Nanny's Right of Entry

Following on from that most excellent article, wot I wrote, about the man who was found "In Flagrante Delicto" with a bike. I would note that aside from the issue about whether he should be on a sex offenders' register for that, there is also the issue about the right of entry into someone's home (in this case a master key was used to gain access to his room).

It seems that all manner of people can come barging into your home, using a variety of rather dubious pretexts and excuses.

In fact there are 266 powers under which Nanny can come into you home.

Our good old chums in HMRC can of course enter homes with a writ to seize suspected smuggled goods, no surprises there. However, it seems that others too can enter your home.

Did you know that Nanny's chums in the Environment Department can pay a call, using the Bees Act 1980?

Harry Snook has written a pamphlet called "Crossing the Threshold: 266 Ways the State Can Enter Your Home". This shows that the majority of these powers of entry were created by Nanny over the last 20 years.

These "entry powers" include the right of Ofcom to search your home for an unlicensed television set, to those of social services to check whether it is being used for unlicensed "early years child-minding".

Heard of the Weeds Act?

No I hadn't either.

The Weeds Act allows Nanny to enter your home to look for...errmmm...virulent weeds.

Try to obstruct Nanny when she enters, and she will slap a £5K fine on you.

Read the full document here Crossing The Threshold

We are a nation of pussies, for allowing ourselves to be pushed around by the state like this.

Nanny's Right of Entry

Nanny is a somewhat passive aggressive individual, by that I mean she expects us to be passive whilst she aggressively pursues her policies of interference and intervention in our daily lives.

However, Nanny is still a little worried that we may be offering some form of resistance to her "brave new world"; specifically, she fears that we may be acting in an "un pc" manner in the privacy of our own homes.

Well, she has come up with a terrific wheeze that will ensure that an "Englishman's home" is no longer his castle (lest there be any complaints, for the purposes of this article "English" encompasses Welsh and Scots..I wanted to use the quote, and therefore for today everyone in the UK is an honourary Englishman).

Anyhoo, it seems that according to Tory MP Henry Bellingham, Nanny is considering legislation that would allow forcible entry into homes by bailiffs for such minor matters as the non payment of parking tickets. Any homeowner attempting to stop the bailiff would face up to a year in prison.

Bellingham is quoted as saying:

"The bill as it stands will overturn two fundamental principles

of our common law on bailiffs' power to enter private property:

that bailiffs may only enter peaceably

and with the permission of the debtor.

Those rights are fundamental.

That force may not be used to effect entry has been

established in law since at least the 14th century."

In 2005, Nanny's Nu Labour announced its intention to create a National Enforcement Service to break into homes to recover unpaid fines.

However, be not afraid (yet!) there have been various amendments offered to the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill. One of these "generous" amendments would forbid bailiffs from seizing household pets as well as, "any dog on which a blind person relies."

So that's alright then!

No it's not, Nanny must not be allowed to wedge her boot in anyone's door; once she has done this, you will never be able to get her out of your house.

The Erosion of The Rule of Law

As the concept of personal freedom, privacy and the rule of law is worn away by the Nanny state, so we see unscrupulous people take advantage of this erosion.

It seems that bailiffs could soon be breaking into homes, to seize goods for credit card debts, without a court order.

Citizens Advice have stated that around 60% of bailiffs are guilty of harassment or intimidation, while 40% misrepresent their powers of entry.

Under the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill, which is being debated in the House of Commons, all bailiffs will be given the power to enter domestic premises and enforce consumer credit debts, including credit card bills.

At present, only certain enforcement officers have these powers.

David Harker, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said:

"Our evidence over many years shows that bailiffs

have an appalling track record of abusing

their existing powers against vulnerable people.

They are often abusive and aggressive

and use threats of violence and prison to

pressurise people into paying lump sums they cannot afford."

Citizens Advice said that many private debt enforcers act almost as a law unto themselves. Checks on 500 bailiff cases revealed intimidation, harassment and excessive fee-charging were commonplace.

The erosion of the rule of law by Nanny will have serious consequences for us all.