:40

I know people will post silly things that irritate them but think seriously. What three things would you make completely illegal right now?
Here's mine:

  1. The right to buy your council house
  2. Owning more than one property.
  3. Not keeping your cat contained in your own home. With hefty fines if it is caught killing any wildlife.
OP posts:
taxguru · 27/04/2025 11:48

I would make it illegal for law enforcers such as police, councils, and other authorities NOT to prosecute law breakers. No point having more laws when the law enforcers turn a blind eye to far too much. If someone breaks a law, any law, then there should be repercussions to the perpetrator, and it's not for the "enforcers" to decide not to bother. If a law isn't going to be enforced it needs to be scrapped. Law enforcement agencies need to be more accountable to actual deal with ALL offences under their jurisdictions, not just the ones they can be bothered to deal with.

RoseAndGeranium · 27/04/2025 11:48

Porn.

notloralaigilmore · 27/04/2025 11:46

bikes/electronic scooters
drivers not indicating when turning
Using autism as an excuse for crap parenting

thecatneuterer · 27/04/2025 11:46

viques · 27/04/2025 11:40

Fireworks

littering

17 year olds being given a full driving licence with no restrictions (speed, curfew, passengers)

All those! But littering is already illegal of course

thecatneuterer · 27/04/2025 11:45

ZekeZeke · 27/04/2025 11:30

  1. CASH. Everything goes through the books. Useless fathers wouldn't be able to get out of paying maintenance due to cash in hand jobs.
  2. Smoking
  3. Salary transparency-everyone knows who is on what (like grades) Advertising a job with no salary would be illegal.

Yes, cash!!! I was just thinking this the other day

FalseSpring · 27/04/2025 11:40
  1. Off-lead dogs.
  2. Littering.
  3. All single-use plastic.
viques · 27/04/2025 11:40

Fireworks

littering

17 year olds being given a full driving licence with no restrictions (speed, curfew, passengers)

Topsyturvy78 · 27/04/2025 11:38
  1. Smoking/drinking while pregnant
  2. Smoking in doorways when pub's restaurants shops and bus stops etc.
  3. Talking on Bluetooth in public. It's rude and elderly people think their talking to themselves or to them.
Lilactimes · 27/04/2025 11:35

Evolutionarygoals · 27/04/2025 11:06

  1. The person at the top of an organisation can only earn x7 the wage of the lowest paid person
  2. Companies that make their money from fossil fuels have to immediately pivot all their research into green alternatives
  3. Complete ban on creating audio content that includes any sort of chewing noises. If conversation is supposed to be happening over a meal, and this is completely integral to the plot, they should simply occasionally make reference to the quality of the food or the ambiance of the restaurant

Point 1 on here would fix many many problems 👏

SnowFrogJelly · 27/04/2025 11:33

Shower every day
Toilet brushes
Massive salads

Bikergran · 27/04/2025 11:31

Only 3?
MPs being allowed ANY gifts or freebies, and the whole "expenses" system should be reviewed - some apparently renting out their original house while getting massive allowances for having and furnishing houses in London and their constituency.

"Smart" motorways - they're not smart, they're bloody dangerous.

Student loans. In my day, (1960s) the local education authority covered the whole cost of tuition plus a maintenance grant for accommodation and basic living expenses. This meant anyone who got the exam results could go to university, which was a massive boost to social mobility, and they could start their career without huge debts hanging over them.

Tortielady · 27/04/2025 11:31

Local authorities shouldn't be able to go below a certain level of provision for public conveniences in their area. Going to the loo isn't an optional extra. Ditto public library provision. Reading isn't a luxury, although you'd think otherwise, if you look at the number of branch libraries lost since 2010. I accept there would be a lot of arguments about funding these things, given the squeeze on council budgets, the state of many people's council tax bills, the pressure on central government support etc. But we used to have a lot more public provision of both of these facilities and whatever's changed, it certainly isn't the need for them.

I'd go with restricting the use of speakerphones and no-headphone use of devices in principle. I've been there and it's awful, so I have every sympathy. In practice, it would be hard to enforce, especially as jacks are disappearing from phones and connecting means Bluetooth, which doesn't always work.

A lower age limit for smartphones and internet access. I don't have children and don't know whether it should be 14/16/18. But a mountain of research from experts and anecdotal evidence from parents, teachers and children suggests that young people are being harmed by runaway use of mobile devices in a way that they aren't by their laptops. This restriction again comes with a ton of caveats and implications.

ZekeZeke · 27/04/2025 11:30
  1. CASH. Everything goes through the books. Useless fathers wouldn't be able to get out of paying maintenance due to cash in hand jobs.
  2. Smoking
  3. Salary transparency-everyone knows who is on what (like grades) Advertising a job with no salary would be illegal.
Seymour5 · 27/04/2025 11:28

Loud Music/loud phone conversations on public transport without headphones!
Selling council housing (Scotland & Wales already have banned it)
Littering
People having children who haven’t a clue about parenting.
And those flesh coloured leggings 😁

KimberleyClark · 27/04/2025 11:27

RipleyJones · 27/04/2025 08:50

Wearing skin coloured leggings 🫣

That should definitely be illegal. I was at a National Trust property the other day and a guide was wearing flesh coloured leggings and a top that didn’t cover her bum. You’d think they’d have higher dress standards for a public facing role.

Giggorata · 27/04/2025 11:27

Why bother? There are so many things that are already illegal that don't seem to get prosecuted these days.
Rape, violence, threats to kill, illegal immigration, fraud, criminal damage to name but a few.

Kardamyli2 · 27/04/2025 11:27

slaytuesday · 27/04/2025 11:02

  1. Illegal to vote Reform or any other racist facist party ( I understand everyone has their own opinion, this is mine)
  2. to driver slower than the speed limit on the already too slow British motorways ( After living abroad for several years, it is hell driving in the uk motorways every day)
  3. phone calls/music on speakerphone in public

Re your point 1. If we can't vote for a racist or fascist party there'd be no one to vote for.

PumpkinsAndCoconuts · 27/04/2025 11:25

Single use plastic that isn’t medically necessary (or beneficial).

Manspreading.

People clapping during concerts / performances when I would like to hear and enjoy the music!! And not their clapping….

(I am aware that there are more serious issues than clapping during concerts, btw)

Kardamyli2 · 27/04/2025 11:24

sleepwouldbenice · 27/04/2025 10:55

Death penalty for those who don't believe in climate change
Would deal with many issues at once

I'd send people who refuse to acknowledge that the world's climate has been changing since the planet was formed to the gulag. With especially poor treatment and food for those arrogant enough to think that humans can do anything to stop the climate from continuing to change.

NicolaCasanova · 27/04/2025 11:23

Vaping or at least vaping outside of your own home

I can’t think of one let alone two other things I find as offensive than vaping.

Barbadossunset · 27/04/2025 11:21

Yes this is really grim. I avoid salmon now.

Same.

GameOfJones · 27/04/2025 11:21

Free range farming only. Battery farming and keeping pigs caged indoors etc banned.

Dogs inside cafés, restaurants and other places serving food.

Social media access for under 18s.

Hastentoadd · 27/04/2025 11:16

SpringSunshineanddaffodils · 27/04/2025 08:40

I know people will post silly things that irritate them but think seriously. What three things would you make completely illegal right now?
Here's mine:

  1. The right to buy your council house
  2. Owning more than one property.
  3. Not keeping your cat contained in your own home. With hefty fines if it is caught killing any wildlife.

Unpaid overtime and the expectation that you need to do it in order to keep your job

Bullying / nastiness in the workplace

Not giving employees yearly pay rises

Purplecatshopaholic · 27/04/2025 11:16

People who don’t treat others as they would like to be treated.
Cruelty to animals.
Bad weather.

tinyspiny · 27/04/2025 11:15

Smoking / vaping in public
spitting in public ( including sports people)
logburners anywhere that it’s possible to have mains gas / built up areas .

Swipe left for the next trending thread