Author Topic: More bureaucratic control-freak insanity from formerly Great Britain..  (Read 5129 times)

Lanius

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http://www.thisisdevon.co.uk/Injunction-end-month/story-12812676-detail/story.html

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A COUPLE living an "off-grid" lifestyle say they face prison unless they move from their own land in Willand and return to an existence in the benefits trap.


longeyes

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Love The Grid.  Or else.
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RoadKingLarry

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Won't be long before we are seeing that sort of lunacy here. Already seeing hints of it in various places.
.gov doesn't like self sufficient, indepenant people, makes them harder to control.
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Fly320s

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As best I can tell from reading the article, this sounds like a zoning issue. The people are running an agriculture homestead in a conservation area, I think.
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kgbsquirrel

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As best I can tell from reading the article, this sounds like a zoning issue. The people are running an agriculture homestead in a conservation area, I think.

Except the local council is claiming that it's supposed to be agricultural, and it isn't being used as such because they are also living there, despite the fact that they are in fact farming the area and restoring the original orchard that had been allowed to die off and become overgrown. Umm, someone help me here, but aren't farmers typically supposed to live at their farm? It was even noted that the family has replanted the fruit orchard with 14 new apple trees of differing species.

MicroBalrog

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Remember that the welfare state is not solely socialist. Part of its original purpose - as explicated by the high-grade capitailsts who cooperated with the socialist intellectuals in its inception - was to help transform the individual into an effective industrial producer.

In other terms, at least in part, the original conception of the welfare-state was helping turn the individual into a participant of the economy, a 9-5 worker.

The hippy who opts out of the 9-5 system, grows his hair long and moves to living off the land is as much an enemy of the system as you are.
The artist who decides to live off couch-surfing and donations and dedicate himself to abstract paintings is as much of an enemy of the system as you are.
The family who moves out into the boonies and name their daughter Gaia and start homeschooling her are as much of enemies to the system as you are.

Today, the people who invented and came up with these ideas are all dead and hopefully roasting in Hell of some description.

But the system - the bureaucrats in this story - still hate anybody who opts out of the idea of 'work regularly, get money, buy products'. Nothing is more loathsome to them. This is inherent to their hatred of homeschooling, guns, and off-grid living. They want you to live in a city, take state-scheduled trains and buses to work, wear a suit and tie. They want your life to follow precisely the path  that they have forged for you, because this is the 'efficient' path.

I do not know if this specific story is true - certainly other stories from British press have been proven false on this forum before - but it fits with the overall pattern.
Destroy The Enemy in Hand-to-Hand Combat.

"...tradition and custom becomes intertwined and are a strong coercion which directs the society upon fixed lines, and strangles liberty. " ~ William Graham Sumner

longeyes

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Micro, ironically, your views were echoed by none other than...the Unabomber...in his more lucid ruminations about "The System," not to disagree with you about how we are all supposed to "fit in."
« Last Edit: July 01, 2011, 10:25:23 AM by longeyes »
"Domari nolo."

Thug: What you lookin' at old man?
Walt Kowalski: Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while you shouldn't have messed with? That's me.

Molon Labe.

RevDisk

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They say they currently receive no state hand-outs but by giving up their "off grid" way of life, they fear they will end up in a council house, claiming housing and council tax benefits, as well as seeking grants to help pay for high utility bills.

Stig, chairman of the Willand Composting Scheme and a member of the primary school's PTFA, sells eggs, produce, and hopefully cider in the future but explained that planning permission to live and work on the land was refused in 2009 which they are appealing against.

He said one of the council's reasons for refusal was based on a belief the couple had did not have a "sound enough business plan."

Ayep.  Good plan.
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MicroBalrog

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Micro, ironically, your views were echoed by none other than...the Unabomber...in his more lucid ruminations about "The System," not to disagree with you about how we are all supposed to "fit in."

This shouldn't come as a surprise: the statements I have made are a repetition of the things I learned at the University. This is seriously non-controversial and part of what I suspect everybody who studies American History at the graduate school level is taught.
Destroy The Enemy in Hand-to-Hand Combat.

"...tradition and custom becomes intertwined and are a strong coercion which directs the society upon fixed lines, and strangles liberty. " ~ William Graham Sumner

Tallpine

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But the system - the bureaucrats in this story - still hate anybody who opts out of the idea of 'work regularly, get money, buy products'. Nothing is more loathsome to them. This is inherent to their hatred of homeschooling, guns, and off-grid living. They want you to live in a city, take state-scheduled trains and buses to work, wear a suit and tie. They want your life to follow precisely the path  that they have forged for you, because this is the 'efficient' path.

I have often thought that's why they hate loggers, cowboys, commercial fishermen, etc - anybody that can actually do something on their own initiative.
Freedom is a heavy load, a great and strange burden for the spirit to undertake. It is not easy. It is not a gift given, but a choice made, and the choice may be a hard one. The road goes upward toward the light; but the laden traveller may never reach the end of it.  - Ursula Le Guin

gunsmith

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what a ripoff, bureaucrats freaking stink
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agricola

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As always to tales from the UK on this forum, there may be more to this than meets the eye.  Agricultural land in the UK is relatively cheap, but land you can build a home on isnt.  If they live on this land and the council let them, it gets rezoned (to use the earlier expression) and its value skyrockets (if anyone is bothered, take a look at the site below to see the difference in values).

http://www.uklanddirectory.org.uk/index.asp

Of course they may just be genuine people, but it pays to have doubts.
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CNYCacher

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As always to tales from the UK on this forum, there may be more to this than meets the eye.  Agricultural land in the UK is relatively cheap, but land you can build a home on isnt.  If they live on this land and the council let them, it gets rezoned (to use the earlier expression) and its value skyrockets (if anyone is bothered, take a look at the site below to see the difference in values).

http://www.uklanddirectory.org.uk/index.asp

Of course they may just be genuine people, but it pays to have doubts.

You're saying that there is a possibility that this couple was lying about their intentions and that their actual intent was to increase the value of their land?
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mtnbkr

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You're saying that there is a possibility that this couple was lying about their intentions and that their actual intent was to increase the value of their land?

I read it as meaning they bought the Ag land for cheap, but built a house on it, for which purpose it isn't zoned (which is why it's cheap to begin with).

agricola

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You're saying that there is a possibility that this couple was lying about their intentions and that their actual intent was to increase the value of their land?

Its a possibility, certainly similar things have happened over here.
"Idiot!  A long life eating mush is best."
"Make peace, you fools"