This is how they treat a man

November 29, 2003 10:11 AM

This is how they treat a man
This man has been arrested yet again for his ongoing attempt to walk the length of Britain naked. Is he right to be arrested, or should he be allowed to continue?
posted by johnny novak (16 comments total)

This is a classic state/individual clash. It will be interesting to see who backs down first.
posted by johnny novak at 10:15 AM on November 29, 2003

Errrm - no, it's a classic case of not wanting his skid marks on the seats in my pub when he stops for lunch.
posted by RichLyon at 10:34 AM on November 29, 2003

Errr, maybe not, RichLyon - it makes no mention of your assumption that he remains undressed in restaurants, pubs, shops, other indoor places... only says he wants to be naked outside. What's wrong with that?

PS: we don't all have a problem with skiddies, y'know ...(",)
posted by dash_slot- at 10:39 AM on November 29, 2003

That sort of stupidity and pyuritanism could take place only in Great Britain--certainly not here in America, where one is allowed to prance, jog, strut, walk, or crawl in the buff...come on girls (under 28 and over 18) Just Do IT
posted by Postroad at 10:40 AM on November 29, 2003

He's local to me, (but the local newspaper has no search, so no links), and he's been doing this for bloody ages. And, dash_slot, he persistently turns up everywhere, especially to court, naked. He's really just a court-time wasting buffoon. If he even had a point it would help. Anyway, I say let him do his walk. Drop him at John O'Groats on Jan. 1st, and let Darwin do the rest.
posted by punilux at 10:47 AM on November 29, 2003

"The struggle of people against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting." -- Milan Kundera
posted by jackspace at 11:00 AM on November 29, 2003

I recall from the bored Friday nights I spent some years ago, watching a slowly-spiralling-down-the-gutter programme called "Euro Trash" that there was a guy in Germany who did exactly what this, er, chap, is doing and after a couple of court cases, they let the obese German strut his lard-arse around the streets of Germany without further harassment.

Us English just aren't going to put up with it, though. It's quite against our "prudish-but-titilated-by-smut" culture.
posted by Blue Stone at 11:06 AM on November 29, 2003

If I could just add: I'm more than happy that the court system is preventing me from chancing upon his jiggling giblets, as he hikes his way across the land.
posted by Blue Stone at 11:09 AM on November 29, 2003

It is not the function of our government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error. —U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson, 1950
posted by rushmc at 11:25 AM on November 29, 2003

Some people are so desperate for fame they'll do anything, no matter how spectacularly boring. Who cares about this guy?
posted by aramaic at 11:34 AM on November 29, 2003

walk the length of Britain naked.

that'll teach him to walk the width, like all self-respecting naked Britons.
posted by quonsar at 11:41 AM on November 29, 2003

quonsar = teh win!
posted by aramaic at 11:44 AM on November 29, 2003

They charged him with a breach of the peace. What about indecent exposure? I thought being nude in public was illegal in the UK, why not just have him on that?

Uptight or not, in our society we wear clothes.
posted by wackybrit at 8:15 PM on November 29, 2003

Indecent exposure implies more than just nudity.
posted by kerplunk at 9:07 AM on November 30, 2003

Solution:

He should be allowed to do this, if he is willing to pay for a pair of police officers to help him do it.

Both carry full riot gear, but with the plastic shield blacked out. One stands in front of him and walks fowards. The other stands behind and walks backwards.

See, everyone wins. And he gives up. Then everyone really wins.
posted by shepd at 9:35 PM on November 30, 2003

Why are these people always white? Have you ever seen a non-white streaker?
posted by Poagao at 11:47 PM on November 30, 2003