Arthur Marshall

As your post was binned and I never saw it, I can't really comment. I can't see why speculation about the mythical pusher should be a problem as it's well known as an urban myth. There are usually threads here about people dying in canals as the reasons can be of interest and relevance to us. Re Nick's post, some aspects or expression of racism and sexism are illegal,but that isn't the point. Language is important because it affects the way you think,and therefore the way you act. So if you persist in calling foreigners wogs or probably less pleasant terms, or women slags etc, you end up thinking yourself superior to them,which you aint. It's a fairly short step from there to practical discrimination and moral or physical violence. That's why words matter,and why it's correct,on a forum, to moderate the use of some of them, in my opinion.

I think the last para is a bit over the top. There are rules to this particular forum and they're there for a reason, and other forums are available where there aren't any rules. I don't think reporting posts one finds objectionable counts as spying - it tends to be abusive, racist, sexist or extremes of language which get reported and clobbered. Just being unpleasant doesn't get frowned on much. But how you use language does matter, especially when there's no body language to moderate it. In real life, if someone says something you find truly awful, you can always punch them on the nose. On the internet, you can't, so a bit of editing occasionally doesn't go amiss.

Bottom of the Wheelock flight was always empty of a morning. Never thought to do anthing but fill it up. If someone says they're going to report you, I'd just thank them and say it'll save you the trouble. CRT need to know about leaking pounds,not that they often do anything about it.

Of course,the guy moored there might not be fully fit and ambulant. Quite a lot of us aren't!

As I recall the main penalty for this offence is not just criminalisation of the culprit,but confiscation and possible destruction of the offending "residence". For rough sleepers, it means the trashing of their tents, for travellers confiscation of the caravan and therefore for boaters, the removal and scrapping of their boats. No need for a court order or years of appeals any more - not much good winning your appeal when your boats wrecked. The problem with all this badly worded and rushed legislation is the unforeseen consequences.