5 hours ago
5
Name: Swearing.
Age: It never gets old.
Appearance: Anywhere people experience surprise, anger, distress, mild incredulity or a shortage of adjectives, except in Thanet.
Thanet? Where the @&^% is Thanet? It’s a peninsula on the north-eastern tip of Kent, including the seaside towns of Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs.
Why can’t you swear there? Because Thanet district council doesn’t want you to.
I see. And how do they plan to @&^%ing stop me? With a public spaces protection order (PSPO).
What’s that? In effect, it’s an Asbo with a geographic boundary, in this case allowing police to issue fines of £100 to anyone “using foul or abusive language in such a manner that is loud and can be heard by others and cause either alarm or distress” in a designated area.
I prize my right to free expression highly, but a hundred quid is a lot of money. It’s only £60 if you pay within 14 days.
When does this come in? It hasn’t yet but, if the council passes the measure, the PSPO could be in place for three years.
Has anyone tried to ban swearing before? Many times over many centuries. The Profane Oaths Act of 1745 introduced fines for the “horrid, impious and execrable vices of profane cursing and swearing”.
I meant more recently. Thanet district council tried it only last summer.
What happened then? It ditched the idea after the Free Speech Union (FSU) threatened to make it the subject of a judicial review.
And what’s happened since? A rise in antisocial behaviour on the seafront has prompted the council to try again.
I thought swearing was supposed to be good for you. It’s true that studies have shown swearing can improve your mood, make you more impervious to pain and increase muscle performance during exercise.
And yet Thanet wants to ban it. According to Ch Insp Ian Swallow of the Kent police, this PSPO is specifically designed to target abusive language that is threatening and escalates trouble. “This is not a reference to casual swearing,” he said.
I should effing hope not. Anyway, it’s just the latest in a long line of attempts to curb foul language since PSPOs were first introduced in 2014.
Did any of them work? Hard to say. Salford outlawed swearing in 2016, but dropped the measure in 2019. In that same period, 15 other councils used PSPOs to ban foul language. In some places, they received public support and, in others, people campaigned against it.
Do say: “One really ought to be articulate enough to cause people distress without swearing.”
Don’t say: “A hundred pounds? Holy $£*!.”
