Regular readers will know I am generally supportive of the City of Greater Bendigo. Having endured one spectacularly sweat-drenched unsuccessful term on council, I know how hard council folk really work and what commitment they really do have to their community.

But the demand that the poor Spring Gully shop-keeper removes a 50 or 60-year-old Camel sign from a side window is plain dumb. To tell the truth, I’m against smoking but I wouldn’t have minded that window in my Man-Cave. It’s a blast from the past and no more makes me want to smoke than makes me want to race out and buy a camel. This sort of goody-goody stuff is choking society.

I am also a fan of old, and sometimes quite spirited, cars. So is Mrs Whacked. She’s a fan of early Mazda RX7s, once made famous by Allan Moffat on Mount Panorama. I wanted to buy her a very precise 1:18 scale model of the Moffat mountain beast. But it had to be supplied without the Peter Stuyvesant stickers presumably because it promoted a brand of cigarette most can’t now even remember.

We have to revise even history in meeting our demands for political correctness. The Shannons insurance group (I hope we’re still allowed to say that car insurance exists without scaring little kiddies who might not want to get into a something which could become a burning wreck) has this pleasant TV program featuring masters of motor racing. The historic footage has the Marlboro Holdens blurred, the Winston Nissan almost invisible and every time Moffat appears all you can see is the nose of the RX7 and the tail-lights. What utter nonsense.

I saw footage of what might have been a 1967 Gallaher GT Falcon. It was mostly pixilated. I had to look it up before I found out Gallaher was a long gone tobacco brand. I have to thank a reader (who asked to remain anonymous possibly out of fear he might be trolled) who pointed out the nonsense of the Camel sign removal order.

Tom, might be his name or might not, pointed out that if that old sign was likely to make kiddies want to smoke, maybe we should approach every service station, hotel and shop and demand that they immediately, at once, and straight away remove the “Ice” signs outside their premises. Can this have been the true, unrecognised spark for this drug taking scourge? Brilliant!

And let’s ban joint committees of parliament, joint ventures, joint statements and even joint replacement programs. Maybe weed eradication programs might be the go.

If the council is to be consistent, it should now go down Bridge Street and demand the removal of that heritage Cohns soft drink sign, as it might encourage the consumption of sugary soft drinks – which are now being targeted by a national leg-slapping campaign.

Pubs should be told to dismantle their Carlton Draught illuminated rooftop signs. Churches, temples, mosques and assorted places of worship should tear down their crosses, crescents and stars in case they offend people of other beliefs.

Bushwhacked should be renamed out of fear it might encourage twig-related violence in thought or action. I’m going for a little lie down now.