Just as local volunteers and guests sit down to discuss the increasing regulation of every-day life over a picnic in the sunshine in Millfields Park, London E5, a park warden steps in to police a barbecue local families have organised. A classic illustration of the level of interference in our everyday activities, right on cue and you couldn’t make it up. Are we really so incapable of resolving issues with neighbours and fellow citizens ourselves? Or are we being made incapable by the rise of jobsworths with badges and Hi-Viz jackets supposedly protecting us from each other. Do we need a busy body state to step in and criminalise rough sleeping, close clubs and enforce Public Space Protection Orders? The message from this picnic is back off.
