Rest in peace

donkey too

Guest
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:-Knowing when to come in out of the rain; - Why the early bird gets the worm;- Life isn't always fair; - And maybe it was my fault. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies, don't spend more than you can earn and adults, not children, are in charge. His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition. Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion. Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault. Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement. Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife Discretion, his daughter Responsibility, and his son, Reason. He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights,I Want It Now,Someone Else Is To Blame,I'm A Victim. Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, say so. If not, do nothing *sigh*:cry:
 
"Common sense is not so common"
Voltaire
French author, humanist, rationalist, & satirist (1694 - 1778)
 
donkey too said:
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. .................. He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights,I Want It Now,Someone Else Is To Blame,I'm A Victim. Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, say so. If not, do nothing *sigh*:cry:
Click to expand...

Maybe Shakespeare was right.." First, we kill all the lawyers." I find that much of what drove our old friend under actually stems from bureaucratic rules and defensive "risk averse" policies that are created in the public sector because of the fear of being sued by someone who has engaged one of those lawyers that advertise their no- win-no- fee services, and by civil servants, council officers and some elected members resorting to manipulation of these fears in order to further their own agendas.

Recently, I have noticed how many solicitors are brazenly touting for business; our insurance premiums are inflated because of what lawyers can get up to; in my job I have to go through the most ridiculous lengths to get common sense changes made to local policies. There are, as you rightly say, so many examples of the loss of our old friend.

However, I believe all is not lost, my glass being of the overflowing variety. When disputes occur, there is a tendency to cite Health &Safety, or Right to Privacy, or some other misused concept, however there are people who see through the fog of bureaucracy and have taken to wearing the common sense lapel pin. In my job, I sit between the private sector and public sector. I regularly find myself initiating common sense driven pieces of work, finding that once the public sector people that I work with are given confident reassurance and backing from the private sector/public opinion side of the fence, they are more willing to inject a little common sense into the work at hand.

If the death of our old friend can be described as something evil, then we should perhaps remember that for evil to triumph, all that is required is for good men and women to do nothing. I sense a healthy dose of common sense is available through most of our forum members and would hope that this will end up having a positive impact on how wild camping is viewed by officialdom. Low-impact, considerate and environmentally responsible camping are the necessary foundations to being able to continue doing what we do. But might we need to consider more direct communication of the wild camping ethos to officialdom? And with the recent furor over the travellers, is this not a time to look to those of the wild camping community whose actions put us all at risk and find a way to apply some kind of peer pressure to stop them stirring up those same bureaucrats that have lost touch with common sense?
 
I am sure that there is a new Political Party waiting to be born called the Common Sense Party.
I speak to people about this every day and 99% of them would vote for it.

I would start with abolishing the compensation culture for "petty" road 'accidents'.
Bring back the cane..
I'll add more, got to go to work..
Lets hear your thoughts
 
"Common Sense Party"!!!

They would get my vote for certain!!!!!
 
bigpieeater said:
I am sure that there is a new Political Party waiting to be born called the Common Sense Party.
I speak to people about this every day and 99% of them would vote for it.

I would start with abolishing the compensation culture for "petty" road 'accidents'.
Bring back the cane..
I'll add more, got to go to work..
Lets hear your thoughts
Click to expand...

Sounds good on the face of it but the problem is you will never get two people who agree on a definition of common sense. As quoted above "common sense is not so common". For example, you have suggested two policies for your common sense party: I agree strongly with one and disagree strongly with the other. There are as many versions of common sense as there are people. If that were not true then we'd have a common sense government by now!
 
What do you call 100 dead lawyers?


...a good start...
 
I agree, no one can trip up any more, it always has to be someone else's fault and then claim lots of money. We are in a sorry state.
 
Loved this sign outside Mannings Amusements in Felixstowe a fortnight ago....You can just IMAGINE the BS that the Owner/Manager has had to put up with from H&S 'clipboards'!:danger:
 

Attachments

  • 016.jpg
    016.jpg
    44.6 KB · Views: 88
Don't get me started on bloody health and safety..................
 
ourglenard said:
Loved this sign outside Mannings Amusements in Felixstowe a fortnight ago....You can just IMAGINE the BS that the Owner/Manager has had to put up with from H&S 'clipboards'!:danger:
Click to expand...

Does this sign have sharp edges?
 
John H:- Ah Go on!! Give Us Your best eg. of any encounters with'em!!!
 
ourglenard said:
John H:- Ah Go on!! Give Us Your best eg. of any encounters with'em!!!
Click to expand...

Ok, but be it on your own head!

Before I became a nomad I was involved in organising many social events, some of them large and some of them small. At one large one we were initially told that the fire exit signs in the marquee did not need to be illuminated. On the morning that the event was due to start we were told by the same H&S Gestapo that it would have to be cancelled because we didn't have illuminated fire exit signs. It was a Sunday and before shops were open on Sundays! We eventually managed to acquire a set of illuminated signs (at great expense) and while I was putting them up, just as the event kicked off, the Chief Fire Officer turned up and asked me why I was doing that because it wasn't necessary!!!!!!!

At the other end of the scale, we organised a series of small events called "Picnics in the Park" which were designed to entertain small crowds (between 100 and 500) in the local River Gardens. We had to employ twelve lifeguards in case anybody fell in the river - and if anybody knows the Derwent at Belper they will know that you would have to fight your way through a large stretch of mud before you "accidentally" threw yourself into a foot or so of water. But the real idiocy is that on a sunny day when there isn't an event on you can get as many people in the Gardens with no need for a lifeguard at all.

These are but two examples - I will resist the temptation to write a book but I will say that in the pre H&S gone mad days the local Scouts used to raise money by running barbecues at local events; now they can't and a source of revenue for them has been cut off. I know of many village events that no longer exist because of the over-interpretation of what basically are sensible rules. The problem is that British civil servants seem to be unique in their enthusiasm to take rules and add to them in order to prevent people enjoying themselves. I prefer the continental attitude : "your safety is our concern but your responsibiltiy". In other words, if you don't look where you are going its your bloody fault when you fall over the cliff.

Rant over - I enjoyed that!
 
John H said:
Ok, but be it on your own head!

Before I became a nomad I was involved in organising many social events, some of them large and some of them small. At one large one we were initially told that the fire exit signs in the marquee did not need to be illuminated. On the morning that the event was due to start we were told by the same H&S Gestapo that it would have to be cancelled because we didn't have illuminated fire exit signs. It was a Sunday and before shops were open on Sundays! We eventually managed to acquire a set of illuminated signs (at great expense) and while I was putting them up, just as the event kicked off, the Chief Fire Officer turned up and asked me why I was doing that because it wasn't necessary!!!!!!!

At the other end of the scale, we organised a series of small events called "Picnics in the Park" which were designed to entertain small crowds (between 100 and 500) in the local River Gardens. We had to employ twelve lifeguards in case anybody fell in the river - and if anybody knows the Derwent at Belper they will know that you would have to fight your way through a large stretch of mud before you "accidentally" threw yourself into a foot or so of water. But the real idiocy is that on a sunny day when there isn't an event on you can get as many people in the Gardens with no need for a lifeguard at all.

These are but two examples - I will resist the temptation to write a book but I will say that in the pre H&S gone mad days the local Scouts used to raise money by running barbecues at local events; now they can't and a source of revenue for them has been cut off. I know of many village events that no longer exist because of the over-interpretation of what basically are sensible rules. The problem is that British civil servants seem to be unique in their enthusiasm to take rules and add to them in order to prevent people enjoying themselves. I prefer the continental attitude : "your safety is our concern but your responsibiltiy". In other words, if you don't look where you are going its your bloody fault when you fall over the cliff.

Rant over - I enjoyed that!
Click to expand...
It is not often I agree with you JOHN H but I have to admit, your line about "Your safety is our concern but your responsibility" (check your spelling TUT-TUT!) is a vote winning line for a party in the UK
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who viewed this discussion (Total:0)

Back
Top