Britain . . . is done

Albion may still exist, but it's pretty clearly just a shadow of its former glory. A few recent developments merely point to the coming surrender:

The Royal Navy no longer is to be tasked with anti-piracy patrolling, for fear that the apprehended pirates will be able to claim sanctuary in Britain.

Random searches of vehicles under anti-terrorism laws.

British courts have now recognized a 'right to life' even under combat conditions. It's difficult to fault the underlying intent, but the practical applications will be nigh-on crippling to the British army.

Update: It must be a coming meme, as Nick Packwood hits some of the same points in his post on the decline of Britain.

Piracy on the high seas merited the death penalty until 1998. Now the Royal Navy has taken advice not to intervene lest the human rights of pirates be compromised by sharia courts. Somebody get the Archbishop of Canterbury on the phone... Worse yet, lest pirates claim asylum - and the dole - in the UK.

[. . .]

The Foreign Office is four-square in favour of this latest sordid mistreatment of the Royal Navy. They do not call it "foreign" for nothing.

Update, the second: Of course, heavy-handed police tactics are hardly the sole preserve of the bobbies . . . it's now effectively illegal to dance at the Jefferson Memorial:

The background: twenty people were at the Jefferson Memorial, dancing to the private groove of their own iPods so as not to disturb anyone. Apparently cops showed up and ordered them to disperse anyway, despite the fact that they were not doing anything obviously illegal. One of the libertarians joyfully (yet tastefully and quietly) celebrating the birthday of a favorite founding father questioned why they should have to move along — at which point one of DC's finest shoved them up against a pillar, cuffed their hands behind their back, and hauled them away.

As a resident of DC, I'm certainly overjoyed to hear that violent crime has fallen to a level where we can spare valuable police resources to fight the silent scourge of . . . dancing. Now that we have no more murders or muggings, it seems to me that we should also be looking at newsboys who smoke, women who attend the theater, and of course, the iniquitous habit of playing cards on the sabbath.

Megan links to several reports on the incident, including this gem of a comment from Julian Sanchez: "given that my friend's immediate social circle is largely composed of journalists, bloggers, and constitutional lawyers who sue the government for fun, I predict hilarity."

Update the third: I hesitated about adding this to the list of British shame, but it's too illustrative of just how bad Chav "culture" can get.