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A get-it-off-my-chest rant.


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I have just come back from town, where the kids were having a jolly time celebrating Mardi Gras. They painted their faces, threw petards, sprayed passers-by with gunge (who, expecting this, wore filthy clothes) and a good time was had by all. Then I read that a centuries-old pancake race in Ripon has been cancelled because of elf and safety fears. If I were Supreme Evil Overlord of the UK I would start by putting all the H & S officers on a desert island where they could do 24/7 risk analyses of one another, and the rest of us could get on with our lives. Then I would move on to Ofsted inspectors, caravan owners, dog owners (sorry, Christine A.), and those assistants in Boots who give you the Spanish Inquisition when you want to buy a bottle of aspirins. That'll do to be going on with.
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[quote user="Colonel Mustard"]I have just come back from town, where the kids were having a jolly time celebrating Mardi Gras. They painted their faces, threw petards, sprayed passers-by with gunge (who, expecting this, wore filthy clothes) and a good time was had by all. Then I read that a centuries-old pancake race in Ripon has been cancelled because of elf and safety fears. .[/quote]

Not true at all.  Health and safety officials  had nothing to do with this cancellation at all.  The truth if you are interested is that the organisers cancelled it themselves because they could not afford the cost of the insurance premium required in litigation conscious Britain and of the road closures necessary for the event to take place.  So blame the right people.

Health and safety gets the blame for a lot of crap that its not responsible for and when it is the truth is often distorted.  For example the banning of hanging baskets on lamp posts in Norwich was blamed on the council's H&S officers and this was true, but what was not reported was the ban was  only after one basket weighing 10 kilos fell off complete with the arm of the lamp post because the arm was rusted through.  An inspection found that most of the other lamp posts had similar rusted supports and the baskets werec removed before somebody was killed.  Health and safety or common sense?

 

 

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[quote user="Ron Avery"]

The truth if you are interested is that the organisers cancelled it themselves because they could not afford the cost of the insurance premium required in litigation conscious Britain and of the road closures necessary for the event to take place. 

[/quote]

Well said, Ron. We were planning to have a millenium street party in our village in the UK during the summer of 2000 but when we (the Parish Council) looked at what we'd have to do to close off the road through the village for the afternoon, the cost of event insurance, the cost of policing (not that a representative from the local constabulary would necessarily be there... it was a just in case charge), the costs of signs notifying of diversions etc etc made the cost of the bureacracy too high to afford. For that year, we'd have had to triple the Parish precept (the bit of the Council Tax levied by the Parish Council) and it just wasn't worth it. But Britain is increasingly a litigious society so we have only ourselves to blame.

I read that BA is getting ready to be sued by the people on the flight that had the very successful emergency landing.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/04/nheathrow104.xml

Okay, if it is established that BA are at fault in some way - and there's no evidence to suggest that, as far as I am aware - fines or similar should be slapped but if I'd been on that plane, I'd just be thankful that the escape routines worked so well and the BA staff were well trained - suing for associated stress would not be high on my agenda.

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I suppose a claim against BA can be passed on to Boeing later should they find that the on board electronics .decided to shut down the auto throttle while it was on its final approach .....I think they will find the engines were fine .. Back in August I think it was 2005  as a 777 was climbing out of Perth  its auto throttle was shut down unexpectantly .......but Boeing know all about that ..........

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[quote user="Ron Avery"]If drummers are people who repeatedly post pointless disruptive off topic, one line posts all over Forums, they should be exterminated, not banned[kiss][/quote]

No, Ron, a drummer is someone who hangs around with a group of musicians.

John

not

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[quote user="Colonel Mustard"]I have just come back from town, where the kids were having a jolly time celebrating Mardi Gras. They painted their faces, threw petards, sprayed passers-by with gunge (who, expecting this, wore filthy clothes) and a good time was had by all. Then I read that a centuries-old pancake race in Ripon has been cancelled because of elf and safety fears. [/quote]

Don't worry Colonel, as one great tradition dies, another is born. I just received this from England.

As

you

know

Sheffield

people

call

the

stew

hash

'ash',

and

do

not

appear

to

know

it

is

actually

'hash'.

We

have

just

heard

two

of

the

staff

discussing

how

today

is

Ash Wednesday,

so

they

will

celebrate

by

having

'ash.

Twinks I'm sure Ron thought I was in this thread, earlier, and that the kiss was intended for me.[:)]

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