The familiar site of someone re-arranging themselves now a maximum penalty of 3 years in prison

Today was officially the last day for men in the UK to legally scratch their balls through their trouser pocket in public.

A new legislation which has just been passed through the commons now makes it illegal to touch your own genitilia anywhere in public for fears that this may encourage sex offenders the act on impulse.

The changes to the public disorder bill have been pushed through as public pressure has forced the issue of public pocket shuffling to be outlawed once and for all as many feel that allowing this to continue unchecked could easily lead to a massive rise in paedophelia.

Education secretary Ruth Kelly has welcomed the new bill as a timely and sensible reaction to a social unpleasantness that has been tolerated for too long.

"Quite frankly I think this change in the law is well over due. Men have been blatantly scratching themsleves unchecked for years, often in the most inappropriate of places such as school playgrounds. This new law is simply saying that we as a country will no longer accept this most hideous of behaviour in fornt of the most vulnerable", explained Kelly.

It is understood however that private ball scratching shelters may be setup to allow men to find some legal relief from an itchy baw bag, especially as the summer draws nearer when scrotums are inevitably going to get sweatier and more than ever be in need of a scratch.

Ruth Kelly at a school visit today appears to have one hand on her lap - hopefully not scratching her fanny

Tories have claimed these ammendments to the sex offenders bill come too late for many who have already been exposed to these kinds of disgusting activities. Conservative shadow education secretary David Willetts claims the recent ammendments are merely another example of how the government has allowed potentially dangerous paedophilles to willfuly self-masticate themselves in public unchecked.

"This may be another blind hysterical attempt to keep paedophilles on their toes but it just isn't enough - we demand headless flailing policies that will act now and think about the consequences later, clearly the governement has actually thought about this one for a while - it's simply not hysterical enough", claimed Mr Willetts.

Certainly this new legislation is less hysterical than some policies of the past but it has opened debates on whether males should be allowed to have their hands in their pockets at all. Many feel that this may be the best and most hysterical way to show that this government is serious about tackling the countries paedophelia epidemic.