No Joke This Time
I got caught by an April Fool article on April 5th. I linked an article with a dateline of April 3rd - which turned out to have been originally published on April 1st and was a hoax. It involved a supposed ban on outdoor grilling unless you got a very pricey permit to address global warming. It was a fake.
When the Mail on Sunday wanted an April Fool spoof last month, we hit upon the ridiculous notion that bureaucrats would be cracking down on the humble barbecue for its supposed contribution to global warming.
While most of our readers quickly saw through the preposterous idea, one politically-correct local authority didn't seem to get the joke.
Camden Council is insisting that a neighbourhood group agrees to a string of health and safety restrictions for its long-running summer fair, which include using a less environmentally damaging barbecue.
The Primrose Hill Community Association, in Labour's North London heartland, has been running a successful event for 29 years, but now it has been told it should:
… Ditch its traditional charcoal barbecue for a cleaner gas-powered one.
… Do more to celebrate ethnic diversity, and include under-represented groups.
… Not allow just any volunteer to cook the sausages and burgers; they must be a registered, professional caterer or someone with a food hygiene diploma.
… Conduct a customer-satisfaction survey among those attending the fair.
The residents' group must comply with all the restrictions in order to receive a grant of just £400 from the Liberal Democrat-dominated council.
Organiser Mick Hudspeth was also told there were vague 'local issues', concerning the use of the green in the middle of Chalcot Square, where the event is traditionally held, and that his application for the grant 'did not demonstrate clear evidence of how the festival celebrates the area's diversity'.
The red tape could embarrass Environment Secretary David Miliband, who lives in a £1.5million house in the square and regularly attends the event. His brother Ed, a Cabinet Office Minister, often goes along too.
Organisers have accepted the £400 from the council's community festivals grants panel, and must now meet the conditions, including the requirement that at least five per cent of those attending the Primrose Hill Goes Tropical event on June 16 fill in questionnaires.
Keith Bird, 73, who has helped run the barbecue there for the past 20 years, said the restrictions threatened the fair's survival.
Which is why I fell for the first hoax. Because it is not - at all - far fetched. As has been proven here. After all, mince pies are a serious danger in Britain, right? Britain is rapidly sinking under the really, really stupid ideas of the nanny statism of the left.






