Come to beautiful Lancashire, England, where the future a boot stamping on a human face – forever! There you can be arrested on specious grounds for taking pictures of Santas a Christmas Parade!

Two photographers ran afoul of Section 44 is some sort of anti-terrorism bill that prevents charming blokes from taking pictures of Christmas festivities in a public place. They call his sort of thing “antisocial behavior.”

The Guardian has a full video of the insane arrest. The explanation? “Because of the Terrorism Act and everything in the country, we need to get everyone’s details who is taking pictures of the town,” said an officer.

Considering the UK is essentially a surveillance state, the irony here is as quaint and charming as Lancashire’s delightful architecture and wonderful little pubs!

Have any of you UK readers been hassled for this? It seems to be fairly common over there and seemingly – less so, at least recently – here in the US.