In my time various things have gone from being commonplace to being unacceptable. Frequently that unacceptability has become law.

For instance-

Capital punishment
Corporal punishment
Driving after a couple of drinks
Leaving dog st on the pavements for others to step in
Paying women less than men for the same job

Now when these things were current, although many people didn't like them the majority accepted them and would have been surprised to learn that in the future they would be outlawed.

So, my question is, is there something going on now that in the future people will be saying 'did they really allow that, didn't anybody complain about it?'


I expect there will be some jokey responses (such as football, did they really allow that?), but hopefully some will treat the the question seriously

And any other talent/reality shows hopefully.

As soon as they find a way to make up the lost tax revenue, smoking and alcohol.

Smoking is already well on the way, and its could be pushed over the precipice quite easily with a few more tax hikes.

Drinking is very much in the firing line,

I would imagine getting drunk will be found socially unacceptable fairly soon, a bit like in the US, yes people do it, but only students and wasters and alcoholics. A "few" beers will be the norm for most people rather than a complete skin full. At least that's where I think all the "binge drinking" rhetoric from the gummermint is leading to.

Because removing the ability to quote Insurance based on sex isn't guaranteed to result in the quotes for both sexes going up, because that definitely 100% isn't the way these things play out. After all the insurers have to be careful to prove the quotes for men where fair, and dropping them by a good percentage doesn't show this.

Driving. There's been enough research and there are now several radar-controlled cruise controls along with 'lane keeping assist systems'. I can see a time when we're not going to be allowed to control a car ourselves. Long after I've gone, hopefully.

Hopefully... Well, in public at least.

You also missed casual racism and secterianism. The names my Dad had for his friend that supported Celtic. If he said them now he would be arrested.

Hopefully everything goes full circle and fake tan and eyebrows getting done on guys changes away from all that.

The Jeremy Kyle Show.

True, I got blocked two days ago exiting a roundabout with a short dual bit for getting past.

He then looped round a roundabout and followed me, I turned off and went a weird way home and bumped into him, he then followed me again.

Clearly a nutter regardless but I don't think the last we will see of blocked overtakes.

This and things like it, marketing alcohol at children; I'm unsure whether middle aged curmudgeon-ness has come upon me early or I'm part of a minority of likeminded young curmudgeons, but I like to think this is unacceptable behaviour and perhaps in the near future it will end up on the statutes, banning the sale of alcohol in child-friendly quantities and/or in packaging made from anything other than glass and metal.

Young people will always obtain alcohol and drink unwisely; I did, and had the hangovers, memory loss and vomiting to prove it. However I drank adult drinks in adult quantities, the nearest thing we had to alcopop was cider; drinking is an adult activity and making it easier or more attractive to children is neither sensible nor moral.