No idiots can stand for election.

[InsaneApache]

Sounds good to me.


An election pack issued by Bournemouth Borough Council stated that "lunatics and idiots" and "deaf and dumb persons" were disqualified from standing.

Matt Pitcher, electoral services officer, said it was a mistake and that the terms were taken directly from election law dating back to 1766.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/6526687.stm

So how did Prescott, Kelly, Beckett et al get past this particular legislation? Is there a lawyer in the house? :inquisitive: :laugh4:

[ZombieFriedNuts]

Sounds good to me except being deaf they should be able to stand

[JAG]

Does `Magna Carta' mean nothing to you? Did she die in vain?

Ha.

[InsaneApache]

Ha.

The full quote.


Does Magna Carta mean nothing to you? Did she die in vain? Brave Hungarian peasant girl who forced King John to sign the pledge at Runnymede and close the boozers at half past ten! Is all this to be forgotton? My friends, it is not John Harrison Peabody who is on trial here today but the fair name of British justice, and I ask you to send that poor boy back to the loving arms of his poor white-haired old mother a free man! I thank you!

:2thumbsup:

http://www.samizdata.net/mt/suckitspammers.cgi?entry_id=3987

[Romanus]

A lot of parliaments in europe would be without a job if that were true.

[CountArach]

This doesn't make much sense to me. Why should these people be unable to stand? People should be free to stand for election, otherwise it is not a democracy. Besides, what are the odds of them being elected? If people want these people in ofice, and elect them, then it should be considered the will of the majority.

[InsaneApache]

Well Blair slipped through.....:sweatdrop:

[drone]

And now they apologize to the idiots:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/dorset/6526687.stm

Apology for 'idiots' election ban
A council has apologised for banning "lunatics, idiots, deaf and dumb" people from standing for election.

An election pack issued by Bournemouth Borough Council stated that "lunatics and idiots" and "deaf and dumb persons" were disqualified from standing.

Matt Pitcher, electoral services officer, said it was a mistake and that the terms were taken directly from election law dating back to 1766.

"Of course such language is certainly not acceptable today," he added.

[lars573]

Sounds good to me.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/6526687.stm

So how did Prescott, Kelly, Beckett et al get past this particular legislation? Is there a lawyer in the house? :inquisitive: :laugh4:
I wiki'ed the meaning of idiot. Appearantly it was coined in Greece to describe people who put there own needs before that of the Polis. If I had to hazard a guess when the law was written it probably barred people with extremely bad judgement from standing.

Idiot study. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiot)

[CountArach]

And now they apologize to the idiots:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/dorset/6526687.stm

Damn right.