📙 Part 2: Describe a new law you would like to introduce in your country

You should say: what law it is, what changes this law brings, whether this new law will be popular, and explain how you feel about this.

This episode's vocabulary

Offence (noun) - an illegal act; a crime.

Deliberately (adverb) - intentionally.

To mislead (verb) - to cause someone to believe something that is not true.

To elect (verb) - to decide on or choose, especially to choose a person for a particular job, by voting.

To deliver on something (collocation) - to keep a promise, or achieve or produce something that was promised.

To cater to someone/something (phrasal verb) - to satisfy a need or to provide what is wanted or needed by a particular person or group.

To lobby (verb) - to try to persuade a politician, the government, or an official group that a particular thing should or should not happen, or that a law should be changed.

To enact (verb) - to put something into action, especially to make something law.

To restore (verb) - to bring back into use something that has been absent for a period of time.

Sick (and tired) of someone/something (idiom) - to have experienced too much of someone or something with the result that you are annoyed.

Deceit (noun) - (an act of) keeping the truth hidden, especially to get an advantage.

Vested interests (plural noun) - people or organizations who have a financial or personal interest in a business, company, or existing system.

Disempowered (adj.) - having no control over your life and no power to change things.

Disproportionate (adj.) - too large or too small in comparison to something else, or not deserving its importance or influence.

To enforce (verb) - to make people obey a law, or to make a particular situation happen or be accepted.

Willfully (adverb) - in a way that is willful (= intentional, or determined to do as you want).

Deceitful (adj.) - dishonest or hiding the truth.

Questions and Answers

R: Well, if I had my way, I'd make it a punishable offence for politicians to lie and not keep their promises. I think it's quite a common issue where people seeking power deliberately mislead the public in order to get elected and then completely fail to deliver on what they said they would. And I think this, like having such a law, would prevent that from happening, or at least it would prevent it from happening as much as it does. It would also probably help reduce the level of corruption, at least in my country, since the reasons politicians lie is not only so they can gain power, or are not only due to this need to gain power. But also they do it in order to cater to whatever powerful interest they are courting or which have been lobbying them. By enacting such a law, it would make it easier for people to trust in their elected leaders, and hopefully restore a bit of faith in the political process. If we were able to do that, I imagine it would prove to be pretty popular with most people. I think we're all rather sick and tired of the same old lies and deceit from people in power or people seeking it. It might even be a fresh start of sorts, though I doubt whether certain vested interests will be terribly enthused about the whole thing, but that really is their problem. And I am talking about the majority of people who are disempowered, not the majority of people who have a disproportionate amount of it. And when it comes to my own feelings about this, to be honest, I doubt such a law would ever come into effect for fairly obvious reasons. I mean, the most obvious being that powerful interest would stop that from happening. The other thing is, it would probably be quite difficult to enforce since you can't really rationally prove when someone is being willfully deceitful and when they simply make a mistake. It is nice to dream of it, though, and maybe hope that one day, the people in charge will behave in the manner they expect us to behave.

M: And have you talked to your friends about introducing this law?

R: I used to. I haven't talked about it for a while, but since this topic came up, I decided to go with it.

Discussion

M: So dear listener, a new law you'd like to introduce in your country. So imagine that you are president of your country and like what law to introduce. Rory talked about a law to punish politicians who lie. Okay? Dear listener, you can talk about the anti-smoking law, if smoking is allowed in restaurants, in public areas in your country. You can talk about that. What other laws can our listeners talk about?

R: Noise control laws. Making it illegal to play loud music on the train.

M: Yeah, exactly. So like, it's a law, you cannot play any videos, any music, any kind of audio recordings, on the train, on the bus, on any public transport. If you do it, then you pay a fine. You pay a lot of money. Okay? So this is a good law. Anti-smoking, anti-drinking law. Or, for example, some laws about voting. You are allowed to vote when you are this or that. Or maybe a law about rubbish. Right? So if you are caught littering, if you throw rubbish, then you pay a massive fine. So you pay a lot of money. Yes, dear listener, so make sure you choose a law you can talk about. So something easy, okay? I recommend choosing something about smoking or rubbish or noise. Noise would be a very good idea.

R: And I recommend the crazy approach of just saying we should throw all the politicians in prison.

M: Hey! So, Rory started it off with "If I had my way". So if I had my way. We're imagining. If I were president of my country, I would make it punishable. So I would punish people for doing something, I would make it a punishable offense. A punishable offence is like a crime. A punishable offence for politicians to lie and not keep their promises. Well, we know that politicians lie. Like vote for me, vote for me, and then they don't do anything. Right?

R: I don't know why that's acceptable. Somehow we just had this sort of a collective agreement that, yeah, it's fine for politicians to lie. I think we should stand up for standards.

M: Yeah, but maybe, like, when they tell you things, they tell the truth, and then, like, the situation changes, you know? But while they were saying this, they were telling the truth. They believed in it.

R: I'm not so sure about that. I think they know that they are just telling barefaced lies.

M: And Rory used "lay down the law" at the beginning of our conversation. Lay down the law. It's an idiom, an informal idiom. Which means to forcefully make known what you think should happen. Yes, Rory?

R: Oh, it just means that you tell people what to do, and you don't take any alternatives or other suggestions. You're like, this is what we are doing, end of story, end of discussion.

M: Okay, okay. For example, when we work in an office. Yeah, dear listener? You work with me. And I go in and I tell you, okay, so you do this, Rory, you do this. You go pick up my dress, you bring me the coffee. So I can't just come into the office and start laying down the law.

R: I mean, you probably could, and you'd get away with it.

M: Yeah. Could you give us another example with this?

R: Like parents might lay down the law with their children if they're being disobedient.

M: So it's quite common for politicians to lie. It's a common issue. If you talk about noise levels, so you can also say it's a common issue and the politicians mislead the public to get elected. To get elected? To get elected President, for example. They mislead the public. The public? People. Mislead? Tell lies. So this law would reduce the level of corruption in my country.

R: I hope so. That's what laws are designed to do.

M: Politicians. And we say politics. But people involved in politics, are called politicians. Politicians lie to gain power. To get power, to gain power.

R: But that just means to get it.

M: We also use a lot of verbs with the word law. For example, enact a law. What does it mean to enact a law?

R: Well, you create the law, and when you enact the law, it becomes... It has legal force. So people have to follow the law or they suffer consequences.

M: Yeah, enact. To make law, to put something into action. Okay? So to make something law. For example, economic sanctions will be enacted against this country. So will be kind of made legal, okay? We can also say, make a law. I would introduce a law. I would make a law. What else can you say?

R: Enforce.

M: Enforce. Enforce a law.

R: I think those are the big ones. I can't think of any others.

M: Yeah. And we are using the second conditional. If we were able to do that, it would be better, right? Or if I had my way, it would be... So it would be... This law would be this. So if I could do this, past, it would be pretty popular with people. So this law would be popular with most people. And a nice phrase is like we are all sick and tired of the same old lies. And what is deceit?

R: Deceit is just when you're not telling the truth. Were you trying to move away from the deceit there?

M: And if you're talking about the noise levels and a law to regulate the noise at night or on public transport, you can say we are all sick and tired of people who play music on the bus.

R: It's a binomial. Sick and tired.

M: And to wrap it up, we talk about our own feelings. And you start, when it comes to my own feelings, I doubt such a law would ever come into effect. So come into effect? Become a real law. So I do not think that this law would ever come into effect or would be introduced. Politicians won't allow it. Who makes laws? Politicians, right?

R: Well, politicians can make the law. Sometimes judges contribute.

M: Also, you can say that this law could be quite difficult to enforce. Again, enforce? To introduce, to make. But it is nice to dream about it. That one day people will not be allowed to listen to whatever they want around other people. So annoying.

R: I know. That's why I picked it.

M: Just... It's crazy. It's like, you know what? Yesterday, I think I was travelling by Metro, and it's quite noisy, right? Like downstairs on the train in the metro. And there was a man with his child, and the child had this music on. It was like crazy. Like the whole train could hear it. But normally, kind of, they play music, yeah? But it's kind of, it's okay. But this kid had it on like... Like that, you know? And the dad is just sitting there, like, okay.

R: It's fine.

M: Like, are you deaf? It's just like...

R: So maybe I should change my answer to things that... The law should be: "Make parents behave responsibly".

M: Dear listener, are you the same? Are you annoyed by the noise levels? Or you're okay? Or maybe you are the one who does it. Ah, dear listener? Do you do it on the train? Do you?

R: What's more annoying, politicians lying or people making too much noise on the train?

M: Yep. So you decide, okay? Thank you very much for listening, and we'll get back to you in our next episode about laws.

R: With more legal vocabulary.

M: Bye!

R: Bye!

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