In reply to Coel Hellier:
> Of course! <rolls eyes>
Ok, I was being flippant but there was a serious point there. Given that you said earlier...
"> ... but do you really want a society where it is illegal to refuse to do something if you're paid for it?
Yes, if you're running a public-service business and the service you're being requested to provide is legal. That's the whole point of the legislation. "
...I was trying to test the limits of the 'public service' obligations of a business. I'm not sure how it could possibly work. For business to be viable it must be allowable to refuse a request when it is not economically or technically feasible. This alone is not exactly black and white as where would you draw the line? It is also quite common for a big business to refuse work that is not in line with its business plan or contradicts internal policy or brand guidelines. I assume you would agree with this for big business, so why not allow small businesses to have their own reasons to refuse work? In this case, it seems that the specific reason was illegal, but you seem to be suggesting that *all* reasons to refuse work should be illegal as it is the public duty of businesses to provide services for money.
Unless I lay out everything I do as a business explicitly and up front with fixed prices (like a hardware shop), then how could I ever refuse work
> Now come up with a sensible interpretation of what I've said.
I think that was a reasonable summary, albeit perhaps not very eloquent. I found it interesting that public service (typically an idea not really associated with purist capitalist idealogy) could be cited in (what appeared to be) an argument that businesses should be obliged to operate in a purely commoditised market with no discretion over what services they provide to whom.
At the same time, I found it interesting that in opposing this (perceived) view, I found myself supporting the idea of deregulation of- /removal of state interference in- business, something which is far more common amongst free-marketeers.
Hope that makes a little more sense. I think perhaps we were at crossed purposes on the public service thing as I think perhaps you were thinking mainly in terms of the gay cake and I was thinking of a complete societal change.