Looking for evidence of a mean streak

IT'S the launch of the hideously titled McArthurGlen Designer Outlet near Fulford was brightened up last week by an unplanned unveiling. Eco warrior Elder disrobed to reveal her disgust at the development.

It was the sort of fashion statement money can't buy. Bemused bigwigs were left to smile sheepishly as she was ejected, before they ploughed on with the serious business of making moolah.

Her shocking unfrocking proved two things. Firstly, the shopping centre's central heating is up to scratch. Secondly, the streak is still with us.

The streak has been an effective way to protest or seek attention ever since Lady Godiva went bareback in Coventry. Lose those trews and you are guaranteed widespread exposure.

Sporting events have particular appeal to the peelers. The stadium streak peaked in the 1970s. You could hardly get through the turnstiles before some cretin was ripping off his rosette and revealing his form to the terraces.

It's still going on. The 120 people who gathered to watch York Nomads Society clash with Norton Racing Lads in last year's York Sunday Afternoon League John Close Cup Final were subjected to a football strip of the most exhibitionist kind. And the Queen was not amused when a buffoon in the buff sped across a polo field.

Perhaps we should feel ashamed of our embarrassment, rather than of nudity itself. Which is more obscene: a woman taking her clothes off in public or a designer dress costing enough money to feed a family for months?

But there is a time and a place for everything. Shedding your shorts for a shower is one thing; dropping your drawers in a designer development is something else.

If Elder's streak was an undress rehearsal for a lifetime of stripping, she should join one of the naturists groups in Britain. Here, like-minded people cast off their clothes behind the cover of foliage or beach groynes.

Or she might prefer to go abroad where this sort of thing is smiled upon, both by a warming sun and a more broad-minded populous. In the States they even organise "bare buns fun runs" for the niftier nudists.

Organisers of the Bare to Breakers nudists' jog around San Francisco go as far as to offer health advice for participants. For women who may suffer some upper body discomfort, they suggest using nude-coloured jogging bras. Bet you can't buy those at the Designer Outlet.

IN an epoch-shattering move, local government is to undergo its most astonishing shake-up since, ooh, 1996. And City of York Council is determined to be involved.

One idea being bandied about is that we might elect a cabinet of councillors, with the rest of the members becoming 'back-bench' scrutineers.

Mmmm. I can't help being a little cynical about this new dawn for democracy. Let's look at the Labour Government's other attempts to extend the franchise. The new Scottish parliament is so democratic that a veteran Labour MP has been barred by the party hierarchy from standing as a candidate.

The new Welsh parliament is so democratic that the party hierarchy has attempted to impose its choice of leader upon it. The new-look Euro parliament is so democratic that party bosses will choose the candidates and voters won't even know who they are voting for.

And the election for Lord Mayor of London is destined to get off to a democratic start when Labour bars the people's favourite, Ken Livingstone, from standing.

Tony Blair appears to want to run everything from 10 Downing Street. Just think what that could mean for York - a council so timid and feeble that it won't ever attack the Government, even when it scraps our Army HQ and forces our council tax up by twice the rate of inflation. Oh! No change at all, in fact.

16/11/98

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.