Confessions of a middle-class anarchist

27 January 2010

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We are so overwhelmed by petty laws that it has become impossible to get through the day without committing a crime, says Harry Mount

Speed cameras treat every driver going over 70mph like a criminal. And draconian law like this just encourages you to get round it. A system that allowed a little leeway above 70mph, and only punished genuinely dangerous drivers, would be safer, and improve relations between the police and drivers. But that would involve traffic police actually doing some work, rather than letting the yellow metal cash cows just go on hauling in the millions.

The other advantage of a human being over a speed camera is that he can listen. A criminal barrister friend of mine recently told me what to do when you’re stopped by the police for any minor traffic offence — as I am, about once a month, for bicycling through a red light.

‘Immediately admit that you’re wrong,’ he said, ‘and then use the most powerful of all middle-class weapons: say sorry like you mean it, even though you don’t.’

If the Prime Minister wants to butter up the middle classes before the election, it’s too late for him to borrow our little ruse. Saying sorry won’t help; not treating us like criminals might.

Harry Mount is the author of My Brief Career — The Trials of a Young Lawyer (Short Books, £7.99).