Naked Rambler

The big naked story in the news today is about Steve Gough, the Naked Rambler. I’ve written about him several times here. He’s walked naked from Lands End to John O’Groats twice, once with a friend, and he’s been locked up in a Scottish prison for the last six years. Interestingly, although Gough has walked the entire length of the UK, only in Scotland has the law been an issue for him. In England and Wales he seems to have been tolerated. Strictly speaking, public nudity is not illegal in England, Wales, or Scotland. Though in Scotland his nudity was deemed to have been a “breach of the peace”, which is an offence.

Gough became something of an embarrassment to the Scottish authorities over his refusal to wear clothes. After he was imprisoned for breach of the peace, they clearly expected him to serve his sentence and then leave Scotland fully clothed having learnt his lesson. Gough was however more stubborn than anyone realised, much more stubborn. Each time he was released from prison, he walked through the gate naked and was immediately rearrested and charged with breach of the peace again. Gough also refused to wear clothes at the subsequent court appearances which was deemed to be contempt of court, lengthening his sentence. He also refused to wear clothes in prison which meant he had to be kept in solitary confinement. Thus it became a battle of wills, and the Scottish authorities appear to have blinked first, because Gough was released this morning and again walked free and naked, but his time he was not rearrested.

The official line from Tayside police seems to be that they have a duty to uphold the law, but also a responsibility to act in the public interest. One assumes they mean that they can’t justify spending public money keeping this man in prison indefinitely, and they would be right. Clearly prison is not “rehabilitating” Gough, and it’s difficult to and it’s difficult to come up with any other reason for incarcerating him. He’s not a danger to the public after all.

I have mixed feelings about Gough. I think he’s a nutter, but I have no personal problem with his philosophy in general. I think public nudity is anti-social in that a significant proportion of society don’t like it. And that is where Gough gets it wrong in my view. He can, and probably should, campaign for naturist rights without being anti social. That said, I have a grudging admiration for his tenacity and I basically support his cause.

Gough now says he’s heading south, back home to Hampshire, naked of course and presumably on foot once more. I’ll follow his progress with interest. I’m guessing he’ll make it home without another serious run-in with the law. The Scottish authorities aren’t going to arrest him and go back to square one. I imagine the English and Welsh will do what they have done in the past and turn a blind eye to it. Does this mean Gough has changed the world in some small way? Well maybe he has. In the unlikely event that some other nutcase tries to walk through Scotland naked, I guess the police will think twice before charging them. Does it open the way for anyone to walk naked from one end of the country to the other now without fear of arrest? I rather hope it does.