"But if we take away the US's right to be self-rightious about drinking (it's bad)..."

I actually didn't say that Americans don't drink. I said that they view it as bad. They are made to feel guilty for drinking.

It's that Daddy Dubya made a huge deal about bringing "ethics" and "morality" back to the White House. And ... guess what? Maybe he needs to go and bring "ethics" and "morality" to his own family before he starts preaching about what everybody else should be doing.

And, I don't mean to say that underage drinking is immoral ... just that Dubya thinks it is. Actually, because of a bill he passed in Texas when he was Govn'r, if Jenna gets caught drinkin' again, she's going to do some jail time. Assuming Daddy dearest doesn't bail her out.

Which, by the way, Daddy Dearest dare not do. Simply because, he and his supporters would have absolutely no way to defend his obviously hippocritical actions.

But that's beside the point. Essentially, Jenna and Barbara are being punished for being the daughters of the President of the United States of America. Fair? Absolutely not. But, hey, they asked George not to run for office. And if George didn't know that being POTUS would put his family in the public eye, he's stupider then I thought (and that's pretty damn stupid).

"Would they make a big deal out of it if their 14 year old daughter watched an R-rated film (if that is equivelent of a '15' certificate. I'm not sure)."

Actually, the age for R movies is 17. And I think someone under seventeen can see it if someone over 17 is w/ them. And, of course, that only applies to theaters. If they watch it on video at home, who's to care?

So, basically, the only problem would be if they snuck into a theater to see it. And, honestly, I'm not sure whether that's illegal, or just against theater rules.

"TSN, on your reply to a matter of opinion & law. You'll note that if a person thinks a law is bullshit, they'll ignore it."

"And they'll get arrested for it."

Oh yes. People get arrested for every law they break.

I don't think that anyone has actually been arrested for jaywalking in the UK in about, ooh, a billion years. Most people don't even know what it is.

"Actually, the age for R movies is 17. And I think someone under seventeen can see it if someone over 17 is w/ them. And, of course, that only applies to theaters. If they watch it on video at home, who's to care?"

There parents? If the film is deemed unsuitable for under 17 year olds, then there parents might take the radical view that it's unsuitable for 17 year olds.

Okay, imagine that the law was the same as in this country. Over here, it's illegal for someone under 18 to watch an 18-certificate film, at home or in the cinema. Likewist under-15 for 15-certificates, and under-12s for 12 certificate.

Or for being dumb enough to give him your membership card unsupervised.

It's illegal, but I think it still works the same as the US system. No-ones going to arrest you for allowing a 14 year old to watch the South Park movie (15-certificate). It does stop annoying little shits from getting into the cimema though. Sometimes. And it does force the parents into buying the tape for their kids themselves, so they can check it out better.

Or the kid can borrow it from a mate. Ho hum.

As a rule, the UK is more sensitive to violence than the US, and less sensitive about swearing, especially the lighter swear-words (despite the Simpsons example above, which is pretty much the exception, crap, damn and bitch are thrown around faily easily). I myself, when watching Dragon Ball Z with my 5 year old nephew, occassionally wince, thinking that this might be a bit much for him. He hasn't tried to kill anyone at his school with a Kamehamaha energy blast though, so I think he'll turn out okay.