I can’t help but be amused that while parts of London burn and stockmarkets meltdown there are those among us who continue to concentrate on telling everyone else how to live their lives.
Firstly I read in my latest copy of the riveting journal, Local Government News, that some councils are moving towards stopping people from smoking in parks and streets. Indeed, I assume that if these officials have their way, citizens will only be able to smoke in their own back gardens, and probably only then if there are no children present.
This proposed encroachment on the lawful activity of others reminds me that the first time I opened my mouth in a council debate was to condemn a report that prevented the residents of Stour House in Sudbury from smoking in their own back garden. It seemed deeply illiberal to me (who has incidentally never been a smoker) to stop people who were having real problems in their lives, from doing what is after all perfectly lawful. This was my first hands on experience of the propensity of those in public life to tell the rest of us how to live our lives, and I was immediately revolted by it.
In this connection ,Radio 4 are still banging on today about the child rearing ‘experts’ who want to introduce, with government support, a new ‘5 a day code’ for parents. The code dictates, inter alia, reading to their children daily, praising them and, oh yes, feeding them too! This sort of bossy dictat reveals a deeply patronising and insulting attitude towards the vast majority of parents, and is yet another example of meddling officialdom.
Am I the only person who is infuriated by this sort of thing?
Frustrated resident says...
ReplyDeleteThere is a dangerous failure on the part of government to distinguish between the public and the private. Excessive tolerance of anti-social behaviour (not least in schools) leads to mob riots in London. Meanwhile, local officials dictate to smokers. Strange priorities!
Fully support you on this. Having been preached by a Headmistress in recent years about what we should feed our children, I was always staggered she had the nerve because she had the most horrendous halitosis due to extremely bad dental care (non-care). As I pointed out to her, bad teeth contributes to more ill health problems than possibly the child who will not eat his 5 a day but with maturity will grow to love his greens. Same head teacher rewarded bullying bad behaviour this leftist preaching should be on the retreat after the recent riots showed what the nanny state is spewing out.
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