Go on, take a chance!

"Health and Safety" seems to have become a catch-all excuse for any sort of bureaucratic stupidity these days. And yet I don't think the major blame lies with the Health and Safety Executive so much as with the insurance companies, who seem to be using the Executive's guidelines as a reason to increase their premiums to exorbitant levels, with the result that public bodies cannot afford them and therefore cannot go ahead with events they want to put on. It seems, for instance, that many local authorities will be unable to put up the usual Christmas street decorations this year, and many organised bonfire parties have had to be put off. Sad world, isn't it?