Some twonk from The Council was on local radio the other day poncing on about how, in the name of greenery and sustainability, they were doubling the number of "families" that would benefit from access to allotments, no doubt to meet the target of some exciting new government initiative or other.
So I got chatting with an allotment holder who told me that The Council were indeed doubling the number of those with access to allotments, not by increasing the amount of public land available but by turning one allotment into two whenever any were passed on, ie no net gain. No surprises so far in this land of smoke and mirrors.
The plot thickens; this halving/doubling policy started with allotments passed on by death or voluntary surrender by the allotment holders but then The Council started issuing Allotment Plans which specified what could and could not be done with allotments and woe betide any who defied them, allotment seized and redistributed to their servile favorites in a brutal campaign clearly copied from Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe. Allotment holders now find themselves spied upon to ensure that the specified proportion of land is given over to fruit, veg, flowers or whatever. This simple and useful pastime has been reduced to nazi serfdom in an atmosphere of fear and denunciation where the rebellious few who dare grow nasturtiums, which are flowers but can be eaten, or bamboo, an ornamental crop that is also an economic one, are mercilessly thrown off their land and condemned to the tender mercies of Tesco and Costcutter in a terror campaign akin to the destruction of the prosperous peasants or Kulaks in Soviet Russia, Joe Stalin would have been proud.
Arize allotment holders of Britain, you have nothing to lose but your chains!
On a lighter note, Václav Klaus "Global Warming Alarmism is a Grave Threat to our Liberty" 5th March 2010
http://www.klaus.cz/clanky/2529
H/T Frank Davis http://frank-davis.livejournal.com/ in a comment @ Dick Puddlecit.
Climate Change is the New Communism
18 comments:
Well that sucks. The allotment programme was one of the best ideas to have come out of the UK and now council dick heads - no doubt with a large des res of their own on a three acre lot - want to screw it up.
I don't understand Brits anymore. Kick them in the teeth and they'll still vote for you - like cringing dogs in front of their master.
Why would anyone want an allotment when the best cash crop is the one you grow in your loft?
Now if only the drugs squad didn't have those annoying thermal signature detectors it'd be a great boost to the fertilizer and plantpot manufacturing economic sector too.
I find there is nothing better than a ballot box to cheer me up !
Big Brother strikes again. How much more can/will we take?
In my borough, several allotments have been lost to property developers, despite there bieng plenty of boarded-up council houses dotted about, growing weeds by the score, empty for months...
scunnert said...
Well that sucks. The allotment programme was one of the best ideas to have come out of the UK
But the idea did not come out f Britain.
Carl von Hessen invented the Armengärten in Germany in 1806, and they were later developed and standardised Dr Moritz Schreber of Leipzig, in 1865.
So "one of the best ideas to come out of Germany" actualy.
Hmm They are know known as Schrebergärten.
HI Banned. This is very distressing. When will these commie jerks quit? At least I can still plant my own flowers I want, for variety, and not have to plant beans or whatever under the collective overlords orders.
I hope these jerks get voted out ASAP!
Have a wonderful weekend, I'm still puttering away and will be for quite some time.
scunnert, I suppose some common purpose dweep spotted a client group that had yet to fall under their total control. Better to screw it up than let it go unregulated and without a Compliance Protocol.
ASE, it's not about the money though I suppose Plod might have reservations about totally unregulated "grow your own stuff, except in Holland, where you can.
Woodie Trouble is these interfering fools are not elected, they are appointed, for life. What quality of low life Admin Clerk do you suppose ends up I/C Allotments?
Conservative Lady as above, they are not actually Big Brother, rather what we used to call " bloody little Hitlers", worthless jobsworths who have found yet another way to push the public around.
JuliaM I can well believe it but your Council Officers are clearly off message and you should DENOUNCE those responsible at the earliest opportunity.
Furor Teutonicus I thank you for your valuable contribution to this debate and bow to your knowledge. In that era there were many developments in Democracy, Constitutional Development and wotnot; some from there (Germany), some from here. How fare the Schrebergärten these days ?
How fare the Schrebergärten these days ?
Mine is doing great...well, WOULD be if it wasn't arse cold out there.
But it depends on the comittee. Some are easy going and will let you grow what you want. Others are as you described in the origional post. "Only flowers allowed in that corner, and NO cabbage can be planted" kind of thing.
I tend to grow a lot of Thornapple....for those of you that know, you will also know WHY! :-)
They are also protected by law here. So they can NOT rip them down and build car parks on them. etc. Not without it going through full Parliamentary procedure any way, and that very rarely happens.
Bunnie, dear, they are worse than the commie bastards of Soviet Russia who, at their worst, realised that collectivism was all bollox and allowed the peasants their own small market gardens which produced up to one third of all the food grown in that country without which they would all have starved.
Furor Teutonicus Yours are run by committee? The word Allotment implies land "alloted to", ie not owned or necessarilly rented, alloted to to use as the 'allotee' sees fit (or used to).
Lobby groups have become too powerful, banned.
How soon before
TPTB try to regulate what we can grow in our own gardens? I recall their raising this a year or so ago, on the pretext that some plant or other was a 'dangerous' weed. Utter bollocks, of course. They even wanted inspectors doing random checks on people's gardens.
Fausty Please god no, not a new army of GEOs, Garden Enforcement Officers, on the Council payroll.
Joking aside!
Furor Teutonicus Yours are run by committee? The word Allotment implies land "alloted to", ie not owned or necessarilly rented, alloted to to use as the 'allotee' sees fit (or used to).
Each "Kolonie", ie group of Schrebergärten, is run by a Verein, which for those not having been here, is an "Association" (in U.K anyway).
The comittees, or Vorstände, is responsible for the paper work to and from the relevant Government departments, and the "discipline" of the Kolonie. I.e, arranging "work groups" to tidy up the "public areas", make sure the individual gardners are abiding by the rules, as relating to their own patches, etc.
The rules MUST contain certain regulations, as to use of pesticiudes, Not being allowed to "live" on the allotment for more than so long per month/year, Keeping the allotment viable, etc.
But the comittees can also apply their own rules. Which must then be voted on by the whole Verein.
Schrebergärten are a BIT different to U.K allotments, in that you have a "house", which can be a garden shed with a bed, or something approaching a small portecabin. These buildings are also controled by the comitees.
After the bombings 1942 to 45, and many years after, these rules were relaxed, and a lot of Schrebergärten became "tempory emergency" accomodation for the bombed out populace.
Whilst you can basically grow what you like, so much of the garden (the amount is set by law, but the comittees can vary that upwards) MUST be used for food crops.
SOME Kolonien are individualy owned, but then you come in for the problems similar to "home schoolers", YOU have to be able to deal with EVERY piece of shite the Goverment throws at you, whereas a Verein does that for you.
You must fall within "the catchment area" as well. I could not have a garden in Leipzig, or anywhere outside of Berlin, for example.
In THEORY every person in the area is entitled to one of these gardens. BUT....well you will apprieciate how impossible THAT would be if everyone in Berlin had a wierd dream and turned up one morning and demanded "their" piece of land. :-))
Thank you again Furor Teutonicus for your interesting and informative contribution.
I am not of the Allotment Community myself but understand that ad hoc committees might be formed, not to rule the site, but to represent the interests of the allotment holders vis-à-vis the Council itself.
It would be understandable if the Council insisted upon allotments being used soley for the production of food, ie fruit and veg but it is their insistance on quotas of flowers and decorative plants that so infuriates their "clients".
One might almost think that they are deliberatly stirring up ill-will, which they are.
Incidentally, while my command of German is very limited I was aware of "Verein" from my interest in the Zollverein which I see as the precursor and model for the Evil EU.
Incidentally, while my command of German is very limited I was aware of "Verein"....
I never assume that everyone coming to a blogg site can understand the anguage though. not jus the owner, but any one that comes to read. Hence the translations.
"Verein" is a bit of a wierd one, not being really one thing or the other in the U.K system.
"Is it a club?! Yes and no
"an association" Hmmm yes, but...
"A charity?" CAN be, but not neccessarily.
"Education trust?" All Vereine must be "usefull, or offer a service to the community, and "education" of their aims, CAN be one of their aims.
etc.
What's important is, we can claim our tax and travel expenses back from the Government!! :-))
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