What European TV am I legally permitted to watch in the UK without buying a UK TV licence? I want to watch European TV in various languages online, without breaking UK TV Licence regulations.

The TV licencing laws are changed regularly, becoming increasingly egregious. Not content with robbing the elderly, the cheeky cunts at the BBC are now demanding payment for foreign TV channels that they have nothing to do with!

Now, the only exception appears to be for non-live TV. You can’t record live TV, or watch live TV through streaming or a service like Sky or NOW, or watch live foreign channels.

Incidentally, you’re under no obligation to let the fuckers into your home to search for TV sets or other illicit entertainment-watching equipment. They can “suspect” all they want, but they can’t get access and therefore cannot prove you have any.

What stops people from stealing babies abroad and pretending that the baby is their baby when they get to immigration?

Babies don’t require a passport to travel. Doesn’t this just mean that you could potentially kidnap babies from other countries bring them to your country illegally?

I needed a passport for my 6-week-old son in order to bring him from one part of the UK (Birmingham) to another (Belfast) for my parents’ 40th wedding anniversary.

I was taking him to another country (Irish Republic), but not having to go through a manned border, I didn’t need a letter from my husband saying he knew about it and agreed that it was okay for me to take our child out of the country. There’s no way I could have just nabbed a baby and taken it between Birmingham and Belfast, much less any other part of the world.

Are the odds of Stephen Fry being successfully prosecuted for blasphemy greater than his chance of discussing bone cancer in kids with God?

See: Stephen Fry under police investigation for blasphemy after branding God an ‘utter maniac’

Considering the number of Irish people who blaspheme by taking the Lord’s name in vain on a daily, if not sentence-by-sentence basis, the Gardaí might want to consider dropping this investigation unless they want to prosecute pretty much everyone in the country.

Having said that, he’s marginally more likely to be prosecuted, since there is no God.

In the UK, if I am involved in stopping a terror attack but I use violence to subdue to attacker/attackers, will I be arrested?

So say I’m inside a large hall with plenty of other people, a man with a gun charges through the doors and starts shooting. I am nearby so I punch and accidentally kill him. Will I be charged for it?

I need an answer for UK law please.

(Don’t question the scenario)

Thanks for all the replies.

IANAL.

As has already been mentioned, your actions would likely be reviewed under Section 3 of the Criminal Law Act 1967 to determine if you used reasonable force. There may be a determination regarding your intent, as well.

As the assailant was armed and intent on killing as many people as possible, including himself either by suicide or being shot by armed response units, AND would probably have continued shooting if you only managed to knock him over without disarming him, AND (assuming you’re not a boxer, martial artist, etc.) you had no expectation of causing death, it might be considered that the level of force was reasonable. If autopsy results back you up (the assailant had an unusually weak skull/jaw/etc.) this will clearly mitigate your actions.

As, presumably, you did not intend to kill, merely to disrupt the act or disarm the assailant, and, presumably, you didn’t continue to attack the assailant once he hit the floor and stopped moving, the worst charge would be manslaughter, with any number of mitigating circumstances and supporting witness statements.

I would be very surprised if the CPS considered the case worth prosecuting.

Does the police service of Northern Ireland have authority to cross the border into the Republic of Ireland, and visa versa, if chasing suspects?

A very interesting question. The border between Northern Ireland and the Republic is non-existent across much of its length, many roads not even having a sign to indicate where the border is. There may be signs about speed limits (mph in Northern Ireland, kph in the Republic), and signposts in the Republic give the English and Irish placenames, but these could be a few hundred metres away from the actual border, so it would be surprising if there weren’t occasional accidental incursions.

However, as both are EU members, PSNI operations in the Republic are covered by the EU spirit of Mutual Cooperation, as are Garda Síochána operations in Northern Ireland. This is underscored by the European Council Framework decision on ‘The Simplifying and Exchange of information and intelligence between law enforcement authorities for the EU’ (18th December 2006) and the Crime (International Cooperation) Act (2003). There are also laws on police work outside jurisdiction specific to Northern Ireland ( Criminal Law Act 1975) and the Republic (Criminal Law Jurisdiction Act 1976).

Note that, typically, outside jurisdiction actions are normally permissible for a specific set of offences, and may be subject to approval by the police and judiciary of the operational jurisdiction. However, the level of approval needed is determined by the individual case, and can be formal or informal as required. Similarly, the police operations carried out are not limited, and may be determined on a case by case basis. Typically, the reason for the approvals/notifications is so that police from the operational jurisdiction can accompany police who are out of their jurisdiction, as is normal between any two police forces worldwide, especially where the crime can be prosecuted in either jurisdiction.

Thanks for that – I learned something new in checking this out!