The Bakelite Museum in Somerset, housed in a cramped 18th-century mill, is facing closure. According to The Daily Telegraph, ‘an off-duty fire officer visited the museum and considered a fire escape through a roof hatch to be inadequate’. The problem, it seems, is that this and other escapes are simply ‘not wide enough for overweight visitors’.
Would a solution not be for the museum to impose ‘width restrictions’ at the point of entry, much as there are height restrictions at fairgrounds? There is presumably no law against discrimination on the grounds of one’s size or shape. Stout people are already excluded from numerous activities, such as bobsleighing and flying gliders, so they need not feel affronted.
The ever obliging Devon and Somerset Fire Service should, of course, advise on the appropriate width.
I think it is safe to say that ‘cuts’ could now be painlessly made at Brighton and Hove City Council, who have reputedly spent £10,000 on a special website to advertise four nonsense jobs that each commands a salary of ‘£125K’. Not only could each of these nonsense jobs be dispensed with – no one would notice any difference – but it was quite inexcusable to waste such a large sum of money on advertising. My website is far better and hasn’t cost anywhere near as much! Most outrageous of all is the complete lack of taste and sensitivity on the part of those responsible. Why have they felt it necessary to insult one of our national institutions, the inoffensive ‘Quo’, who have contributed many an anthem to our collective consciousness and even played in front of royalty? Since the culprits are Brighton and Hove Actually, I suppose they were never going to say ‘Fans of Village People need not apply’.
To cut public spending is supposedly going to be both difficult and painful, yet we are everywhere presented with such obvious folly and waste. The NHS has spent £40,000 on a poster campaign to cheer up the residents of deprived housing estates (smiley face good, grumpy face bad), whilst Suffolk County Council has hired a new press officer at a rate of £700 per day. This woman supposedly commands a salary commensurate with her experience, yet her previous employers are said to be the Countryside Agency (presumably a Quango) and the Alzheimer’s Society (a charity). Have these organisations been paying her similarly inflated rates? If so, how did they come to lose their grip on reality? I cannot believe that there is anything she does or could do in the workplace that entitles her to lead a life of luxury. For anyone who is reasonably personable and articulate, being a press officer must surely count as one of the world’s less demanding jobs – isn’t it just a matter of feeding the odd story to the media? – and one questions whether Suffolk County Council would cease to function if it left the position vacant. On the other hand, £700 per day might be a fairer rate for those who are risking their lives in Afghanistan … As for the glum council tenants, why not hand out free Dad’s Army DVDs, a cheaper and far more effective way of cheering them up?
