Why have people become so selfish?
People often get confused between the stocks and the pillory – two medieval forms of corporal punishment for crimes like drunkenness. Your feet are locked in the stocks but the more recognisable image comes from the pillory, where your neck and wrists are slotted into a wooden contraption as rotten vegetables are pelted your way. The punishment hasn’t been used since the late 18th century but was never formally abolished; it should make a comeback for a certain type of public nuisance. How often have you got on a train only to be greeted by an indistinct racket, supposedly music, blaring through a speaker? Nobody wants to hear it apart from the person playing it, and nowadays, even if confronted, they don’t relent.