Another nanny state roundup

----- The "authorities" in Yorkshire, England have ordered the pubs there to force customers to remove their hats, as they seem to be getting in the way of the blanket coverage of the omnipresent surveillance cameras recording every minute of one's life in that country:

"She added: 'There have been incidents both in pubs and other establishments when it has not been possible to identify offenders captured on CCTV because hats were hiding their faces.'"

Well then, by all means treat every patron like a child in elementary school and a criminal simultaneously. These aren't ski masks we're talking about. They're banning the type of pork-pie hat that's almost a national headgear, one that your grandfather might wear as part of his flashy chess-in-the-park attire. (And a look that my own father pulls off very well, thank you very much.) That doesn't seem to be very good business sense, alienating your customers in such a fashion. One hopes that the pubs, ostensibly still private property, finally wake up and tell the cops what to do with their onerous rules.


----- A grandmother in Portsmouth, England, has been told that she can't have a 2-foot deep kiddie pool at her home unless she obtains special insurance (that no one sells), and hires lifeguards to be present at all times.

"Residents near the communal gardens already have to obey a raft of rules governing their use.
They are even supposed to ask the council for permission before having a barbecue."

One wonders what few activities don't require appearing before the mighty overlords, hat in hand (see above), to humbly ask permission to engage in. Weeding, perhaps?


----- Anglia Ruskin University in England (Two locations, in order to stifle your spontaneous joy more efficiently) has asked graduates not to throw their hats in the air at their ceremony, because you just never know when someone might get injured by their razor-sharp edges.

"'This not only causes damage to the hats but it can also cause injury if the corner of the hat hits the graduand or others who may be nearby.'"

I'm speechless. And so should be the graduates when they don't even show up to listen to the speeches at their own ceremony, if the powers-that-be are going to rob them of their happiness at finally getting out of such an idiotic place.


----- A 64-year-old woman in Essex, England, has died from colon cancer after the National Health Service discontinued paying for her health care entirely. That's right, they basically stood aside and allowed her to die. Her crime was that she paid extra out of her own pocket for a proven cancer-fighting drug that wasn't available under her local NHS because

"It is one of many medicines the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence denies to some patients because of cost."

"Some". Try all, if one reads the article correctly.

The kicker? She and her husband were both former NHS employees. You'd think that they wouldn't be surprised at the system's inexplicable and maddening policies, having worked for them for many years.

"Medical experts say the ban on co-payment is one reason why Britain has one of the worst survival rates for cancer in Europe."

Still want to have "free" healthcare, just like Great Britain?

(Link via Mitch)