From the Tim Worstall site:

A nurse was given a £100 fine for littering after she fed a group of ducks.

Susan Watson, 68, a dementia nurse said she was “shocked and embarrassed” when a council worker approached her by the River Medway in Tonbridge, Kent, after she had torn up a piece of bread and scattered it among the ducks last month.

She was then spoken to by an officer from Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council (TMBC) and given a £100 fine for littering.

Ms Watson told KentOnline: “I was so shocked. I remember someone started to run after me, shouting ‘hello’. He told me I was on camera and that I had committed an environmental infringement.

Ms Watson in my view has done little wrong here apart that is from feeding the ducks bread rather than peas, which have more nutrients than bread. Her major mistake here was to give her name and address to the council litter stasi. They have no power of arrest. There was nothing as far as I can see from stopping this lady from walking away and either politely telling the council knobhead that she wasn’t going to give her details or less politely to ‘fuck off’. Yes of course the council could have used the body worn or other cctv to find her and prosecute her but it would be completely and laughably considered by the public as overkill to do so.

I suspect that what might have happened here is that the council stasi became officious and pushy with lady and somewhat intimidated her into giving her details. I had something similar happen to me as a 14 year old during a confrontation with a Met Police ‘K’ division officer who stopped me and a mate for climbing on the park’s cast iron fences and who got my name and address from me through intimidation and threats of arrest.

It’s quite possible that the council knobhead frightened this lady with the mention of ‘environmental offence’ and this persuaded her to give up her details and thereby lay herself open to this fine. She should have walked away and any people who have witnessed this incident should have stood with the woman to support her. The actions of this council stasi of the blight that has afflicted British local government. This blight is the attitude of councils that the people in the area they govern are not there to be served by the council or people whose rights the council should be mindful of, but who are instead two legged revenue streams who can be taxed, fined and charged into penury often in order that the council can jump on the latest virtue signalling bandwagon. It’s cases like this that make me more accepting of the idea that councils should primarily be concerned with streetlights, refuse collection and filling in potholes in the roads*, instead of micromanaging the lives of their subjects.

*For the record I don’t even believe that councils should run or control schools. I’d much prefer that Britain went back to the situation as existed prior to 1902 when schools were run by separate school boards directly elected but separate from the local authority. I believe that this system would put control of education and education policy back in the hands of those who want the best for the nation’s children, which is children’s parents.