I've had to clear up that safety glass stuff from the garden once. Normal greenhouse glass is sharp but at least it stays in large bits. That safety glass shatters into a million tiny particles that get everywhere. They can't stab you but they're still sharp enough to cut if left in the soil.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
I would have more sympathy if he didn't refer to a 6' x 4' greenhouse as an orangery Talk about delusions of grandeur. I've also had toughened/safety glass shatter and it's still nasty stuff to clear up.
The toughnened/safety glass may well be safer but I agree it is a a PITA to clear up. I'm still finding the odd bit 2 years after a pane shattered. I replaced mine with clear acrylic which does the job.
But if we accept that there are age limits, then whether you think someone is morally wrong for an act with someone of a particular age, they haven't done anything wrong according to law. If you change the age limit for sex to 18 - then there will, at some point, be some complaint about someone being taken advantage of at that age.
Can you also argue that 'older' = more powerful and wordly wise? Does it naturally follow that an older person is 'preying' on a younger person - and if so, what age difference do you need to have for that to be true? Is a 2 year gap a problem? 3 year? 5 year? At what age does the gap become ok - can a 70 year old and a 50 year old cause an issue? What about sugar daddies and women with toy boys? What do the limits become - and as soon as you set those limits there will be examples of those limits being broken that people think are wrong...
My neighbour met a man through work when she was sixteen and he was thirty two. Both famlies teased them and she was mortified because he was ancient. They married when she was twenty and are still married 57 years later. He's now 92 and she's 78.
Maths? 32-16=16, 92-78=14 - maybe they switched partners when no one was looking ..... traded in for an older model?
That is the point though isn't it? We hear of stories of old-young, young-old and there's no problem - in fact the opposite. But then we get (to me) a vile git like Brand and I personally would object to him being with any female relative of mine, irrespective of his or their age. How do you quantify that in law though?
Doesn't it have to exist? We forget our history and how recently in our evolution things have started to rapidly changed. In the past kids were our pension. We lived locally. Kids died young. So having loads of kids at a young age (the parents' not the kids'! ) was a necessity. A 16 year old would not be seen as that young until quite recently (in evolution terms) - googling the UK age of consent:
'In 1275, the first age of consent was set in England, at age 12 (Statute of Westminster I). In
1875, the Offences Against the Person Act raised the age to 13 in Great
Britain and Ireland, and ten years later the Criminal Law Amendment Act
1885 raised it to 16'.
...in context you can see why - and humans as a species were capable of giving birth at that age - so it was a 'natural' thing.
We change our values to suit the time - as we should - but we are still animalstrying to understand what we are and how we fit in the universe.
@steveTu The problem is deciding on an alternative. For example, suppose that instead of giving someone the right to vote at 18 you give them a number of votes which gradually increases with age. This might be fairer, but would not be very practical, and might have little effect on election results.
I was on our local bus yesterday which calls into our big hospital. Waiting at the stop was a chap in a NHS wheelchair, wearing just NHS pyjamas with no luggage, obviously some poor sod trying to do a runner from A&E as he had two bandaged fingers. He didn't sound the brightest of sparks. The bus driver let the ramp down and helped him onto the bus, then looked at all our aghast faces and realized something wasn't quite right. The chap did have a tenner to pay the fare, the driver presumably couldn't leave the bus but nobody in the long queue outside was willing to get involved and go for help.
I couldn't get off the bus to do it as the aisle was blocked but on my return trip, called into Reception as I needed some ear batteries and asked them if the chap had been located as I'd been worried, it had been drizzling and it wasn't that warm. They were completely disinterested and couldn't care less. I despair sometimes.
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I replaced mine with clear acrylic which does the job.
They married when she was twenty and are still married 57 years later. He's now 92 and she's 78.
https://www.edge.org/response-detail/25366
The problem is deciding on an alternative. For example, suppose that instead of giving someone the right to vote at 18 you give them a number of votes which gradually increases with age. This might be fairer, but would not be very practical, and might have little effect on election results.
I couldn't get off the bus to do it as the aisle was blocked but on my return trip, called into Reception as I needed some ear batteries and asked them if the chap had been located as I'd been worried, it had been drizzling and it wasn't that warm. They were completely disinterested and couldn't care less. I despair sometimes.