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

[SpringSunshineanddaffodils]

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.

1. Sunbeds
2. Using electronic devices in public with the sound turned on and without headphones
3. Parking across someone's drive

School holiday price hikes. I get it, it’s a commercial decision but it annoys me!

Phonics, I don’t get it at all. I’m sick of having to do it with my kids in the evenings (though I will continue to do so….).

Linked to this is school projects. Asking my child to make a shoebox representation of her favourite book at 4 years old is ridiculous. She wasn’t the one superglueing bees to a box at midnight or her hand to the table!

Cats are designed for the outdoors. Seems more cruel to keep them locked in - and that's coming from someone who started having cats kept indoors! They are happier in their natural habitat.

Hiring people you know before.
Not feeding one’s own children.
Receiving more money from social care system than people who work full time at national minimum wage.

1. Ridiculous salaries (e.g. for footballers, politicians and the heads of certain organisations) that the rest of us could only earn in about 10 years, despite doing more hours and graft than they do.
2. Dropping litter. On a school trip to Berlin, the most amazing thing was the fact that the city was CLEAN, unlike its UK counterparts (and smaller towns).
3. Compulsory Purchase Orders of working farmland. I appreciate that we need more housing in the UK, and nobody wants to live in a 'brown site' area, but we still need to use functioning farmland to raise livestock and crops to feed people... Also, the new farm death tax, because farmland should only really be in the hands of people who know what to do with it (i.e. not just use it as a building site).

@SpringSunshineanddaffodils - why would you want to make buying a council home? Not everyone is able to afford it full price. Why would you want to deny someone the ability to own their own house!
For me it would be me:

1. Voting without understanding
2. social media for under 16
3. quotas for your carbon footprint

If everyone bought their council house when where would we house people who genuinely need it? There’s not enough housing stock for secure rental as it is. I think if you can afford to not live in a council house then you shouldn’t be in one.

1. No alienating parents from children unless of course they are bad for the kids.

1. When child is if age then stop saying it's only 2 nights a week. If he wants to stay here a few days let him. He will make up your days so you still get maintenance money.

1. Illegal to smoke in houses where children live

Chewing gum.
Unlicensed dog breeding. I would put very strict controls on this.
Medical and surgical treatment for U18s with gender dysphoria.

• Smoking
• Vaping
• Keeping a pet as indoor only, including fish in tanks.

1. Because it limits the social housing available in later generations. If you can afford to buy a house, it is much better for society as a whole if you buy privately, rather than reduce council housing stock.
2. Maybe not always but in a country with a massive housing crisis, yes. The second homes tend to be in places where local people have now been priced out of the market. That is bad for everyone.
3. Fair enough.

#3 is already illegal.

In my home country, people can't own more than 1 government apartment and can only buy a private condo after 5 years of owning the government apartment (unless they buy privately from the start). 75% of the population live in government apartments (which they mostly own). 40% of the population are also foreigners and permanent residents (foreigners can't buy the government apartments) but there is still a rental sector for the foreigners and the few citizens who choose to rent (many young people waiting for government flat to be built but don't want to live with parents in the mean time).

We could set limits of ownership on certain types of housing. For example, as no issue with supply of flats, landlords could own as many flats as they like. 3 bed houses, one per family. 4/ 5 bed houses- max 2 to 3 can be owned by indidivials - guess would be suitable as HMOs for professionals and typical top of housing ladder properties so don't need so much protection.

2 bed houses should have some limits but they can be suitable rentals for young families in certain towns so I would set a limit on how many can be owned by an individual. Grade 2 listed or derelict properties also shouldn't have any limits on ownership, you can own as many as you like.
I speak as someone who owns a London flat (and wants to stay in a London flat; at the same time i acknowledge that it has fallen 20% in real terms even as a period residents managed property as there is a ton of supply; i did take advantage as i bought 15% below the peak). The reality is that the biggest shortage is for 2/3 bed houses as they appeal to the largest number of people but developers aren't building them.

• Why should buying your council house be illegal ? My mother did this after 16 years as a council tennant,she bought her small 2 bed terrace her mortgage repayments were less than her council rent,she was a single parent and it lifted our family out of poverty and gave her security.*

Because the stock of housing wasn't replenished. It made individuals richer but wasn't good for society as a whole. I don't think social housing should have been used to make people richer.

Interesting the number of things people would make illegal simply because they feel hard done by, and which would severely negatively impact a great many.

1. Social media for under 18’s
2. Inheritance tax ( How many bloody times will you tax the same money?! It’s like you want to punish people who have worked hard for their families!)
3. Smoking

Smoking. Costs a lot in NHS money. Even non smokers who end up in hospital for a day because of smoking at the railway station. (3 GP visits, lots of prescriptions, day in A and E)
Twats who smoke outside Birmingham children's hospital should be fined the cost of several hospital appointments that needed to happen due to the asthma attack they triggered on the way to the asthma appointment thus rending it useless and requiring several more appointments.

Make it illegal to use council housing sales money for anything other than building new council houses of similar quality.

Owning a dog without a license (which needs to be carried or produced within 72 hours) Use the money to spend on enforcing the no dog areas in parks/beaches and providing dog poo bins/water stations in dog beaches parks. And dog wardens to enforce shit picking up.

Reading these, it's very easy to see how quickly people embrace fascism and authoritarianism.

That said, if we banned parties for being racist, the first one to go would be the Labour party as it's the only one currently that been found to be institutionally racist by the EHRC.

As a PP has said, there are already loads of laws - they just don't get enforced.

Rather than lots of laws, I would pick one priority and put a big effort into enforcing it and punishing offenders until it was wiped out. And yes, I would start with litter. I'm a bit Giuliani that way - if you maintain standards at the lowest levels, you raise them overall.

Where else would adults cycle?

Do you mean they should be on the pavement?

The susceptibility of individuals to fascism and authoritarianism also highlights the inherent risks of democracy, particularly in how citizens vote. Democracy, by design, entrusts the power of governance to the electorate, but this power can be easily swayed by emotional appeals, populist rhetoric, and short-term promises.

In democratic systems, voter decisions are often influenced by factors such as fear, misinformation, and the desire for immediate solutions to complex issues. This can lead to the election of leaders who, once in power, undermine democratic institutions and principles, often in the name of efficiency or national restoration.

Furthermore, the fragmentation of political discourse in democracies can create fertile ground for extremist ideologies to gain traction, as polarized factions exploit public grievances to rally support.

The appeal of authoritarian leadership in times of crisis or uncertainty reflects a collective longing for certainty, and democratic systems may struggle to counter this demand without eroding their foundational values.

Hence, while democracy offers the ideal of governance by the people, it also carries the risk that, when voters are manipulated or uninformed, it can facilitate the rise of leaders who threaten the very system it seeks to protect.

Social media for under 16
vaping
dogs in restaurants

1. Pensioners doing their food shopping at the weekend when they have had all week to do it.
2. Kids in pubs
3. Cutting grass after 7.

Well I'd make it actually have consequences.