The news that Tower Hamlets is plotting to bring in new rules to insist dogs be on leads at all times has led to a twilight bark of outraged protest across the capital.
As the Tower Hamlets story broke, I wondered if this development had anything to do with that extraordinary story last week, about the Welsh banning dogs from some green spaces, which didn’t land well either.
"Our colonial guilt is now so absurd we are branding dogs racist," read a headline in the Telegraph, "Dog-free zones needed in countryside to tackle racism, Welsh government told,” announced LBC, and "Drive to ban 'racist' dogs from the Welsh countryside," wrote MailOnline, leading to a snarling pack of right-wing columnists to declare the principality daft and unBritish.
But it was true, up to a point. There was a report by climate action group Climate Cymru BAME that recommended canine-free areas should be introduced to “local green spaces” as part of the government’s Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan.
And now, London too. Of course, you can already hear the unfiltered callers to radio shows explaining all this is multiculturalism gone mad as “Muslims don’t like dogs”, and local politicians are pandering to that preference, and it’s an absolute disgrace.
This take is of course something that neither the Tower Hamlets mayor, Lutfur Rahman, nor the Welsh Government would ever, even if there is a grain of truth in there. The council has argued the new clampdowns are justified by a recent rise in dog attacks and persistent fouling, according to a report in The Times. As for the Welsh government, a spokesperson defended the initiative, stating: “We remain committed to creating an anti-racist nation by 2030. Our action plan is built on the principles of anti-racism and calls for zero tolerance of racial inequality.”
There’s no question that this is bad news for London’s dog owners
There’s no question that this is bad news for London’s dog owners. During lockdown, a million people including me got a dog. You can tell there’s been an exponential rise in dog ownership by the number of smart Paw Patrol vans on the streets offering walkies and doggy daycare and the fact that every high street has at least one posh pet shop and grooming parlour.
Until now, this has traditionally been a canine as well as a human city, and London’s dog owners are a canny breed. We know exactly which parks and open spaces will let a dog be a dog. I live in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Ziggy can be let off the lead in Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park and a section of Holland Park. Hampstead Heath and Richmond Park are also free-range.
I feel desperate for the dog owners of Tower Hamlets, like the Team GB diver Scarlett Mew Jensen, who lunges her bitch Olive in Victoria Park – for now. “If she’s not able to get off the lead,” she said, “She’s not able to be a dog.”
If this decision goes through, and other illiberal wokeist councils follow suit, what’s the point of having a dog? And by the way – in order to enforce this fatwa on our furry friends, Tower Hamlets has announced plans to hire dozens of highly-paid enforcement officers to police the new restrictions - which include fouling, littering and other antisocial behaviours - starting salary £55k, team leader £75k. The starting salary for a Met cop, by the way, is £38k. As ever, where there’s muck, there’s brass.
I can imagine an exodus of middle-class animal lovers
If Tower Hamlets does enforce this on-leads-everywhere rule, I can imagine an exodus of middle-class animal lovers to more unleashed areas of the capital (I’m sure more right-wing outlets will no doubt refer to it as a “white flight”, you wait).
I feel really sorry for the residents of East London, who may soon not be able to give their dogs the one thing they actually need, which is a good run around in a green space.
Perhaps someone should show Mayor Rahman the Musée des Beaux Arts poem by WH Auden before he makes his mind up to ruin the lives of East London's pets with his dog-phobic diktats.
Explain to the nabob of Tower Hamlets that as Auden wrote, the Old Masters understood that life is not just lived by and for us human beings. The universe encompasses the divine, the human, and the animal kingdom.
He must – within reason – let "dogs go on with their doggy life" too.
