Disposable Barbeques: COVID Part Deux.

And so it starts. It has been reported that a man in Wales has been fined £200 for using a disposable BBQ. In his own garden. On a table, off the ground. 

He was grassed up by his neighbours. I suspect they are the type of people that gleefully grassed up Anne Frank to the Gestapo.

But here we go again, it's the pandemic part two. More draconian measures. A national message sent to all mobile phones on a system that is designed to inform us of national threats like nuclear attacks. 

A ban on disposable BBQs is overkill. A simple announcement to not use them would be sufficient. 

A ban on using them is just draconian. Especially when you are using them in a manner that isn't a fire risk. Especially when using a different type of BBQ in the same exact circumstances is legal. 

I smell another experiment from the ex-government, now independent Behavioural Insights Team or GCHQ's classified nudge unit the Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group (JTRIG). I mean, let's ban an innocuous thing like a BBQ. Yes, there are fires around the country, not all started by disposable BBQs, but ooooh, it's a scary threat we can ramp up and do another one of our experiments on. 

We'll issue fines for people using them even when a normal BBQ used in the same circumstance is not a finable offence. 

I mean, how can a fine be justifiable when the charcoal from a disposable BBQ can be emptied into a non-disposable one and lit and the fine can be avoided. It's the same charcoal, the same location.

But that's the BIT/JTRIG experiment: issue fines for nonsensical scenarios and see if the public comply. Not only that, note how zealous the public are to dob in their neighbours.

And I bet the results will still come back the same as COVID: the working class are less liable to dob in a neighbour, but the middle class will relish the sense of power and pride in a job well done. Especially middle class women.  You know the type, the ones that would have been at the front of the crowds at Nazi rallies shouting "My Honour is Loyalty". 

Anyway, BIT and JTRIG can do one after this week. Thunderstorms and flash floods on the weather menu this week. Should dampen any enthusiasm for using the bloody BBQs anyway. 

Of course the weather would break just before I'm due to go camping with the extended family. 

5 tents including the wife's ex (we hold no grudges). 

Step-daughter gets to try out the canvas mansion I bought her to house her family. Lets hope it's waterproof.

I'm just hoping the weather cools off a bit, and doesn't turn into a humid heatwave.