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11th September 2013: The world's gone mad and I'm the only one who knows
13th August 2013: Black is white. Fact. End of.
11th August 2013: Electric cars, not as green as they're painted?
18th June 2013: Wrinklies unite, you have nothing to lose but your walking frames!
17th May 2013: Some actual FACTS about climate change (for a change) from actual scientists ...
10th May 2013: An article about that poison gas, carbon dioxide, and other scientific facts (not) ...
10th May 2013: We need to see past the sex and look at the crimes: is justice being served?
8th May 2013: So, who would you trust to treat your haemorrhoids, Theresa May?
8th May 2013: Why should citizens in the 21st Century fear the law so much?
30th April 2013: What the GOS says today, the rest of the world realises tomorrow ...
30th April 2013: You couldn't make it up, could you? Luckily you don't need to ...
29th April 2013: a vote for NONE OF THE ABOVE, because THE ABOVE are crap ...
28th April 2013: what goes around, comes around?
19th April 2013: everyone's a victim these days ...
10th April 2013: Thatcher is dead; long live Thatcher!
8th April 2013: Poor people are such a nuisance. Just give them loads of money and they'll go away ...
26th March 2013: Censorship is alive and well and coming for you ...
25th March 2013: Just do your job properly, is that too much to ask?
25th March 2013: So, what do you think caused your heterosexuality?
20th March 2013: Feminists - puritans, hypocrites or just plain stupid?
18th March 2013: How Nazi Germany paved the way for modern governance?
13th March 2013: Time we all grew up and lived in the real world ...
12th March 2013: Hindenburg crash mystery solved? - don't you believe it!
6th March 2013: Is this the real GOS?
5th March 2013: All that's wrong with taxes
25th February 2013: The self-seeking MP who is trying to bring Britain down ...
24th February 2013: Why can't newspapers just tell the truth?
22nd February 2013: Trial by jury - a radical proposal
13th February 2013: A little verse for two very old people ...
6th February 2013: It's not us after all, it's worms
6th February 2013: Now here's a powerful argument FOR gay marriage ...
4th February 2013: There's no such thing as equality because we're not all the same ...
28th January 2013: Global Warming isn't over - IT'S HIDING!
25th January 2013: Global Warmers: mad, bad and dangerous to know ...
25th January 2013: Bullying ego-trippers, not animal lovers ...
19th January 2013: We STILL haven't got our heads straight about gays ...
16th January 2013: Bullying ego-trippers, not animal lovers ...
11th January 2013: What it's like being English ...
7th January 2013: Bleat, bleat, if it saves the life of just one child ...
7th January 2013: How best to put it? 'Up yours, Argentina'?
7th January 2013: Chucking even more of other people's money around ...
6th January 2013: Chucking other people's money around ...
30th December 2012: The BBC is just crap, basically ...
30th December 2012: We mourn the passing of a genuine Grumpy Old Sod ...
30th December 2012: How an official body sets out to ruin Christmas ...
16th December 2012: Why should we pardon Alan Turing when he did nothing wrong?
15th December 2012: When will social workers face up to their REAL responsibility?
15th December 2012: Unfair trading by a firm in Bognor Regis ...
14th December 2012: Now the company that sells your data is pretending to act as watchdog ...
7th December 2012: There's a war between cars and bikes, apparently, and  most of us never noticed!
26th November 2012: The bottom line - social workers are just plain stupid ...
20th November 2012: So, David Eyke was right all along, then?
15th November 2012: MPs don't mind dishing it out, but when it's them in the firing line ...
14th November 2012: The BBC has a policy, it seems, about which truths it wants to tell ...
12th November 2012: Big Brother, coming to a school near you ...
9th November 2012: Yet another celebrity who thinks, like Jimmy Saville, that he can behave just as he likes because he's famous ...
5th November 2012: Whose roads are they, anyway? After all, we paid for them ...
7th May 2012: How politicians could end droughts at a stroke if they chose ...
6th May 2012: The BBC, still determined to keep us in a fog of ignorance ...
2nd May 2012: A sense of proportion lacking?
24th April 2012: Told you so, told you so, told you so ...
15th April 2012: Aah, sweet ickle polar bears in danger, aah ...
15th April 2012: An open letter to Anglian Water ...
30th March 2012: Now they want to cure us if we don't believe their lies ...
28th February 2012: Just how useful is a degree? Not very.
27th February 2012: ... so many ways to die ...
15th February 2012: DO go to Jamaica because you definitely WON'T get murdered with a machete. Ms Fox says so ...
31st January 2012: We don't make anything any more
27th January 2012: There's always a word for it, they say, and if there isn't we'll invent one
26th January 2012: Literary criticism on GOS? How posh!
12th December 2011: Plain speaking by a scientist about the global warming fraud
9th December 2011: Who trusts scientists? Apart from the BBC, of course?
7th December 2011: All in all, not a good week for British justice ...
9th November 2011: Well what d'you know, the law really IS a bit of an ass ...

 

 
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This little rant from one of our regular contributors ...
 

 
A Cautionary Tale

 
Not long ago I ordered a pair of work trousers – you know, the sort with lots of pockets – from a firm in Sussex. They came fairly promptly, but when I opened the packet and tried them on they were far too small for me. I had ordered my usual waist size, 36”, but although they were indeed labelled 36 they were more like a 34.
 
Oh well, I thought, perhaps some brands have different ideas about size. I wore them, with some discomfort. Apart from the size issue I rather liked them, and decided to order another, larger pair.
 
The new pair were 38”, but when I tried them on they were no different to the first ones. And sure enough, although they were labelled 38, when I held them against the first pair they were exactly the same. I put a ruler to the waistband, and got a figure of 35”.
 
I phoned the firm up. No problem, they said, just return them and we'll send you some more. Oh, and the packing must be in its original condition.
 
Wait a minute, I said, how can I do that? I tore open the bag to get at the trousers.
 
That's the rule, I'm afraid. The packaging must be in original condition. It's in our Terms and Conditions.
 
But that's illegal, isn't it? Have the Office of Fair Trading not written to retailers and told them they can't make this stipulation, because it infringes consumer protection legislation?
 
Sorry, that's the rules.
 
But these trousers are not fit for purpose. You have to replace them under the Sale of Goods Act.
 
Not without the original packaging.
 
I'll contact the local Trading Standards office.
 
You do that. Goodbye.
 

 
I checked on the internet, and I was right about the Office of Fair Trading. I emailed them, and they said yes, I was right, and thanks for the information which they would keep against the name of the company. However they were not empowered to get involved in individual cases.
 
I then wrote to the Managing Director of the company. I know the letter arrived because I sent it by recorded delivery, but a month later there's been no response. I am now negotiating with my credit card supplier to see if they can claw the money back.
 
The problem as I see it is that there are just too many rules. It's no good making something against the law unless it's practical to enforce it, and that simply isn't possible. Firms like Krowmark (for that is their name) know this, and simply ignore rules they know won't be enforced. It must save them a load of money, not having to replace faulty goods.
 
And why are there too many rules? Because we have the habit these days of saying, whenever something goes wrong, “there should be a law against it”, or “let's ban it!”. The last Labour government banned things right, left and centre, but this meant introducing so many new laws that the law itself is becoming a laughing stock which nobody has to obey. Think about it. You know I'm right.
 
If you're interested, the name of the firm is Krowmark Ltd., and they are based in Bognor Regis. Their website is here. I suggest you make a point of not buying anything from them, or you may be caught out as I was.
 

 
The GOS says: If anyone knows how to get in touch with Bognor Regis trading standards, do let us know and we'll pass it on. Internet search was unsuccessful.
 

 
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