Safe Speed Forums

In the mid 1960s, when I was about 10 or 11, I remember Batman hitting our screens. We'd not had a TV long, and it seemed so weird. My parents pointed out that it WAS American! I loved the punch-up scenes when Batman and Robin were tackling the bad guys. BM and R always won, of course, but that's what American audiences wanted to see. As each punch was landed, a word would appear on the screen, representing the punch. You'd see ZAP! BIFF! OOF! - and my personal favourite, ZOWIE!

Batman had a few regular adversaries - The Joker, the Riddler, CatWoman - but there was a lesser known adversary known as the Egghead. This post is about an episode I saw involving Egghead.

Egghead was a criminal who had engineered his way into becoming Mayor of Gotham City. He changed lots of laws. Heists were decriminalised, while petty offences were dealt with by the full force of the law. In one scene, there was a car chase involving two cars, with the occupants of each car firing gunshots in the direction of the other car. As the camera panned around, a police car with its top lights flashing came into view, parked at the side of the road. The officer was standing on the sidewalk with his back to the road and ignored the car chase, while writing up a ticket he as about to present to a woman who had dropped a kleenex on the sidewalk. The lady protested her innocence: "But Officer, it was an accident. It fell out of my purse", to which the officer replied: "Just give me the facts, Ma'am".

The weekend before last I read an article by Simon Jenkins in one of the broadsheets. He had been stopped by the police near Marble Arch, for driving below the required standard. The police in the west end are often tooled up to deal with "terrorism", and Jenkins found himself being bawled out by an officer "with a rifle". As Jenkins said, something has gone wrong in a society in which minor motoring incidents are dealt with by an iron fist, while the police turn a blind eye to petty crime.

I was reminded of this Batman episode just yesterday, when I read on the front page of the Maidenhead Advertiser, that there are to be new litter police to make a crackdown on littering in the borough. It will be zero tolerance, and the "officers" will be able to dish out £75 fixed penalties to anyone who drops litter.

Wouldn't their efforts be better deployed in the war against knife crime, or car crime, or crime against property? Knife crime is the scourge of my area, and probably the rest of the country. Just yesterday I read of a man who'd been stabbed outside a pub in my village, and lost two pints of blood. (Admittedly, two women were arrested following this incident)

Batman was so far fetched it was like watching comedy. We used to watch it just to poke fun at it and have a good laugh!

But after reading this latest adjustment to law enforcement priorities, Batman doesn't seem so far fetched after all.

And I'm not laughing any more.

Now for those too young to get into the history of the Nazi Black shirts - we have locally the "GREEN JACKETS " - Litter wardens , empowered to hand out FCN for littering . BUT -looking around our fair burough - WHERE ARE THE LITTER BINS .(removed due to anti terror worries --now go figure that one out )

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

littering £75
Evading £236,00 tax=£1
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=18947

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Speed limit sign radio interview. TV Snap Unhappy
“It has never been the rule in this country – I hope it never will be - that suspected criminal offences must automatically be the subject of prosecution” He added that there should be a prosecution: “wherever it appears that the offence or the circumstances of its commission is or are of such a character that a prosecution in respect thereof is required in the public interest”
This approach has been endorsed by Attorney General ever since 1951. CPS Code

Now , I have mentioned : Blackshirts / Greenshirts/Greenjackets-what next in Goldies UK paradise- the "YOUTH BRIGADE "designed to "persuade " people to vote the "Government way" ?????

Worked wonders in other Socialist states - such as Russia /Zimbabwe /etc /etc .


But no - haven't worked out the next move - perhaps it's to do with banks - or something else - seems to me it's all about people control .

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

I have recently re-watched that wierd 80's film "Brazil"

The way things seem to be going, I think TPTB must have used it to form policy!

(Right down to making it illegal to fix your own central heating! )

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"The road to a police state is paved with public safety legislation"