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Alex Deane: How the march of officialdom is destroying cherished ways of life

Alex Pic A man in Ayr is facing a criminal trial after he was "caught" blowing his nose behind the wheel of his car.

Michael Mancini was given a £60 fixed penalty notice after a policeman decided he was "not in control of his vehicle" when he wiped his nose with a tissue. Mancini maintains that he was in stationary traffic and had put his handbrake on. He refused to pay the fine, and will now face a trial later this year.

This isn't a one-off, by any means (indeed, the policeman who gave Mancini his ticket was PC Stuart Gray – who recently issued a £50 fixed penalty to a man who accidentally dropped a £10 note in the street). It's symptomatic of life in this country today, which is fast becoming so illiberal that it's almost as if normal life is unlawful. From councils conducting covert surveillance of residents to check their catchment area to bureaucrats fining families for the contents of their bins, this culture of overbearing bossiness is changing our national life, with a "chilling effect" on social interaction – it's destroying traditional, harmless activities, and driving down outgoing natures, volunteerism, clubbable spirit – things we ought to cherish.

You may remember that in November, a young woman in Sandwell named Vanessa Kelly was stopped by a warden and given a £75 fixed penalty notice for throwing bread to the ducks in her local park. The fine was for "littering".

She refused to pay, she told her local press. Big Brother Watch leant a hand lining up media appearances, and – like most bullies when confronted – the council backed down. Not because they admitted they were in the wrong –but because they didn't want the fight.

I draw from this a lesson that you probably appreciate already – media criticism is all our masters care about. Well, I accept their terms. Using those tools, we can and must turn that fear around – so that in a few years' time, when the jobsworth is on the verge of handing out that illiberal fine, he feels the chilling effect himself.

Donning the uniform of office doesn't – or shouldn't – entail unlimited power to exact petty bureaucracy. It ought to come with discretion, with common sense. Failing that, let's try to bully them back.

By Alex Deane, Director of Big Brother Watch

Reproduced from today's Independent

Posted on January 29, 2010 by Big Brother Watch Posted in Media coverage
  • zorro

    If any council blockwarts come up to you and you have done nothing wrong. Just ignore them and walk away. Never give your personal details. Do not enter into any ‘contract’ or recognition of their authority (in the context that you haven’t done anything wrong such as the examples quoted). They are purely revenue collection agents for corporations whose sole motivation is profit and not public service.
    Treat them with the disdain and contempt in which they hold you (who pay for their employment).
    Always complain and make a scene through the media. Name people and make the public aware, trust me they hate it…..In fact, if you see a blockwart ask them for their name and what they are doing. They have to give you those details. Then walk away and don’t tell them anything.
    This will only get worse and it is only when a huge stink occurs and more of the public undertake these tactics (when you have an honestly held belief that you have not done anything wrong)that things will change.
    Always create a scene in the media whenever possible when little hitlers try and impose their inadequacy upon you. Unfortunately, these cowards prey on members of society who they think they can intimidate. Don’t let them…..

  • http://faustiesblog.blogspot.com FaustiesBlog

    We ought to DEMAND the ID of people issuing such fines and name and shame them.
    This cannot be allowed to continue.
    Thanks for the alert, zorro.

  • No Contract – No Joinder

    The person who made the first comment does not have a clue. By ignoring something it doesn’t make it go away. It is tacit acceptance. You need to stay within honour at all times by conditionally accepting their offer as principal creditor on behalf of the debtor which is the ALL CAPS name on the sheet and then demand proof that there was a consent or a contract between you as a flesh and blood human being and whatever agent is trying to create a joinder with you.

  • Sandy

    England is now a Nanny state. No free speech, new privacy libel laws that tie the press in knots so they cannot print the truth.
    I am surprised we do not have to have our name written inside our jackets and strings attached to our gloves so we that we may not lose them.

  • http://alastairs-place.net alastair

    @zorro:
    Corporations have nothing to do with it, so please keep private industry out of this discussion.

  • zorro

    Alastair, yes they do and councils subtract lots of services to private companies for profit….so private industry is well in this discussion (public/private partnerships)….and there are plans for more of the same.
    ‘No contract’(‘freeman’…admiralty law…statute law etc etc)I do have a clue – yes…but obviously it would be up to them to show any proof of a contract but unfortunately people can get drawn into arguments and get intimidated. I am speaking of incidents where the blockwarts are taking the piss such as penalising the feeding the ducks by a lake or imposing their inadequacy on women with young children etc etc as evidenced in my initial comment.
    I just think that life should be made as difficult as possible for these blockwarts when they are acting outside the spirit of the law. They’ll get sick of it after a while as will the police…if they are called to assist. Of course, one should always act honourably but the blockwarts need to know their limits…

  • http://thefourthplace.net/ Simon

    Rand had a great deal to say on something she called “the sanction of the victim” she notes that the hollowmen of this world – her “looters” and “moochers” – require your approval to make the system work. Do not volunteer it. Obey if you are literally forced to, but volunteer nothing.

  • LeChiffre

    @Sandy
    Name tags would be far too simple, so we’ll soon have the compulsory biometric id card instead which will be found wanting so then we’ll all have to be tattoo/bar-coded if not individually micro-chipped. See more here:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microchip_implant_(human)
    @alastair
    Local councils are usually corporations: either incorporated by royal charter or by statute. They are different to companies incorporated at Companies House such as … THE ASSOCIATION OF CHIEF POLICE OFFICERS OF ENGLAND, WALES AND NORTHERN IRELAND, or “ACPO” company number 3344583, which as a private company limited by guarantee does not have to have the word “LIMITED” at the end of its name.
    @zorro
    I never did understand the reference to Admiralty Law; what’s that about?

  • http://andrew-allison.blogspot.com Andrew Allison

    A couple of years ago, a woman was fined in Hull because her young child, in a pushchair, dropped a piece of the sausage roll he was eating.
    The Hull Daily Mail got behind her and the charge was dropped. We have to fight the bully state, fire with fire.

  • Local onlooker

    The area where the woman fed birds in Smethwick is filthy, littered with bagfuls of abandoned food, and bespoiled by scores of feral non-native Canadian geese. It is a health hazard and attracts vermin. The fine for dropping any kind of rubbish here should be far higher as a detrrent

  • http://profile.typepad.com/alexdeane Alex Deane
  • http://www.ateslianlar.com/etiketler.asp sikiş

    England is now a Nanny state. No free speech, new privacy libel laws that tie the press in knots so they cannot print the truth.