The OFT is dead! Long live the CMA, FCA, HMRC, Trading Standards, Ofgem, Ofcom, OFWAT ... and, er, Powys County Council

In 1973, the Conservative government of Edward Heath set up the Office of Fair Trading, otherwise known as the 'OFT'.

To be honest, sometimes I wonder how they found the parliamentary time to do so at the time—what with the need to ensure that corset-makers got their well-deserved holidays (The Wages Regulation (Corset) (Holidays) Order 1973); grey squirrels were protected from DVTs (The Grey Squirrels (Warfarin) Order 1973) and milk bottle tops were coloured correctly (The Milk and Dairies (Milk Bottle Caps) (Colour) Regulations 1973).

But find time they did. And the world—well, the UK at least—was introduced to an office that promoted fair trading.

What an exciting time it was to be an OFT civil servant in those halcyon days 40 years ago!

I've often thought that Sam Tyler, the time travelling character in the BBC series 'Life on Mars' should have been transported to this newly created body instead of to some dull Criminal Investigation Department in drizzly Manchester. Imagine a two-hour long special episode on the scandal of mispackaged macaroni under The Weights and Measures Act 1963 (Pasta) Order 1973. The screen would simply fizz with intrigue and food-based malpractice.

Or picture a hard-hitting episode where hundreds of packets of biscuits are manufactured by women on a wintry Sunday afternoon in clear contravention of  The Baking and Sausage Making (Christmas and New Year) Order 1973< (see below).<