OFF: Silly laws in the UK

[QUEST]

On Sat, 18 Jan 1997, Jon Browne wrote:
> QUEST <dcapehar at UTDALLAS.EDU> writes
> >BWAHAHAHAHAH!!!  I can't believe it.  You Brits have to pay for a
> >*license* to watch the telly!  (I know, it's a license to *have* a telly,
> >but I heard about the numerous people who've been arrested for watching
> >someone else's television w/out a license.)
> That's not true. You have the license to own a TV and that's it. No one
> has ever been done for watching someone else's.
[[ Many other interesting musings snipped ]]

Gotcha.  But what I saw on that "TV Nation" show was interviews with
various individuals:
1) A single, unemployed mother was arrested for not having a TV ownership
   license.  Her protest was not that she was caught for doing something
   illegal, but because, instead of simply being fined and having her TV
   taken away, she had to be kept in prison for a few weeks (or however
   long it was).  The show did not say anything about who took care of the
   children while mum was away.
2) The girlfriend (maybe wife) of a man who had a valid TV license was
   arrested for watching *his* TV, even though she had no part in owning
   the box.

Again, they probably did that to "set an example".

Damon

P.S.:  I understand the reason for the license fee now, and now that I
know the logic, I think I can actually agree with it.  Just not the
extreme punishments.