I don't often visit the non-fiction pages but I decided this was a bit too long to post as a "rant" and it might be read more often here.............

How far do we let things slide before taking a stand for the principle of personal choice and freedom of expression? How much of your life do you think it reasonable that one Government office/department should be able to control/oversee/direct?

Now that I've got your attention …………….

The first time I can remember discussing this topic was many years ago now, but since that time many of the things which we in our drink-sodden wild flights of imaginative fancy thought it was funny to depict as far-out and highly improbable scenarios have – most alarmingly! – come to pass.

For example:

1. The 'rubbish' police. Last week in South Wales a keen and committed supporter of "green" recycling schemes lost his appeal against a fine of £200 [plus costs] for a single envelope (with his name on it) being found in a recycle bin supposedly reserved for newspapers, cans and glass.
2. The litter police. Motorist fined £80 fixed penalty for dropping a cardboard coffee container out of his window. While I don't disagree with the principle of making an example of litterbugs, I query the size of the penalty imposed!
3. The 'Housing' police. Government-appointed busybodies counting lightbulbs (and other equally 'vital' information!) prior to new legislation (next month) regarding buying and selling property. The last time this was attempted (sometime in the 20s or 30s, I think) it merely encouraged people to do botched "bricking up" jobs rather than pay the Window Tax which was being tried out …..
4. The 'Police police'. Quis custodiat ipsos custodies? This is a halfways solution – in other words, no solution at all! To compensate for the endless hours our beleaguered police spend writing endless reports in quadruplicate, we now have "half coppers" – aka Community Support Officers – whose powers of arrest are all but non-existent, but who are expected to provide a token show of 'police presence' on the streets while their more experienced colleagues are drowning in paperwork.
5. The 'Thought police'. Most frightening concept of all. Not even in our wildest, most debauched drunken imaginative flights of fancy did we ever think it possible that today, a PC can knock on a door and attempt to arrest a 12-year-old who has used the term "gay" in a text message to another child of similar age…..

These examples barely skim the surface. Something is patently wrong with our society at large, and is NOT restricted (whatever Will S. might have said!!) to the State of Denmark.  It begins much closer to home. I disagreed with almost everything she said while in office, but maybe Maggie Thatcher had it spot on when she admitted [in 1979] that Britain was indeed "the sick Man of Europe"

Ooooooooooooooooohh I feel better: I'm going for a lie down in a dark room!