or am I a grumpy old woman at last?

[Kayteee]

I am a bit of a rebel by nature and, due to this, I get really angry about the new "nanny state" which appears to be creeping up on us all. Everywhere you go there are posters, adverts, signs etc; telling us we're "being watched" that "we're closing in on you"...blah blah.

The other day I used a cashpoint, only to be flashed up a message saying how my bank details WILL be checked by DWP if I'm suspected of benefit fraud!! (I don't claim any benefits, not that it matters)

The last straw now is that, after going to same cashpoint, a new flashed up message in big, bold, red letters "Catch it..Bin it..Kill it!!! Yes, I am now being told, at 45 years of age, to blow my facking nose if I have a facking cold!!

Tell me, have I become a grumpy old woman or what?!

Welcome to the club, old gel.

hahaha...would you like to join the Banshee Association too?..

I hate the adverts on cash machines. I was at one the other day which flashed up a dribbling yucky burger from Burger King. I'm pregnant and almost vomited.

I just want my money, I don't want a farking burger.

Bring on the grumpy old woman, if this is the shit that we're expected to put up with.

Join the club. I feel like Victoria fucking Meldrew most of the time these days.

do you know what i like best of all?

posters on the back of toilet doors telling me how to wash my hands. water, soap, rinse, and then dry.

although my favourite was on the m4 when the motorway sign informed me that there was 'spray on road'. in the rain. how odd.

i know just how germaine greer felt when she walked out of big brother. i just haven't found the way out yet.

Can i join too? I often feel I'm 38 going on 78. I am looking forward to getting really old so i can be really grumpy and not try and hide it like i do now.

I mutter about youngsters of today under my breath all the time....honestly they have NO respect nowadays!

Ahh Haahh!!, Madwoman!

I think we've got 'em..."they" neglected to suggest that I should wash my hands after blowing my nose! That could cause an epidemic...who do I sue?

I'm a GOW too, but I don't see the nanny state any worse than it was then when we were kids.

I remember loads of public information films and posters etc in the 1970's, telling us about health and safety, what men would look like if they got pregnant etc.

The problem is that most people are sadly numpties. The gvt can't bring out campaigns with a caveat for intelligent people can they. They have to tell us all the same message.

Another old git here. I hate all these over-simplified messages. Like SIDS and co-sleeping.

A few years ago I heard a doctor on Women's Hour talking about how non-smoking non-drinking breastfeeding women who were planning to co-sleep, who had firm beds, removed the duvets etc were not at increased risk from cot death, it was the drunk smokers who accidentally fell asleep on the sofa with their baby. But this message was too complicated for mothers to understand so they had to keep it simple ...

Hmm,
but I think that if you tell a person enough times, over and over, that they are indeed a numpty they often start to behave like numpties and, moreover, grow up into fully fledged numpties in later life, no?

Well I don't think that. I've never believed that intelligent people 'act stupid' because they've been told they're stupid.

And I certainly don't think anybody behaves like a thoughtless arse because they don't like gvt health warnings and want to prove a point.

They do seem more intrusive though - but perhaps advertising generally has got more intrusive.

I listen to XFM sometimes, and out of say 4 ads in an ad break I reckon at least 3 are from the government - don't get chlamydia, don't smoke weed, do pay your car tax etc. etc.

I know a few years ago the biggest UK advertising spend was UK government itself - far more than coke, pepsi, proctor and gamble etc. Not that there's anything wrong with that per se, so long as it is proven to be effective and good value for money.

I'd be interested to know if the revenue from car tax has increased enough to pay for the massive ad campaign though.

(Passes the Horlicks...)

Ah yes, but the old Public Information Films were REALLY offensively patronising, particularly those which were aimed at women
(i.e. anything to do with parenting, safety in the home etc.)

C&P'd from an Amazon review of the PIF DVD:

"Those who grew up in the 1970's and early 1980's were very lucky, as this wonderful collection of PIFs (Public Information Films) released from the central government archives serves to remind us of what a dangerous place Britain was during the 1970's. If you were not electrocuted getting your Frisbee from a substation, badly injured by putting a rug on a polished floor or skidding off the road because you'd mixed cross ply's and radial tyres on your car you were probably hiding in your fallout room with the curtains drawn after hearing the air attack warning sound."

MZ,
No, probably not, but what gets me is all this "you can't do that, this is bad for you, oh no, it's good for you now" sort of interference. It seems to me that everything we do now is being watched and regulated.

You can't even go out for a drive with the radio on without some sinister voice whispering " you can't hide, we're onto you, dob your neighbours in if you think they might be evil" bardy blar...iyswim.

It makes me concerened that my kids have to see/listen to these, almost subliminal messages everywhere they go. I do worry, on a more serious note, that they are being subjected to this fear-mongering and they seem oblivious to it. Will it brainwash them into thinking gvt knows best an' all that?

I suppose that's where the old git mentality
is kicking in

Hmmm, well I see what you mean but I don't know the answer really.

On the poverty thread, the only thing we could all agree on was that education was key in breaking down inequality.

People do struggle in ignorance. Think of all the things our parents did - ok we survived, but would you let your small DCs sit jammed between the front seats of the car now?

We know better now. Presumably somebody somewhere came up with research, advice and now legislation to make sure that cars are safer for kids.

Ditto things like breastfeeding, which were out of favour until quite recently. If people don't know something, what's wrong with telling them? It's not saying you're an idiot, it's saying look, times have changed and maybe you don't know the latest info.

I don't really have a problem with public health ads. It's hard to argue against publicity encouraging women to breastfeed for example.

It's the "we're watching you, pay your car tax / snoop on your neighbours / phone the police because you don't like the look of that asian guy's beard" adverts that are a bit sinister IMO.

Exactly QoH,
It's the sinister ones that get to me. "We'll take your car and squish it if you don't pay tax" etc; The one at the atm about DWP "checking our bank statements" had me reeling I can tell you. The kids think I'm off my trolley when I go on about these things. That's what worries me though, they don't mind the idea of their private lives being intruded into...because they already think it's normal, ffs.

That poster of a target pointing at that woman's chest, like a gun, that's another one...spit, splutter.

yanbu

soon you will be able to wear purple

with a red hat

Purple?? Red hat?? It wouldn't go! Of what clothing items do you speak?

it's a jenny joseph poem lol.
'when i am old i shall wear purple'

ehem...I am actually wearing purple