THIS YEAR’S AWARD FOR MOST CREATIVE OBLIGATORY NAZI REFERENCE GOES TO...

U.K. courts target skimpy clothes, sarcasm (Sandra Contenta, Toronto Star, October 24th, 2005)

Graham Bourne recognizes that certain behaviour might not have been fully appreciated by his posh neighbours.

There was the time he brought his motorcycle into the living room of his second-floor flat and revved up the motor. He needed a place to repair the bike, he says, and doing so on the exclusive central London street would have surely attracted a fine.

And yes, the old lady next door didn't like rock music. But he's a musician, and he offered to play solely when she was out of the house, if only she had informed him of her comings and goings.

What he flatly denies is that he ran down the street with a machine gun, threw used condoms and heroin needles into his neighbour's yard and was generally abusive and threatening to the high-profile residents of Rochester Square.

They are lies from a couple of vindictive neighbours, he says.

What's clear is that Bourne, 43, was slapped with an "anti-social behaviour order" that bans him from his home between 6 p.m. and 9 a.m., much to the relief of neighbours, who include Britain's health secretary, Patricia Hewitt.

"This is how Nazi Germany started," said Bourne, appearing in court last week to support his partner, lawyer Ruth Gurny, who's trying to get her own anti-social behaviour order overturned.

We’re on board about the clothes, but trying to control sarcasm is a violation of universal human rights.