If ever I can afford to re-visit ‘old Blighty’ I am going to be *extremely* careful what I do and where I go. For example, one thing I’ll know not to do is walk down the streets.
Of course if you want to go anywhere or see anything this might be a slight problem, but it might help prevent being accosted by yet another bunch of overzealous enforcers of the country’s unbelievably strict laws.
Keith Hirst clearly wasn’t expecting anything unusual to happen as he walked to the chemist to get something for his disabled wife on lunchtime, and yet it took him 18 hours to get back home. He also took home with him the knowledge that he faced a £2,500 fine, a criminal record, and having his DNA stored on police files.
His heinous crime? Some anti-litter official thought he saw him throw an apple core on the road “which nearly hit someone”.
This slight bureaucratic overreaction is reminiscent of a ‘crime’ that cost the British taxpayer thousands some months ago when one Kate Badger was hauled up before the beak because of a similar case. By the way, her case was later dropped.
Sadly it’s becoming more and more apparent that the UK is becoming a Police State where ordinary citizens can’t recycle food scraps or fill their bins without being dragged before the courts.
It’s all quite pathetic really.
The Eclectic Interweb 
So I finally started to read the blog and found myself wanting to respond…..
Coming from the aforementioned land I can only agree……
When we are forced to pay £2.5k ‘council tax’ p.a. and yet when I consider exactly what we are getting for our money it seems a little steep, lets consider the benefits…. local schools (no children..?)…OK so street lighting (nope I live on a private street)….street maintenance (nope I pay separately for that as the council won’t adopt it)……struggling now…..ok local Police (never seen a ‘bobby on the beat’ anywhere near us)….., err really struggling now….managing the environment…not a great record really as they refused the extension plans I had to my property that is not overlooked by anyone, is surrounded by acres of land, will not obstruct anyones view in any way but rules are rules and expanding beyond 25% of the square footage presented in 1969 or earlier designs is just not cricket and certainly breaks green belt rules..! now I could live with this until they allowed the introduction of a new chalk quarry not 5 miles from my house and then force the lorries associated with transporting that chalk to trundle through the local countryside quietly destroying it.!….Then there’s ‘rubbish collection’….they are now considering fortnightly collections and introducing the concept of charging the suckers (sorry the council residents) if you exceed your ‘allowance’ or mix up recyclable items.
So…what exactly am I paying the £2,5k p.a. for I ask myself.?? I seem to be paying the salary of x2 council workers to spend all year making up rules that are so complicated and needless and in fact detrimental to the contentment of it’s residents that it will take another year to sort them out (meaning I have to pay another years salary for them, and so the show goes on year after year)….
I find myself consistently resisting the ‘nanny’ and ‘waster’ society being built up around me and yet find myself powerless to resist it’s force, I’m told I’m just a ‘grumpy old man’ waiting to happen..!!!!! Maybe I am…..who knows…but please, someone just give me value for my £, I get it everywhere else apart from my so called government local or national..!
Thats my boy(grand really)
I am *so* glad I live in Oz. ok it isn’t perfect here either but it’s so much better than the UK it’s sad.
Especially bearing in mind it was founded by the supposed ‘dregs’ of London society! 🙂
In Hendredenny the housing estate at the end of the country lane we live in, the residents each have 4 separate recycling containers in which they put plastic, paper, glass and cans. The council comes along and tip these containers into one container on their lorry so that the plastic, paper, glass and cans are all together !!!!!!! When someone questioned it they were told that it gets separated in the recycling centre!!!
ROFL!!! I’m sure somewhere in some bureaucrats mind that makes *perfect* sense! 🙂
How wrong of you to question authority – you are being trained to separate your waste into four different bins , and obviously with some success – what authority does with these collections is none of your concern – big brother knows best- you have been brainwashed almost successfully yet will you will insist from time to time on asking awkward questions – eventually those emotions will pass and all will be peace and light= you will continue to fill your bins, and the council will carry on mixcing them
Aldous Huxley was right.. it is a ‘Brave New World’….!!!!!