The National
Society For Opposition To Everything
Chair's Report
As Chair of The National
Society For Opposition To Everything (NSFOTE), I
am delighted to report on another successful year.
The Society has long
campaigned to prevent anyone from doing anything,
and now that we have so many members in
influential positions and at grass roots in
Britain, we have been able to pursue our
objectives on multiple fronts.
The power industry has been
particularly affected this year with successful
campaigns against the use of fossil and nuclear
fuels. Local opposition to wind turbines across
the land led, in 2009, to the closure of the
Vesta wind turbine factory on the Isle of Wight,
and efforts continue to thwart plans for tidal,
solar and other forms of renewable energy based
on any half-baked rationale. Impact on the
scenery or on some obscure species of local
wildlife remain popular objections.
We hope that by 2050 no
power of any kind will be able to be generated in
the United Kingdom.
Infiltration of planning
committees by our members continues to prevent
the construction of new buildings and stop
existing structures from being modified or
demolished. The rise in the number of families
unable to locate affordable homes is heartening
testimony to this success. This victory is all
the more rewarding in locations where it is the
local population themselves who have campaigned
against low cost housing for local people.
Such actions have, of
course, been greatly assisted by planning
committees that have made every derelict
structure a listed building to avoid any
constructive use of it or its site.
The engagement of local
NIMBY movements has significantly aided our cause.
They have selflessly opposed not just housing but
mobile phone masts, power lines, new shops,
supermarkets and many other such projects. This
is despite enduring overcrowding, poor local
communications, power cuts and the need to drive
miles to find a decent shop. The NSFOTE says well
done to one and all!
Oppositions to the closure
of local pubs, shops and post offices has also
been selflessly pursued by many who have never
used these local amenities and plan never to do
so. A special mention is deserved for their
efforts.
These local NIMBY groups
have developed fast response strategies such as
the manufacture of half completed signs, posters,
leaflets and petitions with headings such as ‘Join
Our Opposition To …’ or 'No
… Here!' - each having a space to allow
rapid addition of their demonised project of the
week. Other signs simply say ‘Down with
the proposal!!’ so they can be quickly
deployed in any circumstance.
As many of you know, I am
standing down as Chair due to opposition to my
chairmanship in the past twelve months. I wish to
assure the new incumbent that he or she can count
on myself and other members of the NSFOTE to stir
up unrest, argue every trivial point and raise
irrational objections to any proposal he or she
might make. Thus I hope we can continue to avoid
any progress in the spirit of the glorious
history of our Society.
A Whinger
Chair
The National Society For Opposition To Everything
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