Brickbat: Don't Be a Doormat

Dave Bredeson / Dreamstime.com

Ashley Tofte and Jade Bunce came home to their council-owned home in England to find their doormat missing and a note from the Dacorum Borough Council saying it had been removed because the council has a "legal duty to keep areas clear of hazards and combustible materials." The note demanded £40 for the return of the doormat. The couple thought it was a joke. But after calling council offices they found out it wasn't.

Comments

[qjkxbmwvz]

Confiscate is a funny word for "steal and hold for ransom."

[straffinrun]

The problem with confiscating a woman's rug for ransom is that time isn't on your side.

[Groovus Maximus]

This is clearly 'Merkin's fault.

[straffinrun]

Got her prints all over it.

[Cyto]

From the article's comments, they not only ask for a ransom of ?40, if you don't come get your mat, they charge you a disposal fee of ?40.

So... it really is about fire safety. Not at all about getting the money....

[Rich]

That's outrageous! I can't believe there's not a weekly ?40 storage fee.

[UnCivilServant]

No, Rich, the storage fee isn't ?40, it's ?400

[Rich]

Whew!

[The Last American Hero]

It's a language thing. They call the trunk of a car the boot over there.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Yeah, the Brits have a pretty unhealthy combination of welfare state and entitled citizens, so I'm not sure how to judge this one. Do the tenants pay rent on this flat?

[Groovus Maximus]

As does the US of A, Fist of Comparison, let us not forget that.

As to your other question, yes CHAVS, ahem, Council Housers, do pay nominal fees on their dwellings.

It's not considered a discrete tax, since most Council Housers do have the option to enter into a, "Lease to Own," type programme, but more a, "User Fee," which is assessed either monthly (convenient when receiving a pension cheque) or per annum.

Most opt not to do the lease-to-ownership route since so many have problems achieving some sense of permanent gainful employment, and the neighbourhoods are generally pretty awful and tend to be crime ridden.

[straffinrun]

Now I feel bad. You add useful info and all I did was make a bush joke.

[Groovus Maximus]

Currently residing in Euro-landia and deal with NHSers and other various and sundry Limeys on a semi-regular basis, straff. So's I know this stuff primarily by Eurosmosis; otherwise, I would be pretty clueless about it.

And I saw your bush joke and raised you a crotch toupee.-)

[Animal]

You should never feel bad about a bush joke.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Well, then, what did the lease agreement have to say about door mats?

[UnCivilServant]

It says the tenant will be a door mat to any and all demands of the council, no matter how absurd or outrageous.

[Suthenboy]

"Council-owned home"

Well, there ya' go.

[I can't even]

I'm not sure what that means but it caught my eye and doesn't sound good.

[UnCivilServant]

It was built by the government, is owned by the government and the government is renting it to the occupant.

It's one of those "enlightened" ideas that europhiles like so much on paper that don't tend to work out.

[Bra Ket]

Or maybe it works out great. Or did you mean for the suckers who the system was ostensibly supposed to help?

[croaker]

It's the UK equivalent of Section 8 housing.

[Ted S.]

So I opened up my various international broadcaster podcasts this morning, and one of the headlines from RTE in Ireland is:

Trump threatens to cancel planes for future US presidents

And then the tag line is:

Brian Normoyle, US Political Commentator with the Huffington Post, assesses US president-elect, Donald Trump's latest twitter remarks

I couldn't be bothered to listen. As if the next president couldn't just sign another contract, or Congress could do it. But OMG is everybody going nuts about this, because Trump.

[Suthenboy]

One has to wonder if they believe their own lies (TDS) or if the mendacity is calculated. I think there is plenty of both going around.

[Groovus Maximus]

Absolutely both, and both often emanating from the same person in each case.

It's especially interesting when Troomp Boosters, such as Milo, in particular, do their schtick to rile SJWs and are either ignored by natural co-belligerents, or outright panned as vulgarians and worthy of disdain - and yet Milo checks off just about every single Virtue Signal box that they would otherwise cheer and champion.

[Princess Trigger]

It's a good laugh when, in just a few hours, my FB feed went from "The Pentagon is wasting obscene amounts of money that could go to 'good' things" to "We have to protect the military-industrial complex from that monster Trump."

[straffinrun]

The Dacorum Borough Council taking away the welcome mat. Wonder if they sent it to Merkel?

[Princess Trigger]

It really tied the room together.

[Radioactive]

Matt, the guy with no arms & no legs who hangs out in front of your door.

[UnCivilServant]

He's back in yesterday's thread. Tell that lazy bum to get a move on.

[Radioactive]

I'll tell his sister Eileen, (the girl with 1 leg standing against the wall) to come & get him.

[Radioactive]

maybe her Japanese cousin, Irene, can help her out.