Grumpy Old Man

[caddyman]

I wonder if it is possible to look back through recent history, point out a single moment and say “that is the moment the world went mad”. I doubt it, but it would be interesting to try. The trouble is, the very thought assumes that the world was once sane and I have very grave doubts as to the truth of that.

Today, the Department has posted up notices stating that inline with agreed policy, the entirety of the Department’s buildings will become non-smoking from 2 October¹. Fair enough. It may even help those of us trying to beat the weed. What gets my goat, however, is the fact that while all outdoor areas owned or operated by the Department will be off limits to smokers too, they are trying to ban smoking within five metres of the building. It is this last bit that has made the back of my head go ping. That and the fact that they are providing a sneak line so that you may anonymously report a smoker if they should stray into this five metre exclusion zone.

Regardless of the merits, health benefits &c. of dissuading people from smoking, it is actually a legal activity. Banning it from a building and internal public areas is one thing. I can see (just) the point of doing so outdoors in small enclosed gardens and such, but on the street is ludicrous. Add to that the tell-tale culture that is being encouraged…

There has been a great deal of debate over the years concerning the decline in community life, the failure of neighbourhoods and such. Further debate continues to argue for ways to reverse this, to build up town and village life and so on and so forth. The powers that be, however, whilst bemoaning the loss of such things encourages tittle-tattle, curtain twitching tell-tales. It installs CCTV to an extent that the UK, with about 4% of the world’s population has about 20% of the world’s CCTV coverage . We are supposed to spy on each other, see.

At what point will we see officials in natty grey uniforms with peak caps?

I read in the paper yesterday, that Cherie Blair was investigated by SIX detectives who interviewed a 17 year old fencing champion for half an hour concerning potential child-battering charges after she had given him a playful tap on the arm because he had made rabbit ears behind her while they were posing for a photograph².

Argh!

While I’m on a roll, did you know that thanks to the Hunting Act, if you are running with your pet dog in a park and your dog sees and chases a squirrel, the police are empowered to search your home, destroy the dog and the courts can impose a fine of £5,000? But if you run through the park letting the dog chase a sock on a string and the dog gets distracted and chases a squirrel, that’s perfectly legal. See, running through the park with a dog is hunting if it chases squirrels. Didn’t know that, did you?

Come on, people! What’s going on here?

Aren’t there more important things to worry about?

Oh yes. I went to the O2 shop at lunchtime. They were very helpful and did a lot of things to my phone, including download new settings and all. Then upshot of it all is that I still can't send or receive MMS messages, though GPRS and SMS all work perfectly.

Pah!

¹There is currently a tiny, tiny little smoking room down in one secluded corner of the building. As far as I am aware, that, plus the bar operated in the basement by the Civil Service Sports Council are the only two rooms in the building where people can smoke.

²That said, because it was Cherie Blair, I’d almost be happy to let them hang her. Except we don’t do that anymore.

Comments

[nyarbaggytep.livejournal.com]

Tis an interesting piece, although I could argue that Common Sense is in fact alive abnd well, simply not reported by the media...

[nyarbaggytep.livejournal.com]

I fear them not.

They've been outsourced and therefore only operate on full moon if it's a Thursday and there's a z in the month...