Things you like and dislike about England.

[HollywoodLeo]

They're from Scotland, but they do shred.

Then change the title to "Thinks you like and dislike about the UK"

[HollywoodLeo]

that one box that when you stand on it you can say whatever you want and not get arrested.

What's that? A soapbox?

[DP35]

kinda, I think.

here's the wikipedia
Hyde Park Speakers' Corner

Though Hyde Park Speakers' Corner is considered the paved area closest to Marble Arch, legally it extends as far as the Reform Tree and covers a large area of the adjacent parade ground.
Public riots broke out in the park in 1855 in protest over the Sunday Trading Bill which forbade buying and selling on a Sunday, the only day working people had off. The riots were described by Karl Marx as the beginning of the English revolution.

Speakers' Corner on a Sunday in April 2004


The Chartist movement used Hyde Park as a point of assembly for workers' protests but no permanent speaking location was established. The Reform League organised a massive demonstration in 1866 and then again in 1867 which compelled the government to extend the franchise to include most working class men.
The riots and agitation for democratic reform encouraged some to force issue of the "right to speak" in Hyde Park. The Parks Regulation Act 1872 delegated the issue of permitting public meetings to the park authorities (rather than central government). Contrary to popular belief[citation needed] it does not confer a statutory basis for the right to speak at Speakers' Corner. Parliamentary debates on the act illustrate that a general principle of being able to meet and speak was not the intention, but that some areas would be permitted to be used for that purpose.
Since that time it has become a traditional site for public speeches and debate as well as the main site of protest and assembly in Britain. There are some who contend that the tradition has a connection with the Tyburn hanging gallows where the condemned man was allowed to speak.
Although many of its regular speakers are non-mainstream, Speakers' Corner was frequented by Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, George Orwell, and William Morris. Its existence is frequently upheld as a demonstration of free speech, as anyone can turn up unannounced and talk on almost any subject, though they are likely to be heckled by regulars.
In the late 19th century, for instance, a combination of park by-laws, use of the Highways Acts and use of venue licensing powers of the London County Council made it one of the few places where socialist speakers could meet and debate.
In 2003 the park authorities tried to ban a demonstration set for February 15 to stop the War in Iraq. This caused uproar and forced a climb-down.[citation needed]

[edit] Notable speakers


A Nation of Islam preacher in 1999


The following organisations and individuals have a well-established history of speaking regularly at Speakers' Corner.

• Donald Soper (1926–1998)
• Heiko Khoo (since 1986)
• Socialist Party of Great Britain (since 1904)
• Socialist Studies (since 1991)

[brewcrewrock]

As much as I do hate to bump up a really old thread, but... Nobody said Blackadder :O