I wrote earlier about the sheer amount of government advertising to be heard on commercial radio in every single ad break – annoying, patronising and a complete waste of my tax money.

Being out and about not listening to the radio has brought relief from the constant nag nag nag of our nanny masters apart from the odd print advert encouraging us to walk or run or do some exercise or other – or so I thought.

Wandering around the local Co-op this afternoon (no choice here unless you drive 10 miles), it seems the government has now decided to buy advertising on the shop radio broadcast. These broadcasts (as you are probably aware) are usually vacuous cheap pop nonsense interspersed with the odd ad for this weeks offers.

This afternoon however we had :

• The Food Standards agency giving our “saturated fat a workout” – remember to grill that bacon.
• 5-a-day being loudly trumpeted as the only way to go unless you want to die horribly.
• Your kids would do anything for you so why not stop smoking for them.
• Act FAST if someone has a stroke.

And all that in the time it took to get a jar of coffee and a newspaper.

Now out of all the above, I personally would consider only the stroke one to be worthy of spending any money on. Assuming, of course, that they are referring to cerebrovascular accidents rather than someone having a crafty wank over a packet of Findus crispy pancakes in the freezer section (and I have just realised what that sauce on those things resembles).

My only thought now is where will be harangued from next? I would imagine that they are already doing a study on how much it would cost to have the police helicopters hovering in loudspeaker mode.

How I wish they would fuck off!