Communities secretary Eric Pickles (pictured) has his binoculars out and is expecting council staff to join him in his big bank holiday Gypsy twitch.
Sounding like a demented World War Two major who has convinced himself that there is a German soldier hiding in his wardrobe, Pickles has put local authorities on red alert for a Gypsy and traveller pincer movement on to illegal sites.
He is telling them to be "particularly vigilant" over the two long weekends, on one of which we will doubtless be superglued to our TVs watching a wedding - and the multiple re-runs - leaving only three working days over an 11-day period in which to "take firm action".
It seems a bit rich to expect local authorities to find already scant resources to deal with a problem of the government's own making.
Pickles is scrapping nationally set quotas for the number of Gypsy and traveller sites councils must provide, leaving the final decision with local communities.
With such ingrained prejudice against Gypsies and travellers generally, there can be little hope that a local compromise will be easy to achieve anywhere.
Perhaps Pickles should be looking for a lasting solution rather than be issuing diktats in the name of devolving responsibility.
Picture: Rex Features
