If you were in charge...

ergonomics · 7 Sep 2007 at 17:57

bigredshark said:
depends how blatently guilty the defendant is and their age when they commit the crime among other things. There are lots of variables.

If some guys shoots someone in front of 10 witnesses and admits it at the age of, say, 18, then it would likely be more expensive to imprison him for life than to execute him. But obviously, somebody who gets convicted of poisoning someone by complex DNA evidence at the age of 55 is going to be cheaper just to lock up. On balence it works out even apparently...

depends on the method of execution...BURN THEM.

the energy created could be used to power some hospitals or something

geeza · 7 Sep 2007 at 20:23

re-classify certain drugs. I dont believe drugs like ecstasy should fall into the same category as heroin and cocaine. To be a class A i remember reading that it has to be proved to have 'no medical use' which it does/did.

Personally I feel nicotine is much more harmful and increases taxes so much more having to pay for all the people with cancer because of it. The amount of crime alcohol causes will no doubt massively increase taxes for police services. Never seen much/any trouble when people take E but load people spirits/beer and you have a recipe for disaster.

Energize · 7 Sep 2007 at 20:51

geeza said:
re-classify certain drugs. I dont believe drugs like ecstasy should fall into the same category as heroin and cocaine. To be a class A i remember reading that it has to be proved to have 'no medical use' which it does/did.

No thats the usa, in the uk even heroin is a prescribed drug.

EddScott · 7 Sep 2007 at 20:57

Energize said:
No thats the usa, in the uk even heroin is a prescribed drug.

Is that not methadone (sp) all the addiction, but none of the fun.

Energize · 7 Sep 2007 at 21:10

EddScott said:
Is that not methadone (sp) all the addiction, but none of the fun.

Heroin is sometimes prescribed for the treatment of severe chronic pain.

manoz · 7 Sep 2007 at 21:11

I'll make Islam mandatory for all, bet you'll like that wouldn't you?

Nix said:
Ideologies are what has been wrong with mankind. Religion is an ideology, just as fascism, Marxism, communism, etc. were/are.

There's always gona be Ideology, I doubt you can eradicate it, has there ever been a civilisation in the past which hasn't had an Ideology?

Nix · 7 Sep 2007 at 21:37

manoz said:
There's always gona be Ideology, I doubt you can eradicate it, has there ever been a civilisation in the past which hasn't had an Ideology?

Which reaffirms the point that mankind is fundamentally flawed. People need to learn from the past. There have always been ideologies, perhaps it's time there wasn't?

manoz · 7 Sep 2007 at 21:44

Nix said:
Which reaffirms the point that mankind is fundamentally flawed. People need to learn from the past. There have always been ideologies, perhaps it's time there wasn't?

Well there is always gone have to be one cos if there is no Ideology, there is no direction and when there is no direction people become lost. The strongest civilisations have been the ones that have stuck to theres. And Ideology isn't the main problem, it's people who abuse it.

Nix · 7 Sep 2007 at 21:53

manoz said:
Well there is always gone have to be one cos if there is no Ideology, there is no direction and when there is no direction people become lost. The strongest civilisations have been the ones that have stuck to theres. And Ideology isn't the main problem, it's people who abuse it.

Which brings about another interesting question; how do you stop people abusing it? What makes people abuse it? Corruption, greed?

manoz · 7 Sep 2007 at 22:26

Nix said:
Which brings about another interesting question; how do you stop people abusing it? What makes people abuse it? Corruption, greed?

Exactly, selfishness et al. you can never get rid of it completely 100% cos as you said mankind is fundamentally flawed but you could drop those things significantly if you routed out the causes and made them very much against said Ideology.

AthlonTom · 7 Sep 2007 at 22:28

I'd legalize cannabis

bring back the death penalty

I'd bring in a one child per couple policy

I'd reintroduce national service for anyone who cant make it to uni (I'd make it harder to get to uni)
This large force will be tasked with removing all illegal immigrants, straightening out wrong-uns, and keep a presence on the street where needed.

While I'm at it I might get rid of TV's - and you cant have a games console till your 16. That'l get rid of the fat kids.

azteched · 7 Sep 2007 at 22:29

caff said:
I'd ask every person in the UK to write 2 sides of A4 on why they should be allowed to live.

Anyone who:
- fails to do this
- can't justify their existance
- writes poorly, either bad use of grammar, spelling or English

will be culled by the army.

Oh dear.

Energize · 7 Sep 2007 at 22:36

AthlonTom said:
While I'm at it I might get rid of TV's - and you cant have a games console till your 16. That'l get rid of the fat kids.

It's diet that is the problem, I never exercise and have a bmi of 20.4.

I'd bring in a one child per couple policy

You do realise that would half the population every generation?

Monkey Puzzle · 7 Sep 2007 at 22:44

1 separate Church and state in education, and stop encouraging faith schools.

2 overhaul the health system and stop all the gimmicky inefficient ideas they come up with like public-private initiatives

3 Introduce a more stringent green card system and increase funding to the immigration services.

4 Increase inheritance tax.

5 Build more prisons, ensure better random searches of prison guards (don't know to what extent they do this atm) and increase funding to help criminal drug addicts give up drugs.

6 Introduce proportional representation.

7 Overhaul the education system, with a greater emphasis on basic literacy and numeracy at a younger age. I'd also introduce a vocational training scheme as an alternative to A-levels (similar to the system they have in Germany) rather than forcing everyone to take A-levels, which is bound to be a waste of time.

AthlonTom · 7 Sep 2007 at 22:49

Energize said:
It's diet that is the problem, I never exercise and have a bmi of 20.4.

You do realise that would half the population every generation?

TV Thing - no tv and no games consoles? I cant see kids getting unhealthier because theres no TV and no PS2 anymore.

OneChild thing - Of course it would half the population each generation. thats the plan!

geeza · 8 Sep 2007 at 01:37

AthlonTom said:
I'd legalize cannabis

bring back the death penalty

I'd bring in a one child per couple policy

I'd reintroduce national service for anyone who cant make it to uni (I'd make it harder to get to uni)
This large force will be tasked with removing all illegal immigrants, straightening out wrong-uns, and keep a presence on the street where needed.

While I'm at it I might get rid of TV's - and you cant have a games console till your 16. That'l get rid of the fat kids.

Id do all the stuff barring the first. It scrambles your brain up!

AthlonTom · 8 Sep 2007 at 10:27

geeza said:
Id do all the stuff barring the first. It scrambles your brain up!

Well it wouldn't be mandatory!

semi-pro waster · 8 Sep 2007 at 10:33

AcidHell2 said:
I don't have a problem with separating state and religion, but it's already there. As long as religious freedom is protected, I'm happy. I would keep the national anthem, ok it isn't great but it is our history, Some history should be kept. The queen holds next to no power, but brings in millions of £ to the uk and does a great job of representing the UK around the world, so she would also stay. remember nearly all there wealth is there wealth not ours.

In theory it is but in practice it perhaps isn't so clear cut, the UK had Tony Blair who made no secret of his Christianity (not that he should have to) but if memory serves he has mentioned before that he believes God approves of his decisions. George Bush has definitely made such claims, appeal to a higher power saying "well the big man upstairs thinks I'm right" is a shocking justification if that is all you have. Such a justification should be between yourself and your conscience, the nation doesn't need to know about it. Religious freedom is great, believe in what you like, let others believe in what they like but don't force it onto anyone and keep religion out of state.

RE is fine, even good, but that means you must teach about all religions (at least the main ones) and then allow the child to make an informed choice, as an educational establishment there should be no foisting of the one which the head of the school believes in onto the children. If the children want to believe they will and they should have that right independent of what the school does.

I've not mentioned the national anthem or the Queen. I made no proposals to end or change either of them, they make such little impact to my life that I barely think about either of them.

semi-pro waster · 8 Sep 2007 at 10:37

AthlonTom said:
OneChild thing - Of course it would half the population each generation. thats the plan!

Have you thought about this one fully? The UK is already finding it difficult to pay pensions because the population is an aging one so the retirement age rises and if you have less young people to work and support the elderly the situation just gets worse. Or does everyone get killed off at 65 if they cannot support themselves thereby thinning the population further?

geeza · 8 Sep 2007 at 11:05

Id legalize ecstasy so that its pure MDMA. Would probably reduce ecstasy related hospital visits in the long run (as long as people were educated about dangers of drinking at the same time etc)