I don’t suppose that the Balls household has been too happy either.
As Lord Rees-Mogg wrote in today’s Times “Is it possible to get through life in modern England without breaking the law? … We’re all lawbreakers nowadays.”
But the worst thing about this case is that it seems pretty clear that someone who did understand the rules snitched to Ofsted. There may have been snitching too in the case of the housekeeper who was an illegal immigrant.
I heard this poem by Cecil Rajendra on Poetry Please. Although it is about very much more serious oppression (Rajendra donated it to Amnesty International), it is a warning of how bad things can get if we keep trying to make everything (and everybody) perfect & safe, by law.
from The Animal and Insect Act
Finally, in order to ensure Absolute national security they passed the Animal and Insect Emergency Control and Discipline Act. Under this new act, buffaloes cows and goats were prohibited from grazing in herds of more than three. Neither could birds flock, nor bees swarm...This constituted unlawful assembly.
As they had not obtained prior planning permission, mud-wasps and swallows were issued with summary Notices to Quit. Their homes were declared subversive extensions to private property.
Monkeys and mynahs were warned to stop relaying their noisy morning orisons until an official Broadcasting License was issued by the appropriate Ministry. Unmonitored publications and broadcasts posed the gravest threats in times of a National Emergency.
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