With apologies for maintaining the thread creep, I left the UK in 1980 and moved to the US. The death toll from guns here IS horrific. That's a Pandora's box that probably will never close
BUT, the number of laws that have been added onto the UK's books in the last 30 years that seem to remove personal freedoms lead me to agree with RR above.
Is the UK really a better pace to live than it was 30 years ago because the state has told you what is safe for you to do? Reading all the comments about Hi-Vis vests etc would lead me to believe posters here don't really like the regulations any more than RR, but are being a little selective remembering the changes over the last years.
I'll go back to lurking now. (waits for the thoughtful comments in reply...)