In a post about a month ago, I detailed the rubber-gloved rise of the rubbish inspectors, the latest bunch of useless bureaucrats to feast upon the fat of Britain’s once glorious but increasingly manacled land.
It seems their army is still on the march to its place in the sun of the regulatory annals of glory. As part of the excellent Stephen Robinson’s Free Country series, Mr Robinson details how these rubbish inspectors are now to increase their own powers of land rulership.
Now that the problem of fly-tipping has grown exponentially over the last few years, due to idiotarian government policies on landfill taxes and fridge disposal, instead of the government finding fly-tipping miscreants and protecting people’s property, it is going to punish these injured parties if they don’t foot the bill themselves to enforce the government’s policies against fly-tipping. Which is simply splendid, don’t you think?
(Fly-tipping is the process where expensive-to-dispose-of waste is dumped illegally upon other people’s property.)
So where you used to think you paid taxes to the state, so they would provide a minimal level of defence against your property, and your person, against ne’er-do-wells, now they’re going to punish you for the actions of these other low-lifes, and still charge you for the police, without actually giving you the benefit of their protection. No doubt as well as having to set up CCTV around your property, for the government’s eye-spy benefit, you will have to pay to have any fly-tipped rubbish on your land sent to government waste disposal centres. Where obviously you will be asked to pay your full quota of landfill taxes, on someone else’s rubbish. And if you don’t do this, the government will, of course, send the boys-in-blue round to make you.
Doesn’t this remind you of anything? A mafia protection racket, for instance?
All round the government is a winner. It gets more cameras, for free, and more revenue, for free, and the UK’s citizens are wrapped up in yet another layer of interfering regulation, and still HMG can sit smugly around whatever’s left of the Kyoto protocol table to claim that Her Majesty’s Government is the font of all light and all goodness. Doesn’t it make you proud to be British?
Sheesh!
When are you brits going to get the pitchforks and torches (assuming you’re still allowed to have them) and storm the barracades?
Every time I hear about some new law, tax, or court finding in the UK, I want to believe it’s a joke.
Well, I certainly feel badly for you.
It is rare that you see “blame the victim” actually enshrined in the legal code, but here you have it.
Uh, when is your revolution coming? Well?
Revolution:
Isn’t there a Frank Zappa song with a refrain like:
“Send Lawyers, Guns and Money.”
I’ve always wondered about the order myself.
Its Warran Zevon 🙂
In this town in Maine, we had a fascist with a clip-board who use to berage people after going through their bin-bags at the recycling centre. He sent nasty letters and tried to fine people. He was run out of town to be replaced by someone who is helpful and realises that recycling is something that should be encouraged not ordered.
Where did the term fly-tipping come from? In the states we have cow-tipping but that’s a whole ‘nother story entirely.
Went to the Telegraph’s site and read that article plus a couple more about the problem. It’s terrible what they are making the farmers put up with.
Had a question though:
One of the articles in the Telegraph states this is common for farms that are close to a town or a city. One farmer actually saw someone dispose of items at 2PM and drive away.
I was wondering why the farmers that are being most impacted don’t put up a tall chain link fence?
I think I must be missing something because this seems like a good temporary solution and I’m sure the farmers would have done it by now. .. so that’s why I assume I’m missing something?
“I was wondering why the farmers that are being most impacted don’t put up a tall chain link fence?”
Because it costs a bloody fortune and would likely interfere with farming, would be my guess. Have you priced chain-link fencing lately?
“Where did the term fly-tipping come from?”
Shorthand for “tipping” (dumping garbage) on the fly.
R.C. Dean: it’s hardly rare. Punishing an innocent to draft them as an unpaid cop is par for the course, especially when they ban something that they suspect their draftee would otherise turn a blind eye to.
This reminds me of when Inglewood California tried to get a handle on graffiti by fining the owner of the vandalized property for having the stuff on his property.
Too bad you Brits are disarmed; you could have one hell of a good blood and guts revolution going by now. That is, if you have enough people left who really care about freedom.
Have I mentioned before about Westmister City Council’s wonderful scheme to stamp out fly-tipping in the West End?
You are supposed to put out your rubbish for collection in a one hour window (as instructed by an expensively enamelled individual sign in your stretch of street). All well and good, but collections do not happen on time.
When I lived there the dustmen would sometimes be late (not too bad, the rubbish would get collected). But were usually 3 or 4 hours early. So one’s rubbish could sit on the street all day, inviting prosecution.
I had a doorstep, so I wasn’t prosecutable for rubbish I (as occupier) put there, but it didn’t stop them from issuing me with threatening notices.