It seems that there is a critical shortage of sperm donors in Britain. Well, there is a surprise. Why could that be? Perhaps it was the removal of anonymity, or the Child Support Agency, or the rule caps.
(Stories like this don’t help…)
Well, let me tell you another unintended consequence of righteous rule making.
12,000 lives turned upside down through Government Agency incompetence
25% of the adult population to go through these checks, & more intrusive ones
The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) has been created to help prevent unsuitable people from working with children and vulnerable adults.
We will do this by working in partnership with the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), which will gather relevant information on every person who wants to work or volunteer with vulnerable people.
Good old Samizdata put it succincty
And people wonder why there is sometimes a shortage of volunteers for things like youth clubs and the like. The destruction of civil society, of the bonds of trust that are vital to such an organic, grass-roots cluster of non-state institutions, is remorseless and deliberate. This government, in its totalitarian way - I use that word quite deliberately - wants to make all human interactions subject to its tests. The consequences for the long term health of civil society, and of the ability of people to grow up normally, are ignored.
Well, I’ve had enough. I’ve had three CRB checks for volunteering with children but there won’t be a fourth. The school where I used to be a parent governor was happy with list 99 checks in my time but now want an enhanced disclosure. If I’d still been there I would have resigned on principle as it is entirely disproportionate to the risk and the system is seriously flawed anyway (as well as being yet another way of raising money, just ask Thunderdragon).
So, I’m quietly going to drop out of the reading scheme when it is up for CRB renewal. The community radio will also get forced down the registration route and the decision is to either only accept adults or to struggle to find people willing to go through the grief. It won’t be my decision though.
Do tou know a third unintended consequence? Fine buildings not currently in use are being demolished because it isn’t viable to let them stand empty now that the business rate relief has been abolished. Perhaps that is why the Morley Pavilion is back on the market. Yours for £2k a week or so (plus £400 rates) if you don’t have a Million or two to spare to just buy it.
(You can’t knock it down I’m afraid, it is in a conservation area).
Can’t turn it into condos?
Comment by jmb — November 14, 2008 @ 8:57 am
Shades — one day we’ll have to time in and out of consciousness so the government know when to watch us.
Comment by tbrrob — November 14, 2008 @ 3:15 pm
They knocked the building next door down. Was that outside the conservation area?
Or is the Pavilion a listed building?
N
Comment by Nigel — November 14, 2008 @ 7:34 pm
JMB, Morley is full of “luxury apartments” in converted buildings and they are hard to sell, especially with a recession on. A theatre is also probably the least suitable building to convert, along with churches.
Tbrobb, they will want to watch us when we are sleeping as well, after all it is just data.
N, it can be demolished, but only by permission, the same as a listed building. St Pauls House was presumably demolished based on outline permission for a replacement and I can’t entirely recall where the conservation area boundary runs so it might not have been constrained anyway. You don’t need permission to demolish an unlisted building, just follow the right procedure.
Comment by Shades — November 14, 2008 @ 10:03 pm