I decline...
I lost pretty much any respect for the general body of UK law when they passed the pile of rubbish that makes possible the following conversation:
"Good morning, sir. I'm afraid we'd like you to accompany us to the station."
"Oh? Why, may I ask, officer?"
"Well, sir, you can *ask* - but we're not obliged to tell you. In fact, we're not obliged to have a reason. Suspicion is enough now - and I've been feeling suspicious ever since I started wondering about the freshness of my lunch."
"Ah. Well, in that case, happy as I am to help you, I'm afraid that I must decline, officer."
"In that case, sir, we shall simply have to arrest you and bring you anyway. Really, it's so much simpler if you just come along voluntarily."
"Sorry, officer, I'm afraid I'm just not feeling very cooperative towards this New Lawyer approach."
"Very well, sir. Handcuffs and into the back seat it is."
"Under what charge am I being detained, officer?"
"Today we've chosen 'suspicion of being a terrorist', sir. That's why all I need is to feel suspicious. And since you declined to come along without paperwork, I've been feeling much more suspicious about you."
"Tell me, officer, how long will it be before I can speak to a lawyer? To my wife? Or try to arrange to have someone else meet my children two hours from now?"
"Couldn't say, sir. It depends upon the mood of the officers at the station. Could be right away ... could be days. Or even weeks. I suppose it revolves around how cooperative you choose to become. Either way, you're a criminal now, because you've got an arrest warrant against you. Even if we let you go without further charges."
This latest lot of rubbish is just yet another way to get an actual prosecution they can take to court afterwards no matter what evidence fails to exist. The fact that it can be successfully argued that this law *can* prosecute anyone with a postcard of a typical Renaissance cherub is proof enough that it isn't competent to be used as toilet paper, while its proposers either aren't competent to hold so much as a conversation, or that their intent was to subvert the process of law in the first place.