# Brit Dopers: Is your country really that uptight? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 22, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-is-your-country-really-that-uptight/664221 "2013-07-22T18:10:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-is-your-country-really-that-uptight/664221/21 "2013-07-23T08:18:55Z")
What I haven’t seen is how is porn going to be defined - and by whom? The old joke about not being able to google Scunthorpe is a good example. ---
**Author:** ![glaeken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@glaeken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glaeken)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-is-your-country-really-that-uptight/664221/22 "2013-07-23T09:50:44Z")
What I particularly don’t like about the proposal is the idea you have to opt in to see 18+ content. It’s almost like they want to make people feel guilty about what should be their right by having to go to their ISP and request to opt in. It smacks of moralising and trying to embarrass people for wanting to have access to such things. It feels very puritan. The default should be opt out not opt in. Just what they are going to block anyway is a minefield. Recently a video for the song Blurred lines was removed from Youtube for being too explicit. Just where and who is going to draw the line? What some people call porn is not even remotely what I would describe as porn. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-is-your-country-really-that-uptight/664221/23 "2013-07-23T10:32:23Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I can’t really say anything about David Cameron better than Charlie Brooker said it, some 5 years ago: > [David Cameron is like a hollow Easter egg, with no bag of sweets inside. He's nothing. He's no one | Charlie Brooker | The Guardian](http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/apr/02/comment.conservatives) It’s hard to say anything about anything better than Charlie Brooker says it. My most recent favourite [Q: How do you spoil a five-year-old for ever? A: Buy him a convertible](http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/21/how-do-you-spoil-a-five-year-old) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-is-your-country-really-that-uptight/664221/24 "2013-07-23T10:48:37Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > There was much talk of getting Google to block the worst pornographic images And by “worst” you mean, for many, “best”. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-is-your-country-really-that-uptight/664221/25 "2013-07-23T10:52:37Z")
Crazy. Whats the UK cumming to? ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-is-your-country-really-that-uptight/664221/26 "2013-07-23T10:58:11Z")
> [@B.Serum](#): > > Brit Dopers: Is your country really that uptight? No, of course it isn’t. Pretty inflammatory headline there pal. One speech by one person who’s looking to grab some headlines (hey, it worked), and you think the whole country wants to start putting covers back on piano legs? We just legalised SSM, in case you hadn’t noticed. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-is-your-country-really-that-uptight/664221/27 "2013-07-23T11:13:57Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I can’t really say anything about David Cameron better than Charlie Brooker said it, some 5 years ago: > [David Cameron is like a hollow Easter egg, with no bag of sweets inside. He's nothing. He's no one | Charlie Brooker | The Guardian](http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/apr/02/comment.conservatives) As Brooker says, Cameron just wants to be re-elected - he has no interest in policies. He also thinks the electorate has a limited attention span, and is scared stiff of Boris Johnson replacing him. > [@SanVito](#): > > No, of course it isn’t. Pretty inflammatory headline there pal. > > One speech by one person who’s looking to grab some headlines (hey, it worked), and you think the whole country wants to start putting covers back on piano legs? > > We just legalised SSM, in case you hadn’t noticed. Cameron doesn’t speak for the country - just rich white businessmen. ---
**Author:** ![sidecar\_jon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@sidecar\_jon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidecar_jon)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-is-your-country-really-that-uptight/664221/28 "2013-07-23T20:17:15Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I do seriously start to wonder if a lot of Tory policy is motivated by spite - trying to get their own back for being out of power while Labour out-toried them. The new primary school curriculum is a case in point - its based on the whim of one man (Gove dismissed, then ignored the consultants he initially set on it), it has almost zero support from education professionals - and is based primarily on the notion that children need to learn lists of facts by rote. Utterly moronic and destructive. Just wait till the autumn the teachers are going to be royally shafted by new contract, payment by results .. return to Victorian values, your kids fail the exams you don’t get a pay rise! In convinced they have no interest in making anything better. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-is-your-country-really-that-uptight/664221/29 "2013-07-23T20:47:19Z")
> [@glee](#): > > Cameron doesn’t speak for the country - just rich white businessmen. If the next PM is Labour, will that be any improvement? ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-is-your-country-really-that-uptight/664221/30 "2013-07-23T21:04:15Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > No, of course it isn’t. Pretty inflammatory headline there pal. > > One speech by one person who’s looking to grab some headlines (hey, it worked), and you think the whole country wants to start putting covers back on piano legs? > > We just legalised SSM, in case you hadn’t noticed. Unclench, mate. I’m well aware Great Britain is not a hivemind. I saw this headline and was gobsmacked that any represented official could begin laying down censorship plans for a policy that didn’t already have wide support. He was speaking as though this were a done deal, not suggesting an abstract concept to the citizenry. So I thought I would ask the question. _“Covers back on piano legs”?_ ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-is-your-country-really-that-uptight/664221/31 "2013-07-23T21:27:19Z")
> [@B.Serum](#): > > _“Covers back on piano legs”?_ [It’s UL.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_fashion#Victorian_prudishness) > [@](#): > > There is no actual evidence that piano legs were considered scandalous. Pianos and tables were often draped with shawls or cloths—but if the shawls hid anything, it was the cheapness of the furniture. There are references to lower-middle-class families covering up their pine tables rather than show that they couldn’t afford mahogany. The piano leg story seems to have originated in the 1839 book, _A Diary in America_ written by Captain Frederick Marryat, as a satirical comment on American prissiness. ---
**Author:** ![BrokenBriton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@BrokenBriton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrokenBriton)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-is-your-country-really-that-uptight/664221/32 "2013-07-24T06:15:29Z")
Yep, those crazy Europeans with the sexual hang ups and socialism. Cameron also has to shore up particular voter demographics which are under threat from UKIP - conservative/right/nutters, basically. So this can also be seen as pandering. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-is-your-country-really-that-uptight/664221/33 "2013-07-24T06:30:51Z")
I don’t think anything will come of this, but on the subject of whether it’s possible to censor the internet… I’m typing this from china and I can tell you websites are blocked pretty effectively here. You do need to be pretty savvy to get around the wall, and few people have the requisite tools / knowledge (so I’m told…I have no first-hand experience of any of this, officer). And that includes young people – the stereotype of “all kids are tech wizards”, is just that. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-is-your-country-really-that-uptight/664221/34 "2013-07-24T06:31:05Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Perfidious Albion! :mad: Vitreous China! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-is-your-country-really-that-uptight/664221/35 "2013-07-24T11:23:47Z")
> [@glee](#): > > Cameron doesn’t speak for the country - just rich white businessmen. He doesn’t speak for rich white businessmen any more than he speaks for rich black businessmen or rich Asian businessmen. I’m tired of “white” being a byword for “right-wing selfish shit”. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-is-your-country-really-that-uptight/664221/36 "2013-07-24T12:29:19Z")
> [@sidecar\_jon](#): > > Just wait till the autumn the teachers are going to be royally shafted by new contract, payment by results .. return to Victorian values, your kids fail the exams you don’t get a pay rise! In convinced they have no interest in making anything better. That’s only an interim contract too - there’s another one in the pipeline, due to implement more changes a year after. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-is-your-country-really-that-uptight/664221/37 "2013-07-24T12:29:48Z")
Did you know that there are 10,703,654 rich white businessmen in the UK? Me either. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-is-your-country-really-that-uptight/664221/38 "2013-07-24T21:09:02Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > I don’t think anything will come of this, but on the subject of whether it’s possible to censor the internet… > > I’m typing this from china and I can tell you websites are blocked pretty effectively here. You do need to be pretty savvy to get around the wall, and few people have the requisite tools / knowledge (so I’m told…I have no first-hand experience of any of this, officer). > > And that includes young people – the stereotype of “all kids are tech wizards”, is just that. My understanding - and I could very well be wrong - is that in China the state owns the ways in and out, whereas in the UK it is a mixture of private companies, state and educational things. Thus it is far easier for the Chinese Government to block, what with having total control. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-is-your-country-really-that-uptight/664221/39 "2013-07-24T22:07:15Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > Did you know that there are 10,703,654 rich white businessmen in the UK? Me either. We certainly don’t have that many **here.** Nevertheless, W didn’t speak for the country, only for rich white businessmen. Politics works out funny sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2013, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-is-your-country-really-that-uptight/664221/40 "2013-07-29T14:09:37Z")
> [@BrokenBriton](#): > > Yep, those crazy Europeans with the sexual hang ups and socialism. > > Cameron also has to shore up particular voter demographics which are under threat from UKIP - conservative/right/nutters, basically. So this can also be seen as pandering. Pandering to the Daily Mail and its readership particularly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-is-your-country-really-that-uptight/664221.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-is-your-country-really-that-uptight/664221.md?page=3)