Let me go shopping on a Sunday if I want

This week my attention was turned once again to freedom of choice in Britain, and those  who would try to limit it.

London is about to play host to the biggest sporting and cultural event in the world – the 2012 Olympics.

Apart from the capital's failing transport system, in which I hold little faith of rising to the challenge, shouldn’t we be doing everything possible to make sure the games are a huge success?

The issue of our outdated trading laws which allow traders to operate for no more than six hours on a Sunday has been mooted as an area of review.

There are plans to relax the laws during the games to encourage spending in the shops, make them accessible for longer during this intensely busy period, and allow people the freedom to choose whether or not to go shopping later on a Sunday afternoon.

Logic tells me that during this collosal event it is nonsense to order shops close early on Sundays.

The thousands of people expected to descend on the capital alone will send demand for longer opening hours through the roof, some might not be able to squeeze  a visit to the shops  into the current six-hour window.

This raises the general issue of freedom of choice, and whether this outdated and unduly restrictive law is still relevant.

I think longer trading hours are a good idea as I quite like shopping on a Sunday, it is one of the two days of the week I can actually get to the shops.

And for people without a family nearby it may be the only chance they get to have a little social interaction outside work. For some people Sunday can be a very lonely day.

A larger shopping window would also mean I wouldn’t have to put off everything else. If shops are open all day, I can fit other things in.

It will be good for older people who can have a wander around the shops and get to see their families all on the same day, and if that is what they want to do, who would try to stop them?

Ah, that age old question. Of course there are people who will try to stop them. 

If there is something people want to do, that causes no harm to others and gives them pleasure, then rest assured, there is an army of “we-know-betters” chomping at the bit to stop them. 

I keep forgetting they have a far greater understanding of what is good for me than I have for myself.

Campaign group Keep Sunday Special is “profoundly worried” I might spend more than my allocated six hours browsing around Bluewater or Westfield.

They “totally oppose” any change in legislation that would allow Mrs Jones to spend the morning with her grandchildren before popping to the shops late afternoon.

A statement on their website states: “Research by the National Centre for Social Research has shown that Sunday working has a detrimental impact on fathers’ time with their children, especially on playing, reading and teaching.

“KSS has always promoted Sundays as a day for shared activities. No changes to Sunday Trading legislation are needed to enable all Olympic visitors to have a great day out enjoying time with family and friends. 

“When did shopping become an Olympic sport? Why are the Olympics deemed to be a special case?”

When did the Olympics become a special case – are you really serious? The whole two-month period is going to be a special case.

It goes on: “It would be shameful indeed if Parliament allowed a change to be pushed through in the context of the Budget, especially as there was consultation on Sunday Trading only last year which showed conclusively that there was no appetite to change the law.”

The Rev Sally Hitchiner, curate of St John’s, Ealing, is also losing sleep over my planned shopping escapades.

She is prepared to turn a blind eye to it during the Olympics, however, as long as it doesn’t become a year-round habit.

“We're concerned it could become a precedent, that we could lose some of the specialness of Sunday,” she said.

“Sunday should be a time for relationships, there should be a time when we put some boundaries on consumerism, so you can go to the park and play football with the kids, and take your mum breakfast in bed.”

You take whoever you like what you like in bed Ms Hitchiner, but would you mind not poking your God-bothering nose into mine – if you pardon the phrase.

Who are you to say I should be spending my Sundays playing football with the kids? I don't have any thank you very much.

What I find worrying is this constant nannying from those who think they know what is in my best interests.

If I want to shop until I drop on a Sunday, and the facilities are there for me to do it, then it has nothing to do with KSS or the Church.

I am not a father so have no children to be reading to and teaching, thank you.

And in case you were worrying, I don’t intend to drag any unwilling companions out shopping with me, so my choices are likely to be just that, mine.

Sunday trading laws are outdated, in need of change, and are no longer relevant in modern Britain.

But more importantly, for pity's sake just leave people alone to make up their own minds.