Paranoia in the playground

Paranoia in the playground | Henry Porter | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Listen to mayor Dorothy Thornhill. Her council has just banned parents from watching their own children at two council play areas in Watford. Quoted in the Watford Observer this evidently simple-minded woman says, "Sadly, in today's climate, you can't have adults walking around unchecked in a children's playground."

Instead of parents being able to watch and play with their own and other people's children at the Harwoods and Harebreaks recreation grounds, vetted council staff known as "play rangers" will be in charge. The mayor says that this enforces government policy.

Actually that's not true because no government policy has yet determined that parents may not supervise their own children in a playground. It seems possible that the mayor and her appalling council may be in breach of article 8 of the Human Rights Act – the right to family life. A mother of three named Rebekah Makinson was quoted by reporter Neil Skinner as saying: "Banning parents from an open access playground, I feel, is a breach of our personal freedom."

Can you hear the sound of something about to snap?