The riot act becomes an instrument for all reasons, and China tackles corruption

From Canberra to Syria, from Rio to Yorkshire, the Riot Act of George I comes in handy.

From Canberra to Syria, from Rio to Yorkshire, the Riot Act of George I comes in handy.

Former lawyer Malcolm Turnbull gets stern with his MPs and tells Neil Mitchell on Melbourne’s 3AW:

I’ve read the riot act to them, their colleagues will all read the riot act to them, they’ll get the riot act read to them more often than just about anyone could imagine.

Proclamation of riotous assembly under the Riot Act of 1714:

Our sovereign lord the King chargeth and commandeth all persons, being assembled, immediately to disperse themselves, and peaceably to depart to their habitations, or to their lawful business, upon the pains contained in the act made in the first year of King George, for preventing tumults and riotous assemblies. God save the King.

Skid Row in Riot Act, from the 1991 album Slave to the Grind:

Stop readin’ me the riot act / While my brains are still intact / You say it’s raining, but you’re pissin’ down my back / So stop readin’ me the riot act

There’s a mob called Riotact.com in Canberra, one that creates conversations. Its mission:

We want to provide the Canberra community with a quality source of independent and informative local news, while providing a friendly public forum for Canberrans to share their views on issues that matter to them.

Olympic Games chef de mission in Rio de Janeiro Kitty Chiller was so concerned about rugby sevens players being drunk:

Yes, I read them the riot act.

It’s a handy instrument, this riot act, and can even be applied to English soccer, according to the Yorkshire Evening Post on August 15:

Sol Bamba admitted that Garry Monk was right to read the riot act after Leeds United’s first home game of the season ended in a 2-1 defeat to Birmingham City and a furious reaction from their head coach.

In fact it’s handy for all occasions. The Guardian on August 8, 2011:

The foreign secretary, William Hague, admitted last week there was not much more Britain could do to halt the Syrian crackdown, while his US counterpart, Hillary Clinton, has been reduced to counting the dead. But Turkey, Syria’s more powerful neighbour, is less supine. It is sending its foreign minister to Damascus on Tuesday to read the riot act to Syria’s gore-soaked president, Bashar al-Assad.

An ill omen, perhaps? The Australian Financial Review on June 2 last year:

(Tony) Abbott told the weekly meeting of MPs and senators … he had read the riot act to the cabinet … after details from last week’s meeting, in which Mr Abbott was rolled over an issue of national security, were leaked to The Sydney Morning Herald.

The International Business Times reported on China’s new penalties for corruption in April:

China has announced new rules governing the use of the death penalty in corruption cases, setting the threshold at 3 million yuan, or $463,000. Anyone found guilty of embezzlement or taking bribes of this amount or more — in “extremely serious cases” that have an “extremely vile impact” — will face the death penalty.

That was a month before the BBC published corruption statistics:

China’s ruling Communist Party says it punished nearly 300,000 officials last year for corruption … 200,000 were given “light punishment”.

British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has defended his appearances on Iranian state-controlled television in Britain’s The Times:

(His fee) of £20,000 “wasn’t an enormous amount, actually”. About 45 per cent of Britons earn £20,000 or less a year.