Wednesday Whimsy: good neighbour or busybody?

The Old Sunday School, Wilsden - shows how Parish Councils can help get stuff done

Busybody n.; pl. Busybodies One who officiously concerns himself or herself with the affairs of others; a meddling person.

Driving along Laneside from Harecroft into Wilsden, I was taken by the sight of Jack Clapham trudging up the hill from his house towards a neighbour’s carrying what appeared to be a weeks worth of shopping. It wouldn’t surprise me that Jack – or his wife Freida – care enough about neighbours to get their shopping for them. After all he puts up a poster for me!

I know of others who do similar – not as members of some occult society and not with any purpose other than to do the right thing. And this is a good thing – sadly pushed aside by left-wing folk who seem to see volunteering as some kind of threat to the employment of “public sector workers

But I’m not here to have a moan about the public sector but to ask a different question. A question about privacy and about the busybody – a question made more interesting by Harrow Council’s decision to employ a vast army of busybodies to check up on “the neighbourhood”.

Now Jack Clapham’s not a busybody – he just likes to help his neighbour – but some folk who get involved in “community groups” and Parish Councils end up with busybody-ish tendencies! Let me explain.

It’s none of my business if Mr Jones across the village wants to extend his house, build a new garage or put up a nine foot high fence. It's certainly none of my business if he wishes to pave his front garden and park a couple of vans on it. I might assist a neighbour of Mr Jones who wishes to object – but that’s helping out. The matter remains none of my business. For some who, given the chance to criticise the design of someone’s proposed dormer or the siting of their garden shed, leap at the chance even though it is none of their business. That is being a busybody.

It shouldn’t bother me that the local farmer has set up a brewery in his outbuildings (in fact I think this a good thing) and I don’t give a toss whether it does or doesn’t comply with this or that regulation. But some care not that our farmer is bothering nobody. His brewery is not a proper use in the Green Belt and must be stopped. And does he have the right licenses? That is being a busybody.

By all means go on a Parish Council, join the Community Association, set up a neighbourhood watch or run a community clean up. These are good neighbourly things to do. But please keep your neb out from other’s business when it doesn’t concern you. And don’t be a busybody.