Edinburgh’s buses have taken the plunge in solving a modern nuisance. Under new terms concerning anti-social behaviour, passengers can now be ejected from buses in the capital city for playing music and sounds at loud volumes.

But let’s go further with that. Let’s get this ban countrywide and into law. We love to ban things in this country, and yet here we are still faced with phone speaker demons at every turn while simply trying to move through our day.

Bus users face ejection for loud music in city's crackdown on antisocial behaviour

Blanket bans are a quick-fix solution for any problem that wants to be solved. It's, after all, much easier than tackling the complex root issues that create the problem in the first place. It would be naïve to think that banning loud sounds from public transport will put a dent in anti-social behaviour, but it might at least turn the tide of what is accepted behaviour in this specific instance. Sometimes the message just needs to be heard.

Often bans from the government involve things that cause personal harm to yourself but not others. A government that fronts the bill for the NHS probably thinks it's entitled to have a say in your physical and mental health. But nannying the population and imposing what they can and can’t do through lazy blanket ban policies instead of through productive and genuine moral concern does not truly rid us of any problems.

Playing sounds out a phone loudly on public........

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