Saturday, July 26, 2003

It's A Dog's Life

For country park wardens - unless they're voyeurs. A survey of country park wardens has revealed that exhibitionists calling themselves 'doggers' are an increasing problem at Britain's country parks - not the traditional 'flasher' but couples who perform in public. And all this is enabled by the Web, which seems to have moved on from delivering pornography to facilitating public rudeness.

Another profession revolutionised by the Web is the oldest one. The Guardian had a touching story this week of the rural 'English Rose' whose partner helpfully set up her website, for which he was convicted this week of living off immoral earnings.

As I read this tale it seemed strangely familiar, and I went to search the Spectator's archives. Could lovely Jilly and her partner Michael, from Shaftesbury in Dorset, be any relation to Jilly and Mike from a bustling Dorset town near the edge of Cranborne Chase (where poor Tess Durbeyfield started her downhill slide), in this Spectator story ?

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