UK: Would you steal food from allotments etc?

Wildwell · Fission Joined: Feb 03, 2005 Posts: 2080 Location: UK

In all fairness I think it’s a bit simplistic to blame the Islington elite for all the problems, even though that can be patronising, naive little darlings at times. A lot of political correctness and Health and Safety fascism comes from fear of litigation. We can thank the no-win, no fee lawyers for that one. Whilst I don’t agree with enclaves of immigrants, most immigration benefits big business (and consumers) in order to keep wages down. And realistically with international travel, you are always going to get people wanting to move about the globe to live and work

The UK has moved on from the traditional scenes epitomised in 1950s films, never to turn the clock back, and probably not for the better. Outsiders would probably be shocked to learn the country has moved on from a gentlemanly, respect driven polite nation, to one of yobs out for the five minute thrill and intellectuals and politicians that wish to nanny at every opportunity. There’s very little reason for some people to think for themselves anymore and community spirit has all but disappeared in most areas, people live their lives through the TV, computer games, hello magazine and the Daily mail. It really would be nice for everyone to co-operate in a crisis, but I can see the panic buying and opportunism to make a buck illegally or illegally rife in a badly handled situation. With a spin led indecisive government keen it maximise it’s gains at every given opportunity it doesn’t take much imagination to see why some people are preparing for the worst.

Andrew_S · Intermediate Crude Joined: Jan 09, 2005 Posts: 683

Wildwell · Fission Joined: Feb 03, 2005 Posts: 2080 Location: UK

Mostly judges based on case law and politicians, and these days the unelected EU brings in a huge amount of law, which supersedes all UK law.

A lot of law is introduced after litigation, brought to the courts by money-making law firms - it's an ever evolving process. How cases of unfair dismissal are treated can bring an awful lot of red tape and additional costs on companies, for example. We all know that Human rights laws from the EU have created a lot of 'political correctness'.

Chicken_Little

jsb1969 · Tar Sands Joined: Jun 16, 2005 Posts: 80

Actually, it's something I already do...at the nearest mega-grocery store. I'm disabled and live in Maryland where they recently dropped pharmacy coverage in my Medicaid plan, which has crowded me into a Medicare pharmacy plan which, to make a long story short, squeezes the hell out of my wallet. As I see it now, it's an all you can eat buffett at the grocery store.
Also, in terms of theft from large corporations, listen to this: It's a good thing. If shoplifting raises the prices, people consume less, as now they can not afford as much. Powering down would mean lowering your consumtion, right? The honor of theft now, no crap and Amen.

Chicken_Little

jsb1969 · Tar Sands Joined: Jun 16, 2005 Posts: 80

FishAreBest

Very few allotments have anything worth stealing - for the simple reason that as soon as any fruit/veg become ripe, they are picked and taken home for storage.

Doly · Expert Joined: Dec 03, 2004 Posts: 4031

SoothSayer

Wildwell · Fission Joined: Feb 03, 2005 Posts: 2080 Location: UK

So we’ve pretty much concluded allotments in the real world, unless it’s a nationwide ‘Dig for victory’ type campaign, are a waste of time.

I think it all depends on how ‘apeshit’ people go. On both sides of the pond there are laws in place to confiscate property in a crisis, and I’m absolutely sure they are planning for work camps to house troublesome people in. Personally I think the government take control of everything and direct food/fuels supply, re-house and re-labour people. The whole idea it’s going to be like ‘the good life’ is a fantasy frankly, it’ll be everyone’s worst nightmare, with huge travel restriction, work restriction and so on. Governments try to maintain government at any cost, they know all this stuff is coming up and are making plans for it.

Free

Some ideas for defence against marauding hordes, (in case of total collapse, i.e. everybody is on his own, no authorities to defend you nor to hassle you), if you are isolated and if you lack "heavy duty weapons":

Simply bluff:

Make big very official looking signs which warn of a highly contagious disease and a quarantine, or which warn of radioactivity due to an accident in a nearby nuclear facility. To illustrate the threat one could scatter some bones around...
(maybe also create a horrid stench at strategic places (roads) with a chemical that in German is called "butter acid" - it stinks horribly and stays for ages)

Hang some skeletons (real or fake) on gallows on the road to your property, or display some skulls, to show how looters are dealt with...

Make a row of two fences around your property, in between you make big "mine field" signs. Of course it's much too dangerous to really have mines, but a few manually ignited caches of explosives would be easily made and would have quite some effect if they go boom if the horde approaches.

The biggest threat IMHO would be a sneak attack by a little group of marauders, who kidnap somebody in the vicinity of the property etc.

Without electricity it would be difficult to keep some sort of sophisticated intrusion detection system up and running, the best bet would probably be some dogs (or gooses, think of the Romans).
_________________
"Democracy means the opportunity to be everyone's slave."
Karl Kraus

Concerned · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Sep 23, 2004 Posts: 1494

eric_b

Wildwell:

lateralus