Laws, institutions, and republics

Pompey the Great would snap at magistrates who challenged him: “Cease quoting laws to those of us with swords.”

Eventually all pretense of civility was dropped and Rome was engulfed by a series of destructive civil wars that destroyed the republic once and for all.

— The Washington Post, in Perspective | This is how republics end

A politician after my own heart :)

Archaic, illiberal drinking laws that banned serving alcohol in pubs after 11pm were scrapped, and gambling restrictions were loosened at her behest, too. “We will give adults the freedom they deserve and yobs the tough treatment they deserve,” she said at the time

Economist: Tessa Jowell, Olympian politician