Words have the power to open new levels of understanding, to make people more aware of the people around them and the ability to change lives. According to the Tories, they should also be banned – if they are construed to be in any way pornographic that is.

Turns out that the banning of pictures of children deemed to be indecent – giving the comic book community a whole lot to worry about – isn’t good enough for some people and Conservative peer baroness O’Cathain amended the Coroner’s and Justice Bill to include “Dangerous Writing”. Sometimes I want to cry.

The Register says that writings which portray life-threatening acts, acts likely to result in serious injury to anus, breasts or genitals, sexual interference with a human corpse or sex with an animal (dead or alive!) are the ones likely to get you in trouble if the bill is passed. However, this will only apply if the writing is deemed to be pornographic – how this will be determined I don’t know. How many books about serial killers have sexual overtones? I’d say a fair few at a guess.

Chances of this making it through parliament may seem slim, but that’s not the only point – just the fact that people, people with some modicum of power, would suggest such a thing is scary enough. All I can say is – use your words wisely and make sure every one counts – because you never know when you might find your use of them restricted!