Politicians. Don’t we just love all their various outbursts and opinions on things they know absolutely nothing about?

The latest person up on the soapbox is none other than Labour Party member Keith Vaz, who wants cigarette packet-style warnings on the front of all violent video games, stating that violent video games are worse than violent films.

“A film with inappropriate content is not interactive. The point about video games, which is backed up by research from America, is that the player is part of the process. Players shoot and stab people in a videogame, and that is different. I accept that inappropriate content is wrong, wherever it is found, but videogames are different.”

I love how he cites “research from America” without really specifying anything. Vaz used the current source of controvery, Modern Warfare 2’s “No Russian” level, as an example of violence in a video game.

“If a young person gets hold of Modern Warfare 2, for example, they will be asked to participate in a terrorist attack; they will be asked to shoot at civilians in Moscow airport as part of the game.”

Apart from the fact that the scene is completely optional and you can get through it without shooting anyone.

Vaz stated he wasn’t against censorship, but merely wants people to “please think of the children!!!” So maybe he should go after the people buying these games for their kids, instead of being mad at the game designers?

Well, that didn’t take too long. Modern Warfare 2 has only just been released, having had its street date broken, and The Daily Mail is already digging its tabloid claws into it.

One of the most clear criticism from the article is the scene from the first chapter of the game, that allows you to kills innocent civilians if you so choose to.

“Among the most controversial is a situation where the gamer must decide whether to kill unarmed civilians at a Russian airport in order to infiltrate a terrorist group.”

Not surprisingly, the politicians have already come out of the woodwork (in this instance Labour MP Keith Vaz) and promised to save our children from these vile and socially destructive video games…

“I am absolutely shocked by the level of violence in this game and am particularly concerned about how realistic the game itself looks,” Vaz stated, and promised that this would be brought to light in parliament this evening.

Could British politicians be any more out of touch with society? Seriously?