Second swan tragedy

Another man-made tragedy has struck the swan family (see post of 31 May). A dog has killed 3 of the 7 cygnets. Last year's cygnets were protected from dogs by the cob, but the pen isn't fierce enough. Notices immediately went up ordering people to keep their dogs on the lead, but the notices were soon torn down again, as were earlier notices telling people not to feed white bread to the water birds. People just don't like being told what to do these days.

For someone with a somewhat rebellious history, I'm surprisingly keen on people being told what to do. I recently composed a mental list of things I would like to see banned and another of responsibilities I would like to see enforced. Both lists turned out to be pretty long. I couldn't think of a single instance where I'd like to see a rule relaxed. Perhaps we banning and enforcing freaks will have more influence if there's a real crisis of some sort (as during the Second World War and its immediate aftermath, for example).