30 January 2007

Green fascism

Don't think it exists? Well Tunbridge Wells Borough Council is a clear example of it.
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According to The Independent the council fined a 12 year old girl £50 for placing a piece of cardboard next to a full council recycling bin. On top of that it sent a letter to the girl threatening her with 6 months in prison and a £50,000 fine. The council nazi was going through the boxes by the overflowing bin and found one with her name and address on it, so smiling with glee he used this information to slap a penalty on her, shouting Zeig Heil (well he/she may as well have).
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The girl is keen on recycling, but has been frightened off it because of the fascist bullies at the council. Gary Stevenson, Head of environment and street scene services said "Tunbridge Wells borough residents are the second-best recyclers in Kent" - of course, this is part of the mass British religion called recycling, whereby taxpayers pay to subsidise the sourcing of raw materials for manufacturers, and fund the bullying of those who don't do it. The council is reconsidering it, no doubt embarrassed for bullying a young girl about it, but they wouldn't think twice about threatening you if you didn't put the cardboard in the overflowing bin (the council denies it was overflowing of course).
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I've yet to see an independent cost/benefit analysis of the value of recycling in the UK - but you can see how this faith based initiative is making councils bully. Central government also threatens to fine councils that don't pursue more recycling, and the EU is also obsessed with it. It is about time someone fisked this in the mainstream UK media.... isn't it?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes - we are meant to be recycling partners with the council. But I think this shows we are just
p(r)awns... Compare this to the enforcement of conditions on developers or complaints to the planning department - seems the council is to downgrade or even no longer enforce planning conditions in general or complaints from single residents. Seems its OK to chase teh residents - but developers who are causing real problems might sue back - so lets let them have free reign to do what they want... Ye sthat the same council Tunbridge Wells - how do that saying go - "steal from the poor and pay the rich?"...

Libertyscott said...

It strikes me as another part of local authority portfolios to use enforcement for revenue, which is very bad practice. It is frowned upon by major agencies operating in developing countries, but not the UK!