How New Labour strangled the UK?

Ming Campbell and the Liberal Democrats are proposing a Freedom Bill to sweep away unnecessary laws. So why is this necessary and why should you support it?

Red tape in Britain has reached shocking levels with business groups and members of the public asking themselves "Just what is the point of this law?"

In a 12 month period, the Labour government produced a frightening 3,621 pieces of legislation, running to a total of 98,600 pages. That's 70 times as long as War and Peace!

The amount of legislation has reached the point where the UK is being held back economically and socially by the stream of laws coming from Whitehall.

How to Label a Goat!

Over-regulation is a serious issue, but one author has seen the funny side of petty and bizarre rules.

Ross Clark has written a book entitles 'How to Label a Goat" which explores some of the more amusing laws that are impacting on Britons today. Here are a few examples of the kinds of regulations and odd ideas that are included:

"......the Cornish hospitals could save a bit of public money by cutting back on one bizarre bureaucratic procedure of its own: it has ordered nurses to conduct a 'chocolate audit' of its wards. Bewildered staff were ordered to count up the number of choccies - and other gifts - donated by grateful presents so that the information might be used to help construct an index of patient satisfaction."

or how about.......

"The organiser of a Northamptonshire harp festival was refused a grant because he had failed to demonstrate, on his Cultural Diversity Monitoring Form that his event was sufficiently multi-ethnic. In fact he had flown over a team of Paraguayan harpists for the event - but he couldn't enter them on his form because South Americans, according to the official classification scheme, do not exist."

or spare a thought for these poor residents

"The residents of Elmswell, Suffolk, spent three decades campaigning for a road sign to help lorry drivers find their way from the A14 to a bacon factory, the lost vehicles having been blocking the narrow streets of the village as their drivers stopped to ask for directions then attempting to reverse in confined spaces. Finally, as part of a one-way scheme, a sign was erected in June 2006 - just one day before the factory closed for good."

and how about something very apt for our Back Garden Land campaign.....?

"The back gardens of suburban villas are mysteriously classified as 'brownfield' sites (yet an ironstone quarry in Corby counted as a greenfield site)."

Why not support our Back Garden Land campaign by signing the petition at http://www.tombrake.co.uk/petitions/

'How to Label a Goat' by Ross Clark

If you would like to find out more about some of the bizarre and odd regulations still in use in the UK then you can purchase 'How to Label a Goat' by Ross Clark from Amazon by following the following link:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Label-Goat-Regulations-Strangling/dp/1897597959/sr=8-1/qid=1169567087/ref=pd_ka_1/203-1779078-6460738?ie=UTF8&s=books

excerpts taken from 'How to Label Goat' by Ross Clark, published by Harriman House Ltd 2006