The world recoils in horror at the story of the Austrian woman kept prisoner in a cellar for 25 years by her father, who regularly abused her and sired 7 children with her.
Think ourselves lucky it didn't happen in England, given this governments fondness for knee-jerk reaction anyone who had a cellar would have to be vetted by the Criminal Records Bureau gestapo, placed on the sex offenders register until such time as they could prove they did not deserve to be there, have to apply for a licence to make use of cellar for any purpose... setting up the model railway or having prolonged sado-masochistic orgies with consenting adults...not be allowed access unless they had I.D. with a photo less than three months old and they most certainly would not be able to smoke down there.
Oh and any breaches would result in being held in police custody for 42 days without charge.
ianrthorpe
You say in Britain
"anyone who had a cellar would have to be vetted by the Criminal Records Bureau gestapo, placed on the sex offenders register until such time as they could prove they did not deserve to be there, have to apply for a licence to make use of cellar for any purpose."
And yet a couple of years ago people managed to use their cellars for mixing up two parts of peroxide with one of acetone without being detected.
Now of course cellars and beards are very suspect and all owners of beards over an inch and a half in length have to go on a "potential peroxide buyers" register.
Something about horses and stable doors seems to sum up the British approach.