MANY of us were taught in school the story about King Canute and how he set his throne up by the sea shore and commanded the sea to stop rising and not wet his feet and clothing.

He did so because he wanted to demonstrate that he did not have superhuman powers, and that he had no control over the elements, in this case the incoming tide. From this story came the phrase “trying to stop the tide”, which describes how futile it is to try and halt something that is going to happen whatever you do, like it or not.

However, it would appear that, according to an Argus article (July 4), the city’s Councillor Clare Moonan was not paying sufficient attention during her history lessons and thus learnt nothing from Canute’s example.

Ms Moonan said that her council will continue to use beach marshals to control the flow of people onto the beaches but, as the King demonstrated so well, there are some things that are quite simply not possible, whether you are a king or a councillor, and that definitely includes keeping sunbathers off the city’s beaches.

As surely as the tide continues to sweep the beaches, day in day out, so holidaymakers will continue to do exactly the same thing. Definitely, I would have thought, a case for the councillor to “like it or lump it”, because it’s going to happen, no matter what she says or does.

Eric Waters Lancing