Thursday 29 October 2009

If You Don't Like It Here, You Can Just Go Elsewhere...

Back when the ISA was being hammered in all the blogs for their ridiculous, nanny-state control freakery, many commenters mused that the next logical step was to ensure all parents were checked and registered too.

Someone in Watford must have read one of those comments and thought 'Eureka!':
A council has banned parents from supervising their children in public playgrounds until they have undergone criminal record checks.

Adults have been excluded from two adventure play areas in Watford, apart from a handful of council-vetted 'play rangers' who will assist youngsters, it emerged today.

Parents will be forced to watch their children from outside the perimeter fence.
See? You should never joke about how far they can go. They can always go that one step further...

And is the council embarassed by the disclosure of this new policy? Far from it:
Council Mayor Dorothy Thornhill said they are merely enforcing government policy at the play areas, in Vicarage Road and Leggatts Way.

She said: 'Sadly, in today's climate, you can't have adults walking around unchecked in a children's playground and the adventure playground is not a meeting place for adults.

'We have reviewed our procedures, so although previously some parents have stayed with their children at the discretion of our play workers, this is not something we can continue to do.

'There are other places in the town for parents with small children to go.'
Nice! 'If you don't like it here, go elsewhere.'

Now, I can see how a commercial enterprise can get away with saying that. But, presumably, this is run with taxpayer moolah, isn't it?

So, Dotty, where do these parents who 'go elsewhere' apply for their refunds then?

Update: This one's even made it across the water. The Yanks must think we've all gone collectively nuts...

6 comments:

woman on a raft said...

Hope the council has some stonkingly good accident insurance. Their decision means they've taken all the risk on to the taxpayers' shoulders so next time Timmy falls and breaks an arm, it's an instant £6k compo claim.

I might nip round the playground with some "compo4u" contact cards.

Next step: closure of playgrounds as they are too risky for the council to run at all.

Umbongo said...

"Parents will be forced to watch their children from outside the perimeter fence"

Wait a minute! "Forced"? I know how my father and his friends would have reacted (and, I hope, I would have reacted). A brisk f*** off (except he wouldn't have sworn - a metaphorical "f*** off" more like) to the "enforcer" as he joined the parental mob storming the playground. The council (and other) shits only get away with it if they're allowed to. Passivity in the face of this kind of lunacy is asking for more.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps this is the sort of situation where a few like-minded parents get together with some (hidden?) video cameras to gather evidence, look after their kids in the playground, and then biff on the nose any interfering busybody who grabs them or their child?

Anonymous said...

Personally i would just have brushed passed the prod noses, what exactly could they do, arrest me for using a public space?

this kind of problem arises when parents don't protect their rights.

Dorothy Thornhill is also a lib dem, otherwise known as "alternative labour"

p.s she has a blog, fire a good broadside i say.

Von Spreuth said...

Heres one for you to chew on.

How long before it becomes an offence to be "found pregnant whilst not being "on the register""?

Forced adoptions of children of parents not "vetted"?

Virtualy EVERYTHING that happens in Britain today,, can be found to have a parallel in the DDR (East Germany), and/or Soviet Russia.

So why not forced adoption of children of the "politcaly incorrect"?

JuliaM said...

"Hope the council has some stonkingly good accident insurance. "

Amusing as it would be to see them hoist on that particular petard of their own, unfortunately, the money for that would come out of our pockets...

"Wait a minute! "Forced"? I know how my father and his friends would have reacted (and, I hope, I would have reacted)."

Indeed. It's about time people started pushing back against this sort of thing.

"Dorothy Thornhill is also a lib dem, otherwise known as "alternative labour""

Yes, I've had a quick read up on her. Her 'explanations' have only served to make her position worse...

"So why not forced adoption of children of the "politcaly incorrect"?"

If you can remove them for being overweight now, why not?