Most readers will be aware of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) which came into effect on May 25th but may not know that this has given rise to a 24% increase in demand for lawyers. The Act was originally intended to deal with the likes of Social Media, Amazon, Credit Agencies and the big NGOs, because they collect data and turn it into information for sale to other outfits. The information is often re-jigged and then sold on again to charities, criminals and even governments. Our own government has lots of data which it shares with hundreds of other bodies and my guess is that, there is now so much information sloshing around that governmental systems have become too unwieldy to do their job affectively.
GDPR replaces an earlier act which was the one celebrities used to gag newspapers and stop them printing stories which they didn’t want us to read. I guess celebs only want us to see them as they see themselves. If that is the case they might want to read what Robbie Burns the Poet thought about self-image when he wrote (O wad some power the giftie gie us, to see ourselves as others see us.)
But that’s enough about information and its proliferation, except to say that if your email box is full of unwanted messages I suggest you click on the unsubscribe button on the bottom of every email. In recent weeks I have been clicking unsubscribe on nearly everything from the likes of B&Q to Nectar points and my daily email count has dropped from over a hundred to about thirty.
As I write, the sun has been shining for three days and, for want of anything to say, the weather forecasters are starting to dispense medical advice about the dangers of sunshine. It reminds me of my time in Aden sixty years ago when neither the Forces radio nor local Arab stations bothered with weather forecasting. Given that in eighteen months it rained only once there hardly seemed a need for a radio weather slot. Mind you, in the seventy two hours of continuous rain 12 feet of water fell and washed away most of the roads. The smell was dreadful but bits of the desert bloomed for about a week until everything dried up again.
During hot spells our antipodean cousins may waltz with Matilda and sleep in the shade of the Coolibah (Eucalyptus) tree, but our sheep and lambs lie in the shade of the Poplars. It seems the ovine mind is not troubled by thoughts of data protection or worried by forecasts of global warming, global cooling or where Islamic terrorists will strike next; they do worry but not like humans. A wayward dog or sudden movements will spook them into an occasional state of hysterical panic. But such states never last more than a minute or so and a flock of grazing animals will very quickly settle down again. I am convinced that humans can learn a lot about how animals control hysteria and panic, and reckon that a few days with livestock might encourage weather forecasters and others in the public eye to tone down their hysterical predictions.
At the start I suggested than maybe an over-abundance of data, (and possibly also a paucity of common sense) was making governmental systems incapable of delivering any promises made, and that drew my mind to the time when concepts of democratic government were in their infancy. Those ideas are still around and many thinkers believe that those earlier models are still the best. For example.
Milton Friedman writes, “Government has three primary functions. It should provide for military defence of the nation. It should enforce contracts between individuals. It should protect citizens from crimes against themselves or their property”. He concludes by saying;
“When government — in pursuit of good intentions tries to rearrange the economy, legislate morality, or help special interests, the cost comes in inefficiency, lack of motivation, and loss of freedom”. *
His conclusion reminds me of the Defra official who visited a Cornish farm on a routine inspection. The farmer shrugged and said, “Fine. Look around but don’t go in that field by the river”. Instantly the visitor became officious, “You can’t stop me I have a warrant to go anywhere he rasped, ‘My badge says I can go where I want. Look at it. Look at my badge. You can’t stop me!” Quietly the farmer shrugged “I’m sorry I spoke.”
Twenty minutes later horrifying shrieks are heard as the terrified inspector runs ahead of Albert the Friesian Bull. The river looms but Albert is gaining ground and disaster is at hand.
Seeing it too late to do more, the farmer climbs a gate and yells at the top of his voice;
“Your badge, your badge. Show him your badge.”
* https://www.goodreads.com/…/578626-government-has-three-primary-functions-it-sh
View from the Pew 