Letters to Way of the World
February 28, 2016
I welcome proposals by the Government to place a CCTV camera in every household fridge. How else are we to stop the forward march of clinical obesity?
The innocent have nothing to fear. Those existing on a balanced diet, including plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, need not expect a visit from the health inspectorate. It is only those who flout the Government's health guidelines by stocking up on too many fatty foods - butter, clotted cream, full-fat milk, cakes, fizzy drink etc, etc - who will find themselves in court.
Those of your correspondents who remain opposed to CCTV cameras in the fridge are living in cloud-cuckoo land. They are the sort of people who, five years ago, would have opposed our introduction of CCTV in the car.
Yet today statistics show that this innovation has led to a sharp drop in seat-belt crime, and a 50 per cent rise in prosecutions for talking, whistling or singing whilst driving. The benefits are incalculable.
Three years ago, the Government's legislation to instal CCTV in every garden was almost universally welcomed by the medical profession, if not by some of the diehard reactionary fringe of the gardening community. With one camera for every 20 shrubs, gardening accidents - a terrible drain on the health service - were overnight cut by half.
But it has come to my notice that many gardeners are still kneeling down to perform some of their tasks. This leads to mud-stains on their trouser-legs, which in turn leads to overuse of the washing-machine - a clear disaster for the future of our environment.
The only solution is to place more CCTV cameras in the garden - say, one for every five yards of flowerbed. I would also strongly argue for the placing of CCTV in every household washing-machine. This would ensure that the police could instantly tell when items of clothing with preventable stains were being secretly washed, leading to the swift apprehension of offenders.