A fine mess

This Government is at it again. After the European elections when they managed a staggering 15 per cent of the vote - which, considering only about a third of those who could vote bothered to turn out, is about five per cent of the electorate - you would think they would try to keep their heads down for a while,

But no, you can't teach an old dog new tricks and all that and despite having slightly less authority in the country than the average Big Issue seller they plough ahead with yet another scheme to penalise the public.

Everything they touch involves fines and charges. There is never any attempt to educate or persuade, just legislate, stick on a charge or levy a fine.

The latest wheeze is a plan for £100 fines, going up to a grand no less, if you don't recycle down to the last can or potato peeling and the latest Government scheme even includes kitchen waste buckets - those should be pleasant with fornightly collections in the middle of summer.

Birmingham, to their credit, did provide cut price compost bins, a much better idea than slop buckets but providing rather than fining is not the way this Governement works.

I am a great supporter of recycling and years ago used to marvel at how on the Continent, which as we all know is full of filthy foreigners, they not only had clean streets but recycling bins in shopping centres while we were still chucking everything in holes in the ground.

Now, no doubt with a spur of EU recycling targets with penalties and fines attached, the Government are becoming recycling disciples but as with everything they touch they start with the fine detail - that's the details of the fines they are going to impose by the way not the way the scheme actually might work.