U.K. Liberty Update

1. Those hidden cameras that monitor whether people put out their trash at the designated times? That was just the beginning. Now there are plainclothes, $60,000-a-year garbage cops to go along with the spy cams.

2. England has nothing resembling a Fourth Amendment. And so:

There are no fewer than 266 powers under which state officials can enter an individual's home, according to the centre-right thinktank, the Centre for Policy Studies. These range from the right of Revenue and Customs officers to enter homes with a writ to seize suspected smuggled goods to the power of entry available to Environment Department officials under the Bees Act 1980. The pamphlet entitled "Crossing the Threshold: 266 Ways the State Can Enter Your Home", says the bulk of the powers have been created by Parliament over the past two decades.

3. Planting a few flowers to beautify your village doesn't seem very dangerous, perhaps, but thankfully the Brits have officials to tell know-nothing citizens just how risky, irresponsible, illegal, and subversive the cultivation of such blooms may be:

To the residents of Everton in Nottinghamshire, the blooms added a splash of colour to an already picturesque corner of rural England. But to county council officials, they represented a health and safety risk which had to be licensed and regulated. The confrontation began when the village's parish council decided to plant flowerbeds by a main road. It was swiftly informed that a "licence to cultivate" was required.

Thankfully, after the dastardly flower lovers obtained the license, locals and tourists enjoyed the floral splendor happily ever after.

Just kidding.

Villagers were then told to submit a health and safety questionnaire and a risk assessment for carrying out the work. Once these had been granted, the plans had to be approved by Nottinghamshire county council's landscape team. The accident investigation department also had to be consulted in case the flower beds caused a motoring hazard. Even then, the display couldn't be planted, because utility companies needed to be formally consulted in case the planting caused them a problem. And, of course, public liability insurance — with cover for at least £5million — had to be taken out.

Comments

[Martin Owens]

Explains Robin Hood, doesn't it?

I bet if the truth were known, RH was just a guy who tried to pass out a few sandwiches to hungry folks, and got told he had to get 15 licenses and pay a billion in fees. So he went underground, and the "robberies" he was accused of were just refusals to be squeezed....