Tag: regulations

Tories, Football & Poo

Hamar WilliamsLeave a comment

As I scour the worlds events in search of topics I discover little. Another Tory sex offender doing his best attempt at being a throwback to the 1990s. Usually they were having gay affairs but with being gay not an inhibitive issue anymore he appears to have just gone and sexually assaulted someone instead. I’m cautious of immediately believing every accusation but there’s often no smoke without fire as they say. In other Tory news the somehow not yet fully disgraced Housing Minister Robert Jennrick has made that favourite of Tory moves and cut red tape. This time it revolves around planning permission and all in the name of preserving the economy post-Covid-19, despite the fact we’re still very much present-Covid-19. It’s not like have no planning permission regulations has ever led to anything dangerous or slum like in the past, I’m sure this will definitely be different now that we have the Compassionate Conservatives in power. Is that still a thing or was it just the last incumbents who were compassionate enough to label themselves such. I forget.

Chelsea lost the FA Cup Final yesterday which I was so pleased about I gave a little fist squeeze when I saw the result. I mention them losing over Arsenal winning because I’m reasonably indifferent to Arsenal, their manager Mikel Arteta is so far likeable and Chelsea are a relatively detestable club with detestable fans. They win too much for my liking, are improving their squad a little too much also for my liking and winning the cup could potentially have given them an unwanted boost. Long term is important but we enjoy that endorphin kick in the short term probably even more. With Manchester United about to kick off their Europa League re-start next week let’s hope there’s not some Chelsea fan sitting behind a keyboard writing similar about us towards the end of the month and the tournaments conclusion. There’s nothing quite like a bit of blind tribal irrationality to give us the chance to embrace our most basic of desires.

In local news, those familiar with past posts, will remember ‘Poo Gate’ in the local Facebook group. This group was closed down by the admin when the tourist bashing got a little strong, but a few weeks ago it was opened up again. Unfortunately the tourist bashing has resumed unabated, apparently the existence of motor homes that don’t stay in the overly priced and full campsites are a blight on society and one woman discovered four of those little black bags of dog poo beside a fence. Society is crumbling before our eyes it would appear. I was very close to leaving them a comment suggesting they were all idiots and that the group should be shut down again but thought better of it as not a single positive thing would come from my action. Cities may be at the forefront of progressive culture but there’s nothing quite like a small village to get to the heart of what is at our core as a people.

Bureaucracy

Hamar WilliamsLeave a comment

A bureaucratic nightmare is a phrase that you may not have said yourself but will have certainly heard said by someone else in a usually less than positive moment. Bureaucracy is one of those things that we all just love to hate. We spend three days filling out a one hundred page form to apply for a foot test or a visa to a foreign land, and bemoan the complete and utter waste of our time. At least you can enter those foreign lands I hear someone saying. Anyway when four months later we receive back a notification that we forgot to fill in Section 17 Subsection P which can be found by following the link printed at the bottom of the last page and will now have to pay a fine of four hundred and forty-nine pounds or be banned from ever filling out forms again, we forget about the waste of time, rejoice and decide now is the moment to finally tear down the state. We’ve all been there.

I’m going to Ireland for Christmas, how lovely. The dog will be coming along and it appears that despite Ireland being rabies free, she needs an up to date rabies jab if she wants to come with us. I can confirm she wants to go. Fair enough I hear you say. What I don’t understand is why she needs these things. I can understand requiring them coming from mainland Europe as this is an island and it is about keeping various diseases out, such as rabies in this case. However I don’t need any pet documentation to go to Northern Ireland, which while still being part of the UK is also coincidentally still part of the island of Ireland. I suspect very few people within the island of Ireland give much of a shit about taking their pet passports, or even getting one if they’re going back and forth over the border so what really is the point.

It makes zero logical and practical sense as it can be circumvented so easily which means it must be down to some political bureaucratic nonsense. This will be some EU law or regulation cooperative states abide by and I dare say this could be an easy moment to rant about the EU if I was that way inclined. That though would miss the point, this is more symptomatic of State, governance and institutional power. Regulations protect and eat away at liberties in different often polarised ways but we’re dealing here with the ultimate trip – time and money, and what they mean for power – bureaucracies most honoured of friends.