Exactly. The government is literally there to enact the will of parliament.

Well for one thing every time you use a British credit or debit card in the UK or anywhere else you pay the Americans. Billions of euros flow from Europe to the US every year.

I offered evidence to support my claim, which you have (without reading it, I assume) decided wasn't relevant. This says a lot about you and not a lot about me. Good luck with the PhD - sounds like you'll need it.

Also you said I'd "made a claim" when I said I would be surprised if something is true. That's not "making a claim".

But you've asserted that 'he won't do it again', which definitely IS someone's opinion being presented as fact.

Do people ever call you pompous?

Nagin, Daniel S., Francis T. Cullen and Cheryl Lero Johnson, “Imprisonment and Reoffending,” Crime and Justice: A Review of Research, vol. 38, ed. Michael Tonry, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009: 115-200.

Try harder.

Was that when I literally said 'good he was fined'?

"Research underscores the more significant role that certainty plays in deterrence than severity — it is the certainty of being caught that deters a person from committing crime, not the fear of being punished or the severity of the punishment."

Five Things About Deterrence Does punishment prevent crime? If so, how, and to what extent? Deterrence — the crime prevention effects of the threat of punishment — is a theory of choice in which individuals balance the benefits a...

nij.ojp.gov/topics/artic....

Evidence to the contrary so far.

Well by that you have to prove he won’t do it again

Ok, now prove that a £500 fine is more effective than a £100 fine in that regard.

Now you seem to be a PhD student of political science, so I’m hoping you’re a bit smarter than that.

And if that is true, then what is the point?

Because it’s disproportionate to the offence. Especially if it was a first offence. I would be very surprised if it has an effect on the amount of littering relative to a £100 fine, say.

Calm down everyone. Good he was fined, ridiculous it was £500.

A helicopter can fly

Arsenal are only a big club because they moved to a big stadium back in the days when ticket sales were your revenue. It’s always been about money.

Yes City have such a long tradition of never ever being comically bad.

The whole point was he *wasn’t* executed.

Love and dancing!

It’s the phrasing. You can hear every letter of every syllable of every word. Something he shares with Frank Sinatra.

Well it’s not really a live issue.

There is no “rejoin”. There is only “apply to join”.

And the FT falls for the hype again.

Because Trump is an idiot.

Well I for one am shocked.

I mean yes, but equally they need to get two sittings per evening per table.