Sending the wrong message
MORE evictions of vulnerable boaters is an interesting conundrum for BWML and CaRT to resolve. However, pursuing the individuals in this way brings with it a couple of associated issues writes Mick Fitzgibbons.
CaRT is a charity and for that reason alone, the publicity of 'evicting old people with cancer health problems' will set a message in the mind of the donating public. The publicity will be a reminder of previous events and the headline and sound-bite surrounding the previous eviction of 'Maggie'. The public will only register the headline, the sound bite, believing that the waterways charity has done it again and evicted a couple of cancer victims.
Vunerable
The other issue is the boaters. They are old, they are not in the best of health and so they are vulnerable. When the doctor says you have cancer, that is a life changing event. You priorities change significantly and you are understandably preoccupied with other things. Emotionally you will get to be a bit grumpy and feel that the world has given you a bad deal.
My sympathy lies entirely with the boaters. I don't place any truck with court judgements. It may be a legal interpretation, but the courts don't place any store in moral standpoint. After all it's a David -v- Goliath event with an inequality of arms. Like it or not these are vulnerable individuals. The donating public will be the judge and jury and their memories are long.
Only losers
There are going to be no winners only losers. A further loss of what's left of the moral high-ground that comes from being a national charity. A million pounds worth of bad publicity that due to the longevity of stories on the internet will turn up again and again whenever someone does a web search on the 'canal and river trust'. It's time that CaRT/BWML cut the director bonus and used the money to employed a welfare officer. Richard Parry said he was going to take charge of all such issues and so I can only imagine that he has sanctioned this latest public relations disaster.
It's as if someone at CaRT/BWML has pushed the self destruct button and is now enjoying the job of telling the vulnerable pensioners to stop malingering—its only cancer—pack up your belongings and push off.
Who will be next?
Just ask yourself a simple question—would you want to swap places with the boaters. Another question worth asking (looking at the age profile of boat owners) is who will be next. After all it couldn't possibly be you.... could it?
[Mick wrote this article before the latest possible vulnerable eviction of Steve James was included, making it even more of a problem of bad publicity for the BWML/CaRT.]