This morning I had occasion to make a telephone call to Thanet's District council regarding their waste disposal services, you see I'm one of the beneficiaries of their wheelie bins and this week was the first time, we were unable to find enough space, in the bin to put all the crap and debris from Flaig Mansions.
This prompted a chit chat with TDC, as with all calls to the council, the familiar and sinister "calls may be recorded" messages is played, which I have always found most irritating, and if I think think of it, then I generally inform them that anything I say, I consider to be copyright, and not for disclosure to a third parties without my explicit permission.
As you can imagine it was the usual frustrating telephone call, it seems Thanet Council will only remove rubbish from your wheelie bin and not take anything else, and the helpful advice was to put the rubbish in the bin and await a further two weeks for its removal, all well and good of course assuming that every fortnight I don't have an additional bag of rubbish that won't fit, which of course in the long run, at the end of the year would leave you with 26 black bin liners for crap and presumably rodents.
Our conversation eventually reached a stalemate, in which I reminded, the poor unfortunate recipient, that Thanet council have a legal obligation to remove domestic waste from my house. I finished the call with something like this, " I'm sorry I will have to terminate the call if you continue to stick to your unreasonable policy of refusing to remove household waste".
Anyway after this conversation, it got me thinking about current reports, concerning local councils having powers to mount covert operations under anti terrorism legislation, they can use to poke around in your life, as much as they like, the thing is if they cannot collect my rubbish just how would they manage running their own secret service.
If you walk round Thanet, you cannot miss all the surveillance cameras, but honestly how often have we heard of anyone actually being arrested as a result of these cameras.
As someone whose recently dealings with a local authority found them, more concerned about face saving than acknowledging my personal liberties, I have severe reservations about local councils being trusted with the amount of surveillance they have, and feel there must be circumstances when local dibdobs haven't the competence or the maturity to exercise such powers in a proper manner.
Maybe it's too late, I'm probably already under surveillance from Sessions House Maidstone. And despite the fact I occasionally vote conservative, I believe quite a few local bureaucrats have me confused with some fruit cake militant left wing looney because having an independent libertarian mind, is something they cannot comprehend.
I can just imagine council leaders, having late night discussions with their heads of security, "M, just what we do know about Flaigy?" The answer being something like this " We've managed to come up with several 100,000 words, on this website Bignews Margate, but we think that's just a cover for something far more sinister, and think his ultimate aim is to see competent democratic and efficient local services, delivered at minimum cost". "SHIT! That is dangerous!"
This prompted a chit chat with TDC, as with all calls to the council, the familiar and sinister "calls may be recorded" messages is played, which I have always found most irritating, and if I think think of it, then I generally inform them that anything I say, I consider to be copyright, and not for disclosure to a third parties without my explicit permission.
As you can imagine it was the usual frustrating telephone call, it seems Thanet Council will only remove rubbish from your wheelie bin and not take anything else, and the helpful advice was to put the rubbish in the bin and await a further two weeks for its removal, all well and good of course assuming that every fortnight I don't have an additional bag of rubbish that won't fit, which of course in the long run, at the end of the year would leave you with 26 black bin liners for crap and presumably rodents.
Our conversation eventually reached a stalemate, in which I reminded, the poor unfortunate recipient, that Thanet council have a legal obligation to remove domestic waste from my house. I finished the call with something like this, " I'm sorry I will have to terminate the call if you continue to stick to your unreasonable policy of refusing to remove household waste".
Anyway after this conversation, it got me thinking about current reports, concerning local councils having powers to mount covert operations under anti terrorism legislation, they can use to poke around in your life, as much as they like, the thing is if they cannot collect my rubbish just how would they manage running their own secret service.
If you walk round Thanet, you cannot miss all the surveillance cameras, but honestly how often have we heard of anyone actually being arrested as a result of these cameras.
As someone whose recently dealings with a local authority found them, more concerned about face saving than acknowledging my personal liberties, I have severe reservations about local councils being trusted with the amount of surveillance they have, and feel there must be circumstances when local dibdobs haven't the competence or the maturity to exercise such powers in a proper manner.
Maybe it's too late, I'm probably already under surveillance from Sessions House Maidstone. And despite the fact I occasionally vote conservative, I believe quite a few local bureaucrats have me confused with some fruit cake militant left wing looney because having an independent libertarian mind, is something they cannot comprehend.
I can just imagine council leaders, having late night discussions with their heads of security, "M, just what we do know about Flaigy?" The answer being something like this " We've managed to come up with several 100,000 words, on this website Bignews Margate, but we think that's just a cover for something far more sinister, and think his ultimate aim is to see competent democratic and efficient local services, delivered at minimum cost". "SHIT! That is dangerous!"
It's axiomatic, you give a bureaucracy power without some sort of countervailing constraint and it will always always be use to the maximum. A little old man gets silenced in a labour conference using terrorist legislation. CCTV catches a wheel on the curb when you stop at the chippy. Bureaucracies are Darwinian too. Just wait until they get everyone’s DNA.
ReplyDeleteBut really, nobody at the council gives a monkeys about anything to do with your life Tony, or your freak friends.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you get just get on with your own job, obey the rules, and chill out?
8:56 I suggest you don't think to hard about that remark,if thought to long you might just go mad.
ReplyDelete