over-the-top regulation

[richmond62]

What most people who have never had experience of internet (and a lot of other things) in the UK is the stifling effect of totally over-the-top regulation of almost everything.

Just as a fairly silly example: here in Bulgaria, sitting in some daft village out in the hills (45 mins without traffic, 75 mins with traffic from a big town), having the cheapest internet service available (£7 / $10 per month), I get faster everything (plus unlimited uploads and downloads) than even the most that 'Broadband' can supply in the UK.

While the Eastern block managed to almost totally deregulate as the Berlin wall tumbled, the UK have been very busy building their pie-in-the-sky, extremely shabby, almost totalitarian control over everything.

I carry a small, blunt pocket knife in my pocket (for cutting apples, sharpening pencils, and cleaning out my pipe): I bought it from a junk shop in England when I was 6 years old. Now, in the UK, it is ILLEGAL for anyone to carry such a knife. When I bought a bread knife for my mother 4 years ago the man in the shop had to deliver it 100 yards in his van because the previous week he had been warned by the police they would prosecute him for sending a customer away with a carving knife in a carrier bag!

[tperry2x]

Well, for approx £22 a month - the download speed I get (effective speed) is about 1.1MB/sec.
And I'm supposed to feel grateful for that.

When other people are downloading / attempting to stream in the house, then downloading something as large as xCode takes ALL DAY.

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I suffer from "the last mile problem". As in, it might be fibre-optic / OM Fibre from the exchange, all the way to the end of the street - where it turns into copper cable which is probably as 'old as the hills' - and there lies the bottleneck. Nobody will come and touch that copper cabling (it'd probably fall apart if they did), because nobody will take responsibility if they wreck it.

[OpenXTalkPaul]

I feel for you guys. I guess the closest to a level of absurd over-regulation here in the US would be the state of California, but I'm pretty sure they have better broadband speeds than that (maybe Richard will chime in).

[FourthWorld]

(maybe Richard will chime in).

200 Mbps.

My daily carry is a Leatherman CS-4 multitool, with a modest blade and frankly in the city I use the scissors more often.

I keep a 12" Gerber full-tang in my go bag. Impractical in the city, but invaluable in the woods. Durable enough to split a log.

As for regulation in California, when I first moved to Los Angeles we could barely breathe the air; smog warnings off and on thru the week. These days I can't recall the last time we had a smog warning. Just took a long walk around downtown; clear skies, fresh air. Kinda nice. More regs like that please.

[richmond62]

Pollution regulation is one thing, and I'm all in favour of it.

State monopolistic control over private companies such as internet in the UK is another thing.

Not permitting pocket knives . . .

Talk going on to ban people from smoking in their own homes . . .

All this boils down to is a huge restriction of choices, anti-competitive practice, and removal of personal responsibility.

If/when I retire to Britain, I shall ALWAYS carry my old, blunt, tiny pocket knife with me, and set aside a sum of money to take the police to court when they give Granddad Richmond a criminal record for sitting on the beach opening mussels with his penknife.

Obviously the British state view ALL of its subjects (subjects of that King, not citizens note) as likely to commit knife crime and fog the country up with baccy smoke.

I was extremely pleasantly surprised when I lived in the US at the amazing range of choice in almost every area; especially telephone companies (those were the days of dial-up internet).

Similarly, here in Bulgaria, the choices are vast.

[FourthWorld]

In Los Angeles county, most knives can be carried. The exception seems to reflect a concern about how they're carried, whether it can be considered brandishing.

A longsword on the subway would be seen as provocative.

But blades up to a certain length (5" I'm guessing) are fine even in a belt holder.

Non-spring-loaded folding knives are generally fine. Pen knives and multitools are generally acceptable, except in sensitive locations like airplanes and courtrooms.

Then again, this is a country where you can take a high-powered semiautomatic rifle to the sandwich shop if you're too scared to order a pastrami-on-rye without one.

[OpenXTalkPaul]

I lost my little (and by that point dull) 'Swiss army knife" my dad gave me due to forgetting I had it in my pocket, and then it being flagged by venue security (not due to government regulations) at a concert in northern New Jersey (near NYC), I tried to sort of hide it nearby but it was gone when I came back after the show.