@Destroy All Monsters
Back in the days of the Soviet Union, there was a story about the luggage carts at Moscow airport:
In order to check in your luggage you needed a trolley and each was released by inserting a one rouble (?) coin. You would then be escorted through security into the departure area. It was also illegal to take any Russian currency out of the country. By passing through check-in, every person leaving the country effectively broke this law, allowing anyone the state wished to be arrested or charged with serious international money trafficking crimes.
UK law appears to now be based on this model... the more laws there are and the more impossible the law is to understand, the more the state can impose itself on anyone, for any reason...
So you're a UK citizen or employee abroad in say, Zimbabwe and have been pulled over by the police for some none existent offence... Do you give the guy the $10 bribe he wants and drive away, potentially breaking some loony UK law, or do you risk spending an indefinite period in police cells that many have not returned from? How many UK businesses will be unable to do business in country's where bribes (wrongly in my opinion, but that's not the point) are regarded by their governments as little more than compulsory tips? How long before China makes it illegal for their citizens to report news or similar when abroad in the UK, and uses our crazy laws as justification?
More to the point, WTF happened to the "great repeal bill" that was supposed to get rid of most of this self serving crap?