Further to last week’s baldness is not a disability news a further possible entry for the New Statesman’s This Britain.
Some years ago I watched a Hogmanay show produced my Border Television. Prominent on screen was a man in his 50s who merrily stripped the willow, dashed his white sergeant, and two stepped militarily. As he participated in a particularly energetic Gay Gordons my mother openly wondered why this single man had a disabled car sticker. Some months passed and it transpired a GP watching the same programme had a similar thought and had reported him to somebody or other, and the invalid car sticker (and his DLA) had disappeared.
I guess that appearing on a hogmanay show on Border TV could be viewed as a risk worth taking. The prospective audience is small. In terms of stupid risks, it withers in comparison with Keith mcNiffe – the referee and mayor who claimed mobility allowance on the basis that he had severely impaired mobility while refereeing matches. McNiffe had passed a variety of fitness tests relative to his match officiating included timed sprints and a 2 1/2 kilometre run in 12 minutes. He had officiated in 67 matches during the time he claimed the allowance - with lots of players and crowds aware of his performance.
McNiffe’s defence was masterly:
“He accepts he undertook work as a referee but it was part of the medical advice that he was given,” said his lawyer.
slightly off-topic, but relates to funny comments by judges: I loved the comment about the leader of the jedi church in holyhead who absconded from district court; the judge issuing the arrest warrant for him and saying “i hope the force will soon be with him”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/7360871.stm