Rules, Rules, Rules.

Not so very long ago, nudism was legal in Barcelona. Some people would go as far as walking their dogs in the middle of the Gothic neighborhood without wearing a single item of clothing. The city wanted to appease the situation, particularly due to the fact that Barcelona is a very touristic city, visited by many people who don’t come with such liberal views.

Now, anyone, male or female, can get a fine of up to 300€ for just walking without a shirt. From one extreme to the other!

Fancy a drink in Majorca? Don’t do it if you have a football top on, as revelers will no longer be admitted entry, according to new rules from the chief executive of Palma Beach. Bar owners can now serve somewhat swaying raucous teen groups wearing plain t-shirts, but not a sober septuagenarian in a Stafford Rangers top.

Meanwhile, alcohol consumption in all-inclusive hotels in parts of the Balearic Islands have become capped. Under new rules - which apply to Magaluf, Playa de Palma in Mallorca and San Antonio in Ibiza - guests can only drink alcohol during mealtimes. Any past or present licensee will tell you that food does NOT stop intoxification, so it will be interesting to see how this pans out.

These are just a few of the new laws to look forward to if you win the airport lottery by buying a ticket that relates to a flight that actually takes off.

More to the point though, they are typical of the increasingly authoritarian world we live in as officialdom goes into overdrive, emboldened by the last two years of madness.

None of the rules is a perfect solution to problems which would have been far better sorted by individual businesses and common sense. Still, it gives politicians things to do as they find ever more intrusive regulations to interfere with our tax drenched lives.

Martin Day – Party Secretary