- Dated - 12th September 2025
- Cybernought - 11th September 2025
- Political animal - 10th September 2025
During 42 years in journalism for our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry, it was essential to be up to date with the law, but today this is becoming increasingly difficult as more and more absurd ancient acts are repealed.
Every journalist worth his or her salt should know the law – or at least be aware of the parameters that are set.
Yet it is becoming ever more tricky to adhere to this rule, as politicians change their minds all the time, and previous (some ridiculous) legal strictures are altered.
There are any number of nonsensical examples, but we’ll start from one earlier in the Summer.
On June 10 the UK Government announced that it was to commence repeal of the Vagrancy Act (1824) via the Crime and Policing Bill which was then before the UK Parliament.
It meant that, in Spring of next year and after more than 200 years, the Vagrancy Act will finally be fully repealed in England and Wales.
The charity Crisis considered this a “landmark moment that will change lives” and prevent thousands of people from being pushed away from safety and support.
It is incredible that it has taken so long to repeal a law which was meant for another era.
The Vagrancy Act was initially designed to combat concerns over people wandering the country looking for work, as well as destitute soldiers returning wounded from the Napoleonic wars, so for more than two centuries it enabled police across England and Wales to fine or imprison people for rough sleeping or begging.
But it was only THIS YEAR that the UK Government said they would repeal it.
We have also had repeals of the Abandonment of Animals Act 1960, Act of Uniformity Amendment Act 1872, Admiralty Powers Act 1865, Adoption Act 1958, to name just a few.
The Statute Law (Repeals) Act in 2008, which followed other ones in 1969, 1976 and 1993 (they have to be repeated in the Welsh Parliament/Senedd Cymru (WP/SC) too), take up a lot of official time.
Let’s look at another pernicious law which was in operation – this one was on the statute books for 15 years, until its final repeal in 2003 after huge campaigns by ordinary people: Clause 28.
On March 24 1988 the Local Government Act became law.
It contained a number of changes for local authorities from housing to dog licences, but one small part – adding Section 2A – became infamous.
This bit said, notoriously, “Prohibition on promoting homosexuality by teaching or by publishing material
“(1) A local authority shall not—(a) intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality;
“(b) promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship.”
Apart from being appalling in itself, these few words gave a veneer of government approval to homophobia, and it took many years, as well as a change of UK Government for it to be repealed.
We are, sadly, not alone in the UK either with politicians changing their minds late on.
Believe it or not the Nazi sterilisation law for the disabled in Germany wasn’t finally repealed until 2007!
As a disabled person myself (I have Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia [HSP]) I find this awful situation particularly worrying.
So it can be seen that unfortunately politicians change their views on issues constantly, and outdated laws must be repealed.
If you are affected by one of them fear not because it could be struck off the statute book – it might be years after you’re dead that’s all..!
The memories of Phil’s extraordinary decades long award-winning career in journalism (including his struggles with HSP) have been released in a major book ‘A Good Story’. Order it now.
Next week – how disturbing news that controversial former MasterChef (MC) presenter Gregg Wallace is suing the BBC, and that its beleaguered head has admitted more scandals could yet emerge, has once again turned the spotlight on the corporation’s REFUSAL to answer The Eye’s questions about them.
