Future fortune is just for fun

Jun 1 2008 by Ken Oxley, Sunday Sun

OUR good friends at Trading Standards will have thought they’ve died and gone to heaven this week if the reports on the television news are to be believed.

It’s the biggest shakeup in consumer protection for 40 years, and a whole new tranche of door-to-door, postal and internet activities come under the spotlight in a way they haven’t before.

Some of these are undoubtedly scams, and we’ve mentioned them before. They are old favourites . . . the lotto win you’ve never heard of, and the poor bloke from Nigeria who’s inherited all that money and just needs you to send him a lawyer’s fee.

But the long arm of the law is now about to swoop on other people providing services for gain, such as tarot card readers, psychics, astrologers and fortune tellers . . . and they are not best pleased.

Apparently, the way round this is for such folk to emphasise that the advice and consultancy is “just for fun”, “a bit of a laugh”, and “merely entertainment”.

This will stop them being sued by your granny when the tall dark stranger she’s going to meet doesn’t turn up.

After all, we live in a blame culture these days.

If the tarot cards turn out to predict money that doesn’t arrive, what’s to prevent you seeking the opinion of your local friendly human rights lawyer?

Serious practitioners of planetary conjunctions, crystal ball viewing, card shuffling and tea leaf swirling say being classed as entertainment devalues their expertise, and I do sympathise. I’ve just one question . . . how come they didn’t spot this coming in the first place?