Health & Safety Gone Mad!

Photo:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hanuman/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

I read an article today which basically told me that my childhood days at ten pin bowling alleys weren't good fun but actually a 'very dangerous' environment for my family!

It's another health and safety investigation which seem to plague society at the moment by making pretty much everything a hazard! Apparently the bowling alleys are dangerous because it was too easy for children or teenagers to run down the lanes and get trapped in the machinery...after all the children's parties I used to attend (around when I was 8, you could only be 'cool' if you had your party at megabowl), not once did any of us injure ourselves. The quote in the Daily Mail from a member of the Ten Pin Bowling Proprietors Association is pretty good at denying any "danger"; "I have been in this industry for 40 years and I have never known any member of the public injured by a bowling pinsetter. I have never heard of anybody going near the pins." Pretty clear.

After discovering this ridiculous and expensive (£250,000 expensive) Health and Safety Executive (HSE) report, it got me looking into some others, here and some of my favourites in reverse order...

5) Children at a primary school were banned from making daisy chains incase they pick up germs from the flowers. Handstands, tag, conkers and yo-yo's were among other things banned! (Full Story: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-130322/Playtime-killjoys.html)

4) Students graduating from Anglia Ruskin Uni in Cambridge were banned from throwing their hats whilst posing for pictures incase somebody was injured by falling headgear. (http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/editors-choice/2008/11/20/the-crazy-world-of-health-and-safety-rules-86908-20909703/)

3) Carpenters were told to not use brooms to sweep up sawdust because it could provoke asthma and long term exposure could lead to nose cancer. Carpenters were told to buy state of the art vacuum cleaners instead! (Full Story: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2433513/Ridiculous-health-and-safety-rules-tell-carpenters-to-ban-the-broom.html)

2) A lifeguard instructor and her husband were prevented from taking their three children into a toddlers' pool because there wasn't one adult per child! (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-401723/Chief-nanny-admits-cotton-wool-culture-gone-far.html)

1) Children are being made to wear goggles whilst handling Blu Tack! (Full Story http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1194055/Pupils-wear-goggles-handle-Blu-Tack-health-safety-reaches-ridiculous-new-heights.html)

Health and Safety gone mad?

The Joe Glenton Debate

Photo:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotdmike/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

I read an interesting article this evening in the Daily Mail about Joe Glenton. Joe is a soldier who has served in Afghanistan and from what the article says 'has always hoped to be a soldier', so an army man through and through?

Just to catch anyone up who hasn't seen this story, Joe served 6 months in Afghanistan and before being sent for his second tour in 2007, AWOL and returned earlier this year. Although his full salary was re-instated and he was allowed to continue in the Royal Logistic Corps, he was still unhappy with the war in Afghanistan and began to speak out about it. He has written a personal letter to Gordon Brown and after that disobeyed a direct order from his commanding officer to 'stop giving interviews' by speaking at the Stop The War rally in October. Joe is now in a cell of the military corrective training centre awaiting trial for which he faces a court martial for disloyalty and desertion - a charge that carries up to ten years in prison.

The debate now is whether or not his actions were right or wrong, whether he can be viewed as a war hero or whether he is a traitor to his fellow comrades. I for one feel that if anybody has a right to speak out about the war in Afghanistan, it is the soldiers. Who better can say what it is really like? What they are really there for? What is really happening? He told the Daily Mail; "When I joined the Army I was lean, green and keen. I was proud of being a soldier. After I came back from my first tour I couldn't see what we had given our country. I felt ashamed."

I understand that speaking out against the war, as a soldier is something that 'shouldn't happen' but at the same time if this is how he feels, this is what he has seen, does it owe it to the public, the government and more importantly the 235 soldiers than have died in Afghanistan (source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7531254.stm)?

Then there is the other side, is he causing the reportedly low morale amongst troops to become even lower? if he betraying his country? is he tarnishing the very reason those soldiers have died serving their country?

I think the soldiers who feel that by speaking out they can do some good for themselves and fellow soldiers then I think is something that can be an important aspect in this war. However I see why this would be an cause for concern for Army personnel.

The surveys quoted in the Mail state that "64 per cent of the public now say the Afghan conflict cannot be won and 63 per cent want our forces to come home 'as soon as possible'." So it seems majority of the public agree with what Joe Glenton is saying but at the same time whether is his opinions are correct isn't the case here, it's whether his decisions are correct.

Being an Asthmatic is Officially Cool!

Photo:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anders_young/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

That's right folks, this week is the week that Asthma has become cool! And it's all down to one person David Beckham!

This week saw the 'revelation' that Golden Balls has Asthma and it sort of got me wondering a few things but most of it all it bought me to the conclusion of, so what? The guy is a superb athlete, a spokesman, a role model, a gent and although I realise he is a world phenomenon I fail to see why this is such a big deal. Of course it signals to many kids growing up with asthma (much like I have done) that being asthmatic needn't stop you from becoming a global sports star (obviously that's the only reason I ply my trade in the Winchester Sunday league and not The Premier League!) But, Becks isn't the only sport's person to have it. As I learnt from various news; Frank Lampard, Paula Radcliffe, Paul Scholes and Rebecca Adlington all have the condition.

I suppose a key part for the publicity is that for many kids that have asthma, using their inhalers when they are playing with friends is sometimes considered a nuisance or 'uncool' and the news that Beckham has it may make more kids more comfortable with using their inhaler etc. Which is great and hopefully it'll just bring good things for the 5.4 million or so sufferers in Britain.

I'm just waiting for the next Beckham billboard where his inhaler is as important as the bottle of Pepsi!!