Absurdities of educated idiots

Published: Tuesday, 01 August 2017

THE piece on electric boats [Victor] prompts me to comment on the absurdities which so-called educated people (educated idiots) in ivory towers who make decisions based on their own perspective of life and assuming that everyone can comply with their decision, writes Bill Ridgeway.

What makes it worse is that people lower down the corporate food chain aren't trusted or given the authority to make real world decisions (who think they can pre-ordain all eventualities of the real world). This is especially so in data protection, health & safety and money laundering where their interpretation of the law take on a meaning as though they were the law.

You will do as you are told

It's part of the 'You are only the customer and you will do as you are told' or 'you can do what you like as long as you do it our way' business model. Just one recent example. A bank needed proof of identity and address (to which they have been sending statements and other correspondence for over ten years).

The bank hadn't allowed for the fact that some people have neither driving licence or a passport. For proof of address they did not accept statements from internet accounts—although many people choose not to receive paper statements. They also insisted that council tax bills and letters from DWP and HMRC which are more than four months old are not acceptable—completely disregarding the fact they are not acceptable for eight months of the year.

Just to rub salt into the wound they expected copies of acceptable documents to be certified as such by a professional—who could, possibly, charge £10 for doing so. I played them at their own game. To the question about income I responded I couldn't tell them as the notifications from DWP and my P60 was more than four months old.

How CaRT deal with electric boats

It will be interesting to see how Cart (and others) deal with the issue of electric boats. We hear of the excuses from unlicensed boats semi-permanently on moorings. There will be a new excuse of 'my boat has run out of juice and I can't bow haul it to the nearest charging point'.

End of rant. Puts soap box away.