Nanny Bans Union Jack

I have been running this site for yonks (since 2004 in fact), and have therefore become somewhat enured (there's a word I don't use often enough) to Nanny's idiocies. However, occasionally Nanny does something so idiotic that even my elephant hide skin is sufficiently pricked for me to issue forth a trumpet of rage.

Thus I draw your attention (on this fine Monday morning) to a truly absurd piece of Nannyism, courtesy of Nanny's chums from Fylde council (click the tag "Fylde" and you will see they have featured before on this site).

Peter and Lesley Salthouse run the Naze Lane Chippy in Freckleton, and have (as part of their shop front advertising) a Union Jack sign in the window.

Nothing wrong with that is there?

You would think not, wouldn't you?

However, Fylde council have ordered the Salthouses to remove the sign?

For why?

Apparently it contains too many "angles, triangles and colours"!

Isn't that what a Union Jack is actually made up of??

The council have decreed that the sign is "out of character" for an English village!

As I have noted many times before on this site, councils are the enemies of the people!

Visit The Orifice of Government Commerce and buy a collector's item.

Visit The Joy of Lard and indulge your lard fantasies.

Show your contempt for Nanny by buying a T shirt or thong from Nanny's Store.

www.nannyknowsbest.com is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Visit Oh So Swedish Swedish arts and handicrafts

Why not really indulge yourself, by doing all the things that Nanny really hates? Click on the relevant link to indulge yourselves; Food, Bonking, Gifts and Flowers, Groceries

Oh So Swedish - Nostalgia Postcards

A shameless plug for my partner's (Eva) site Oh So Swedish, which offers a veritable smorgasbord of Swedish arts and crafts (including nostalgia postcards such as the one above).

Why not visit the site today?

Visit The Orifice of Government Commerce and buy a collector's item.

Visit The Joy of Lard and indulge your lard fantasies.

Show your contempt for Nanny by buying a T shirt or thong from Nanny's Store.

www.nannyknowsbest.com is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Visit Oh So Swedish Swedish arts and handicrafts

Why not really indulge yourself, by doing all the things that Nanny really hates? Click on the relevant link to indulge yourselves; Food, Bonking, Gifts and Flowers, Groceries

Nanny Bans Hobbit - Update Commonsense Prevails

Following on from yesterday's article about the trademark dispute between SZC and The Hobbit pub, in which I suggested that "a degree of commonsense and flexibility is required and will reap rewards", I am pleased to see that SZC has taken my advice.

It is reported that for a licence fee of approximately $100 per annum the Hobbit pub may continue to use that name.

There we are, Nanny hasn't completely banned commonsense!

Visit The Orifice of Government Commerce and buy a collector's item.

Visit The Joy of Lard and indulge your lard fantasies.

Show your contempt for Nanny by buying a T shirt or thong from Nanny's Store.

www.nannyknowsbest.com is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Visit Oh So Swedish Swedish arts and handicrafts

Why not really indulge yourself, by doing all the things that Nanny really hates? Click on the relevant link to indulge yourselves; Food, Bonking, Gifts and Flowers, Groceries

Nanny Bans Height

I am always gemused at the imaginative excuses Nanny comes up with to charge us more money. My compliments to The Jolly Roger Play Centre in Swindon for coming up with a new excuse for charging their clients more money.

Dylan and Amanda Sparks were told that they would have to pay extra (the full child price) for their two year old son Oliver to attend the nursery, because he is 3ft 3ins (100cm) tall.

Now fair enough, if there are sections of the nursery that are for "larger" kids etc or if that is the stated price structure (which it is).

The trouble is, instead of simply saying "we charge extra for larger older kids", the nursery swathed their request for more money in Nanny's time honoured excuse of "health and safety"; adding that Oliver would wear the equipment out faster (isn't that what kids do anyway?).

Why hide behind "health and safety", when it clearly is a simple matter of structured pricing (which they have already stated in their rules and conditions anyway)?

Visit The Orifice of Government Commerce and buy a collector's item.

Visit The Joy of Lard and indulge your lard fantasies.

Show your contempt for Nanny by buying a T shirt or thong from Nanny's Store.

www.nannyknowsbest.com is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Visit Oh So Swedish Swedish arts and handicrafts

Why not really indulge yourself, by doing all the things that Nanny really hates? Click on the relevant link to indulge yourselves; Food, Bonking, Gifts and Flowers, Groceries

Oh So Swedish

A shameless advert for Eva (my partner's) website "Oh So Swedish" at www.ohsoswedish.com

The above is one of her hand printed T shirts, this one of a Mustang (modelled by me!), produced by her sister in Sweden.

Go on folks, you know you are itching to buy something:)

Visit The Orifice of Government Commerce and buy a collector's item.

Visit The Joy of Lard and indulge your lard fantasies.

Show your contempt for Nanny by buying a T shirt or thong from Nanny's Store.

www.nannyknowsbest.com is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Visit Oh So Swedish Swedish arts and handicrafts

Why not really indulge yourself, by doing all the things that Nanny really hates? Click on the relevant link to indulge yourselves; Food, Bonking, Gifts and Flowers, Groceries

Nanny Bans Hobbit

As loyal readers know, Nanny tends to ban things that she doesn't understand or that threaten her authority over us. However, sometimes, the motivation for a ban or infringement of freedom is simply money.

Thus I am sorry to say that The Hobbit pub in Southampton (a pub that has been using that name for around 20 years) has found itself on the receiving end of the threat of litigation by US lawyers representing Nanny's chums from the Saul Zaentz Company (SZC) in California.

SZC owns the worldwide rights to several brands associated with author JRR Tolkien, including The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings.

Unfortunately, the pub features characters from Tolkien's stories on its signs, has "Frodo" and "Gandalf" cocktails on the menu, and the face of Lord of the Rings film star Elijah Wood on its loyalty card.

Needless to say this has not gone down well with SZC, and as such it has asked that the pub remove all references to the characters.

The Hobbit pub has set up a Facebook page to help save it. However, given that SZC has more money than those who run the pub it will be a battle that can only be won if SZC shows some humanity and charity, and finds a legally watertight way to allow this "infringement" to continue as a "one off" (so that others are not tempted to infringe its rights).

However, that "Damascus revelation" of charity may be unlikely, the Hobbit pub is not the only UK business to be served with a litigation notice from SZC.

The Hungry Hobbit cafe in Birmingham was also served with one in the latter end of 2011 (they too have a Facebook page). Their proposed solution to the threats from SZC will be to rename the cafe the "Hungry 'Obbit". However, it is not yet clear as to whether SZC will accept this.

Brand value and trademarks are very important in commerce. However, sometimes the damage to a company's brand value by appearing to some to be petty minded and greedy exceeds any alleged loss of revenue stream from minor infringements; ie a degree of commonsense and flexibility is required and will reap rewards.

Sadly, as loyal readers know, Nanny has long since banned commonsense and is remarkably inflexible.

Visit The Orifice of Government Commerce and buy a collector's item.

Visit The Joy of Lard and indulge your lard fantasies.

Show your contempt for Nanny by buying a T shirt or thong from Nanny's Store.

www.nannyknowsbest.com is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Visit Oh So Swedish Swedish arts and handicrafts

Why not really indulge yourself, by doing all the things that Nanny really hates? Click on the relevant link to indulge yourselves; Food, Bonking, Gifts and Flowers, Groceries