Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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:
GeorgianaM · 27/04/2025 09:57

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

SoOxon · 27/04/2025 09:57

CanYouTurnItDown · 27/04/2025 09:54

I mean, it’s not. Lots of people manage it.

Show quote history

but do their cats ?!?

Amberlynnswashcloth · 27/04/2025 09:56

I wish there were more regulations about home renovation and large DIY projects to include some sort of noise impact assessment for neighbours. Sick of the having to tolerate projects that go on for years with never ending drilling, banging, sanding etc. I think there should be more obligations to complete loud and messy projects within a certain timeframe so it limits the impact on other people.

ReplacementBusService · 27/04/2025 09:56
  1. Knee jerk ideas about making things illegal without any respect for the fact that our justice system is already massively underfunded and in total meltdown, police forces are a mixture of struggling honest and evil corrupt individuals and our courts are unable to keep up with the backlog of cases, and prisons are bursting at the seams, and there is still NO COSTED PLAN to deal with this dire mess and making more things illegal is going to add to the existing shameful misery
  1. Tailgating on the motorway
  1. People who park across my driveway
meevee · 27/04/2025 09:55

I would focus on adequate punishment for stuff that is already legal tbh.

Berryslacks · 27/04/2025 09:54

@QueefQueen80sI love your description of cats😂 We had a magnificent moggy a big Tom near us. He’s sadly now in the great garden in the sky RIP (old age). I once watched him kill two huge rats in quick succession at the bottom of our garden. I had taken to calling the rats ‘the twins’. They always arrived under the fence together from the field next door. Until one day super Mog was waiting for them.

CanYouTurnItDown · 27/04/2025 09:54

SoOxon · 27/04/2025 09:52

and impossible

Show quote history

I mean, it’s not. Lots of people manage it.

Annialisting · 27/04/2025 09:54

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.

If you abolish landlord property you will make hundreds of people homeless. Councils simply do not have sufficient homes for all those needing them.

Many rented properties are very nice. I would far rather have my attractive rental property than an old run down council house.

ChocolateBiscuitsandaCuppa · 27/04/2025 09:54
  1. Drivers who stay in the middle/right lane whilst not overtaking
  2. Vapes
  3. Gym gear as 'normal' clothing
CanYouTurnItDown · 27/04/2025 09:53

myfitbitisfucked · 27/04/2025 09:37

Accompanied by white ribbed sports socks pulled up high and some sort of cropped puffer bonnet jacket and a face loaded with makeup including massive laminated brows, false eyelashes and a scowl.

Show quote history

This was on my list too but I bumped it for litter droppers. It was close though

LlynTegid · 27/04/2025 09:52

Putting the clocks back in winter
Certain hidden charges
BT and other utilities having so called 'appointments' that can be a time window of 'morning' or 'afternoon' i.e five hours- two hour maximum time window.

BunnyRuddington · 27/04/2025 09:52

Sunshineandrainbow · 27/04/2025 09:48

Why can't they move her to a smaller property? Because she doesn't want to or none available?

Show quote history

I was wondering this too? Most HA’s around here will actively help you to move to a smaller property, usually a newly built flat which all seem very well insulated. DM is in one and it’s so warm she barely ever has her heating on.

SoOxon · 27/04/2025 09:52

MidnightPatrol · 27/04/2025 08:41

The one about cats is the most bizarre.

and impossible

Cherrysoup · 27/04/2025 09:52

SlagPit · 27/04/2025 08:43

Holiday homes

Littering

Buying clothes to wear once

The last one is interesting. No new wedding dresses/wedding guest/prom dresses? Vinted is fab for selling on one off items.

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 27/04/2025 09:51
  1. ultra processed food
  2. hanging dog poo bags in trees
  3. bright and flashing lights in public places
BringBackVanillaIceCreamMonsterMunch · 27/04/2025 09:51
  1. Cycling on pavements
  2. Parking on pavements
  3. Attendance awards at school.
WellINeverrr · 27/04/2025 09:50
  1. Those really noisy car engines that you can hear 10 miles away.
  1. Bullying.
  1. Cheating.
lljkk · 27/04/2025 09:50

No way would I want this power. Bound to be unintended consequences and what's the point of criminalising things that are unenforceable.

If I could just change people's habits, have a magic power not legal one, I'd like

  • People to usually turn their car engines off when stationary
  • People to turn on a reasonable minimum of lights in a building they are using, and turn them off when they leave
  • Everyone to be kinder & more forgiving & tolerant and patient
ScarlettOYara · 27/04/2025 09:49

Kardamyli2 · 27/04/2025 09:40

  1. Pet dogs
  2. Ed Milliband
  3. Mass immigration (both legal and illegal)

Ed Milliband should be illegal? That's a bit strong.

QueefQueen80s · 27/04/2025 09:49

Cakeonthefloor · 27/04/2025 09:29

270 million small animals and birds killed by pet cats in the UK. Some states in Australia have banned them from being allowed out. Pet cats exist in a density that would never occur naturally. There are many people who would support a ban on free roaming cats.

Show quote history

It will never happen here. And I say this as an indoor cat owner

LoveToLounge · 27/04/2025 09:49

Smart phones, social media and pornography for under 16s
Plastic
Pronouns in email signatures

smileymileysmiley · 27/04/2025 09:49
  1. Ultra processed food and beverages
  2. Social media for under 16s
  3. Scrunchy bum leggings
ScarlettOYara · 27/04/2025 09:48
  1. Giving your children a smartphone before the age of 16/ unsupervised access to the Internet.
  2. Taking your dog to John Lewis, Clark's, and every kind of social space. It's not your friend helping to choose accessories, it's a dog.
  3. Using 4x4 vehicles in a busy city. No need, and very wasteful.
Sunshineandrainbow · 27/04/2025 09:48

RichWithNoSelfControl · 27/04/2025 09:25

Lifetime council tenancy. MIL has one, moved in with 3 kids in the early 90s, Huge 3 bed house. Now it's just her, pays a ridiculous amount in bedroom tax but they can't move her to a smaller one bed property even though she often says she can't manage such a large house anymore due to health conditions.

Leaving dogs at home alone all day whilst owners go off to work. I don't care if you have a dog walker come in a couple times a day, don't have a dog if you can't provide it with basic care. You get a dog for companionship and then leave it alone for 8+ hours a day, why?

Plastic bags and unnecessary plastic packaging. Start with the companies, perhaps a plastic tax on every item packaged in plastic.

Smartphones and social media for under 18s. There's no need for children/teenagers to have anything other than a basic £40 phone that calls/texts.

I'll probably get some hate for this one but SAHP once your children are of school age. Completely normal when kids are little but once they start school, get a job.

Why can't they move her to a smaller property? Because she doesn't want to or none available?

QueefQueen80s · 27/04/2025 09:48

godmum56 · 27/04/2025 09:24

Not sure about this. Dogs used to be allowed to roam when I was a child. There was no compulsory microchipping. Unwanted kittens and puppies were drowned in a bucket rather than spaying/neutering. It was normal to keep pet birds in tiny cages.....stuff does change.

Show quote history

Dogs are different, they shit on pavements and grass, can bite, can form packs, more intimidating, move about quicker.
Cats are chilled, mostly go around unnoticed, bury their poo usually, move slowly.