Congratulations to the town council of Bognor for winning my rarely awarded prize of "Pompous Twats of The Year".
For why?
Well, way back in 1929 George V allowed the town of Bognor to call itself Bognor Regis.
The city councillors are now having a touch of the Hyacinth Buckets (pronounced "bouquet";)) over the fact that the vast majority of the world calls the pace "Bognor", rather than "Bognor Regis".
Now in the real world, where we are rather worried about the level of public spending, the economy, etc, etc this would not matter one jot.
However, in the rarefied world of Bognor's council (sorry Bognor Regis's council) it matters more than life itself.
As such "officials" from the council have (at no expense to themselves, but at expense to their taxpayers) written to public bodies across Britain asking for the "rude" practice of shortening the name to stop.
The campaign was initiated at a council meeting, where councillors enthusiastically supported the action.
Factoid: George V on his death bed, when being told he would soon be well enough to revisit the town, replied:
"Bugger Bognor".
Maybe the council will be contacting him via a spiritualist, to correct his mistake too and to elicit an apology from beyond the grave?
As noted, Bognor Town Council well deserving "Pompous Twats of The Year".
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There is definately an agenda by some backroom staff employed by local authorities to undermine our nation.....They seem to have a common purpose.....Make our councils a laughing stock....I wonder why? Perhaps it is to make the local councils look so stupid that the electorate will in time same; "Abolish them and give us central control." Could that be their agenda?....Mind you, the other possible reason for this type of stupidity, setting aside conspiracy theories, is that councils are run by idiots who just recruit other idiots....Who knows?
ReplyDeleteThere is a piece in the paper today that states council workers waste about two thirds of their day; I'm surprised at this........I thought it would have been higher;-)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1304625/Council-staff-waste-thirds-working-day.html
Say NO to Hi-Viz.
Hi-Viz; Just laugh at it!!
Oppps typo
ReplyDeleteSame in line seven should have read Say.
The name Bognor originates (so I am told) from the from the Anglo Saxon words 'boch' meaning shit and 'norr' meaning hole.
ReplyDeleteI think that sums the place up quite nicely.
Well actually, I am all in favour of correct pronunciation of names.
ReplyDeleteThe town must be referred to as Bognor REGIS, otherwise people will think it is the kind of place inhabited by COMMON people! We certainly don't want to encourage that sort, undesirables, now do we?
ReplyDeleteWhich reminds me, I do hope my sisters Rose and Daisy not to mention that awful husband of hers, Onslow, won't visit us on Saturday, as I am holding one of my candlelight suppers. I have already informed Elizabeth and Emmett that I shall expect them to attend, and I shall of course be inviting Violet, my respectable sister who has a private yacht, a jaccuzi and room for a pony.
Actually, the last post was from me: I just couldn't resist a bit of fun!
ReplyDeleteI have only ever been to Bognor Regis once, on a day out by coach with mum and dad, when I was about 8 years old, so can remember very litte about it. I suppose, if I lived there, I would use the namr 'Bognor Regis' but I certainly wouldn't get into a tizzy if other people simply used the name 'Bognor'.
Councils?
ReplyDeleteI received a letter today from our local Conservative council about registering on their electoral database. They generously stated one of the advantages of compliance with their requirements being: continued availability of credit facilities.
What right do councils have to restrict access to credit facilities for non-compliance with their diktats? Fortunately, I don't use credit facilities but it was noticeable in the past, after ticking the don't-pass-my-personal-details-on-to-every-mailing-list-scammer-in-the-country” box, that insurance companies started asking extra length-of-tenure and electoral-list questions, like they were dealing with some kind of villain until persuaded otherwise.
And of course there's the obligatory scare line: “you may be prosecuted and fined if you do not ...”. It wasn't the only letter today warning of prosecution and fines, but it was the only one that didn't go straight into the bin.
There was a belief after the recent change of regime, there might be an end to the old Labour divide-and-punish form of control but it certainly hasn't happened yet.
I was toying with the idea of selling up, living a Bedouin tribesman lifestyle and learning from the birds and the bees by migrating south in the winter and back to the northern hemisphere for the summer (it's possible to stay for up to six months in most countries even as an uninvited alien) but it's amazing the amount of hassle it causes the powers that be, by not having a fixed abode. “You may be prosecuted and fined if you do not inform us when you change your address”.
PS. I'd almost forgotten! One of my claims to fame (from when ah were t' lad) is of being thrown out of a pub in BR. I don't hold any grudges but: “I went, I saw, I was thrown out, and have never been back since”.
Anon;
ReplyDeleteIt is not the councils that decide whether you can have credit or not; it is effectively the information provided by credit reference agencies that go along way to deciding that. One of the first things a reference agency does when someone applies for credit is check the electoral role for your name and address, if it is not there, there is little chance of being granted credit.
As I have stated on here many times before; the political colour of the council is unimportant, it is the unelected faceless cretins employed by the councils that matter.....If we unelect a particular political party from the council, the faceless cretins that like to call themselves officers that make decisions and imp0lement central Nanny's diktats, still remain.
Sadly for the councils and government, people don't buy into most of the crazy schemes that they come up with, be that 'elf'n'safety, safeguarding, climate change, terrorism etc related schemes and so councils and governments need to resort to threats to get compliance and of course, it also gives them a niice lttle earner KERCHING should we not comply....They have cooked up a nice win/win situation for themselves.
Say NO to Hi-Viz.
Just laugh at Hi-Viz.
I broadly agree Tonk, but there is an underlying attitude in this country towards personal data which needs to be challenged.
ReplyDeleteThe credit agencies and many, many more organisations automatically turn to the electoral role for information, but they can only do so because the councils reckon that it's perfectly acceptable to make the information available to every Tom, Dick and Harry who wants it.
I remember years ago having a meeting with some of these mailing list companies and it was amazing the lists they hold about people. If you pick your nose in public they probably have your name on a mailing list for organisations which want to sell their niche products to nose pickers. There are probably lists of names and addresses of people who prefer blue toilet roll to white toilet roll. The norm was to buy the postcode file for addresses and the electoral role for names.
When I wrote that it wasn't the only letter I received today with threats of prosecution, I meant I also received one from TV Licensing. What happens, in effect, is that the council threatens me with prosecution and fines if I don't give them my personal details for the electoral role (Letter 1). And if I comply, companies like TV Licensing can buy that information for the purposes of sending me more threats of prosecution and fines for not jumping through their hoops (Letter 2).
It's personal information I provide to the council but they, like many other organisations, have a cavalier attitude to such data. The bottom line is: they think the information belongs to them, which is why they'll issue even more threats of what they'll do if we don't give it to them.
Another important issue is the attitude politicians have towards the electorate. They'll never say it in so many words but they'll be driven strongly by their classifications. In the same way as banks and utilities have the concept of 'sticky' (loyal) customers, political parties have the concept of core (loyal) voters.
It's not cost-effective to give sticky customers a good deal. A company could go bust doing that. Sticky customers generally get the worst deals, while demanding customers generally get the best deals.
And so with politicians. If they detect an excuse to get off the hook without living up to challenging manifesto claims, they'll jump at the opportunity. That's why I included the political hue of the council.
Anon;
ReplyDeleteTotally agree!!
On another thread I listed some of the databases my name would be listed on off the top of my head....There were many and none of which I gave my consent to because I wasn't asked.
The one that really gets my goat is the DVLA.....If you wish to drive or own a car, you have no choice but to give them your details....They then sell it on to car valuation companies and, worst of all, the thugs involved in car clamping and parking enforcement.....I agree with everything you wrote as would, I suspect, the large majority of regular commentors on here.
Say NO to Hi-Viz.
Eeh 'tis spooky what goes on when asleep!
ReplyDeleteSeemingly, it's a very common experience that if you're trying to solve a problem; just thinking about the problem for a couple of minutes before going to bed, then letting the thought drop and going off to sleep, is often enough to ensure that the solution will be in the conscious mind by the time you waken the next morning.
The subconscious mind seems to do a lot of hard work and tidying up while we're asleep.
Anyway. I wasn't thinking about any problems last night, nevertheless, when I woke up this morning the thought quickly came to mind: “You prat! Do you realise you used 'electoral role' yesterday instead of 'electoral roll'?”.
Spooky, but true.
The only other bit of advice is that it's important to let the thought drop and always ensure the mind is still, before going off to sleep.
Who else hates that word "compliance"?
ReplyDeleteIt sends a chill through me.
Bugger "compliance", I say.
I think BUGGER BOGNOR definitely has a ring about it - drop the Regis and include the BUGGER I say
ReplyDelete