Sinister Footwear
The fact that DEFRA decided that it was their place to determine our terms and conditions, control every aspect of private enterprise and reduce profitability for an industry who they failed to consult is enough to disqualify them from any further involvement.
But as it is, every licensed boarding establishment is subject to DEFRA’s ridiculous regulations ...
And I mean ridiculous.
For example if the CFSG had told DEFRA that veterinary nurses like to wear crocs, DEFRA would have made it compulsory for everyone to wear crocs - and then DEFRA would have legislated this and added a lower standard to support the useless rating system where it wasn’t compulsory to wear shoes at all.
In the style of DEFRA’s regulations, the rules on footwear would read just like this:
All catteries must wear crocs at all times.
- At the higher standard of PPE, everyone in a 5-star cattery must wear crocs at all times.
- At the lower standard, a 3-star cattery could choose to wear one or none on Monday or possibly on Friday mornings ... except in winter when two pairs of socks would be adequately comfortable or unless you are working within 1.2m of the nearest fish tank, or delivering a black forest gateau, when of course disposable vinyl gloves could be a suitable substitute for the coffee machine ...
There’s no need for exaggeration because the entire regulatory framework is a testament to DEFRA’s inability to proof-read or understand the implications of finding stupid solutions to imaginary problems - not being able to foresee the wild interpretations that braindead local authority crack-heads would create after they were given the authority to make life and death decisions over private businesses just isn't credible.
The arrogance of not consulting with anyone in our sector, the lack of any legitimate advice and the sheer lack of talent that was made available for the job all underline the reality that DEFRA put a team together who were not qualified or able to write legislation for our sector. All of DEFRA’s contradictions and all of the arbitrary rules can be read as; Impositions without reason, intrusions without benefits and are only topped by the unending chaos caused by the unfocussed attention on any stated objective.