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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:
Morningup · 27/04/2025 19:36

viques · 27/04/2025 19:33

I have chosen my three, but while prepping supper I remembered another one.

Restaurants who don’t cut the ends off carrots and beans but leave a little tail and leaf stump, carrot, or tails at either end, beans. Why do they do this? They have a kitchen full of sharp knives and veg prep chefs. Just do your job please.

My beans tonight were delicious, looked pretty and didn’t leave me with little bits of inedible green string on my plate. The tails went in the compost, where they belong.

You need to go to nicer restaurants
not something I have ever encountered

Badbadbunny · 27/04/2025 19:38

MissScarletInTheBallroom · 27/04/2025 13:35

Well I'd make it actually have consequences.

And enforcement. No one will do anything (neither council nor police) if a car is blocking your driveway access if your car isn't on the drive and you're not blocked in. That's the different between criminal and civil law. Apparently it's not a criminal offence! However, the police will, allegedly come out if a car is blocking your own car in on your own driveway as there is a criminal offence of obstruction. But, in reality, it takes them hours to bother coming out and by that time the offending car will usually have moved.

Badbadbunny · 27/04/2025 19:39

Oilofeveningprimrose · 27/04/2025 19:22

The biggest danger to birds and hedgehogs is actually traffic so maybe we should ban all means of transportation?

Transportation is a necessity. Owning a cat isn't!

MissScarletInTheBallroom · 27/04/2025 19:40

Badbadbunny · 27/04/2025 19:38

And enforcement. No one will do anything (neither council nor police) if a car is blocking your driveway access if your car isn't on the drive and you're not blocked in. That's the different between criminal and civil law. Apparently it's not a criminal offence! However, the police will, allegedly come out if a car is blocking your own car in on your own driveway as there is a criminal offence of obstruction. But, in reality, it takes them hours to bother coming out and by that time the offending car will usually have moved.

You should get a fine and points on your licence for doing it.

SmegmaCausesBV · 27/04/2025 19:42

MissScarletInTheBallroom · 27/04/2025 19:40

You should get a fine and points on your licence for doing it.

If you get permission for a dropped curb for a drive you can ask the council to paint an H in front to show it's not a space, although the dropped curb should really be a big clue!

Popsicle1981 · 27/04/2025 19:49

Halfemptyhalfling · 27/04/2025 11:59

Scrapping cash would mean govt, banks, hackers etc could follow every transaction . Also some people are not allowed bank accounts due to past money problems.

You are allowed a post office account

I agree - ban all cash

NeedAnyHelpWithThatPaperBag · 27/04/2025 19:52

Profiteering
Party manifestos allowed to be unenforceable
A home being something traded on a world wide game of Monopoly

Oilofeveningprimrose · 27/04/2025 19:56

Badbadbunny · 27/04/2025 19:39

Transportation is a necessity. Owning a cat isn't!

Is it though? Every trip people make is a necessity? I bet a very small percentage of trips are actually necessary. Owning a cat is a necessity for us for pest control. Unless of course you would like us to use poison to control rats and kill the local owl population alongside them?
Never ever have I seen a hedgehog harmed by a cat.

JustMeAndTheFish · 27/04/2025 20:00

Stupid and idiotic plastic washing up bowls that make it impossible to actually fit your plates in the sink. And won’t stand up when you try to keep them out of the way.
Straight into Room 101. (Off topic, but I actually had room 101 in an oasis hotel in Abu Dhabi. It consisted of two reception rooms, a dressing room, bedroom, dining room and mini kitchen. All for one person).

viques · 27/04/2025 20:02

Morningup · 27/04/2025 19:36

You need to go to nicer restaurants
not something I have ever encountered

In my experience it is nice restaurants that do it! I think they spend too much time watching tv cheffing.

AFrankExchangeofViews · 27/04/2025 20:05

Fruity/candy flavoured vapes that target children - should be criminal

LakieLady · 27/04/2025 20:21

MissPobjoysPonies · 27/04/2025 09:27

You are wrong. Crocs are fabulous garden shoes.

Crocs cured the plantar fasciitis that had had me near crippled for more than 2 years.

I agree that they're hideous, and wouldn't dream of going further than my garden in them, but they are great for PF.

sleepwouldbenice · 27/04/2025 20:32

SmegmaCausesBV · 27/04/2025 19:42

If you get permission for a dropped curb for a drive you can ask the council to paint an H in front to show it's not a space, although the dropped curb should really be a big clue!

Just to point out that getting a widened driveway and dropped kerb often takes shared parking off others. Especially in cul de sacs where not everyone can do the same

BlueandWhitePorcelain · 27/04/2025 20:37

SpringSunshineanddaffodils · 27/04/2025 16:01

Are you suggesting they cycle on the pavements?! Or are you advocating for more cycle paths? Because I can get behind that.
Either way we ALL pay for the roads, through our council tax, and we should therefore all be allowed to use them. Car drivers do NOT pay road tax, and have no more rights to the road than anyone else.

IMO, bicycles should have number plates, and cyclists should pay for compulsory insurance and road tax

I was at the head of a queue of traffic at some temporary traffic lights on red today - and a cyclist just sailed past us, through the red light! Why does the Highway Code not apply to cyclists?

LakieLady · 27/04/2025 20:46
  1. Playing music in a car that's so loud that it can be heard outside your car.
  2. Another vote for spitting in the street or any other public place.
  3. Packaging that isn't easy to open.
Kardamyli2 · 27/04/2025 20:52

sleepwouldbenice · 27/04/2025 19:07

Hard of thinking does that to a person
Hence my suggestion in the first place

Try a nap @sleepwouldbeniceit will do wonders for your cognitive abilities.

SpringSunshineanddaffodils · 27/04/2025 20:54

BlueandWhitePorcelain · 27/04/2025 20:37

IMO, bicycles should have number plates, and cyclists should pay for compulsory insurance and road tax

I was at the head of a queue of traffic at some temporary traffic lights on red today - and a cyclist just sailed past us, through the red light! Why does the Highway Code not apply to cyclists?

That cyclist was in the wrong, they absolutely should be following the highway code.

But it seems unfair to bring back road tax just for cyclists when no-one else has to pay it. Everyone, including cyclists, already pay for the roads through their council tax. Why make cyclists pay extra?

As for insurance, cars can do a LOT more damage to other people and property than bikes can.

OP posts:
SpringSunshineanddaffodils · 27/04/2025 20:55

I'm changing mine, anyway, after my weekend

  1. Houses that refuse to clean themselves
  2. Lawns that refuse to mow themselves
  3. Children that whinge on family walks
OP posts:
sleepwouldbenice · 27/04/2025 20:59

Kardamyli2 · 27/04/2025 20:52

Try a nap @sleepwouldbeniceit will do wonders for your cognitive abilities.

Edited

Your jokes match IQ
Try a simple Google of reliable sources (hint: not you tube or tiktok) to quickly understand that you beliefs put you in the same camp as extreme maga
But you won't.
Hence my original point

Tandora · 27/04/2025 21:03

letsnotIRL · 27/04/2025 08:45

  1. Smoking or drinking or any type of substance abuse while pregnant.
  2. Social media before the age of 16.
  3. Illegal to become a parent without doing some sort of parenting course. Once woman has first scan, both parents should be sent for classes to ensure child safety at home.
  4. DP says smoking altogether should be illegal.
Edited

You’d ban bodily autonomy for pregnant women?!

MrsKateColumbo · 27/04/2025 21:08
  1. smart motorways
  2. People who speed up from side roads and brake sharply as if they aren't going to stop.
  3. Middle lane hoggers!
Kardamyli2 · 27/04/2025 21:15

sleepwouldbenice · 27/04/2025 20:59

Your jokes match IQ
Try a simple Google of reliable sources (hint: not you tube or tiktok) to quickly understand that you beliefs put you in the same camp as extreme maga
But you won't.
Hence my original point

Can you please translate your post to English? I'm not fluent in gibberish.

MadeForThis · 27/04/2025 21:15

1 - any form of gambling.
2- social media before 16.
3 - The Royal Family.

bigkahunaburger · 27/04/2025 21:31

Parental alienation

Being a shit co-parent

Higher conviction rates and longer sentences for rape and DV

Ooral · 27/04/2025 21:33

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.

You posted the silliest things on the thread.

  1. Religion
  2. Religion
  3. Left wing loonies complaining about buying council houses