Fast

The Pharisees are fasting (2:18)

What are rules for? The ancient Greeks discovered that laws make you free. A law against theft makes the thief less free of course, but it makes a lot of other people more free - free not to have their stuff nicked. All rules or laws work like this, balancing the freedoms of some against the restriction of others, though the balance is not always set equitably. At their worst, laws benefit only a few, so-called privilege, but, at their best they provide safe boundaries that enable everyone to live well. So why are our current rules not working that way?

It could be that the British are natural rebels, but I'm not convinced - we're so good at queueing. No, I think it's a failure to enact laws that make sense to all, that provide the right balance between freedom and restraint, that allow for an element of self-determination while protecting the vulnerable from harm, that do not criminalise the careful while doing little to control the arrogant, that reward the obedient and discourage the dangerous. Good laws set us free, bad laws do not.




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