Like many people, I suppose, I am still saddened and sickened by the events relayed in Friday’s post. I find it hard to believe that we have sunk to a level where we have allowed the zealots of fear and political correctness to put petty rules above the saving of a human life.

Of course, as a lawyer I can see the sense in rules and regulations and even an element of supervision of the people by the State (without it there is anarchy) but what we must not accept is interference bordering on control by a Nanny State. It is patronising and demeaning, removing as it does the responsibility for our own actions and thoughts. Truly, we have now reached the Orwellian vision described in “1984” a book that should be compulsory reading for every free thinking person.

There is always an element of risk in life, there has to be. If people didn’t take risks how would we develop? There would be no inventors or explorers, no scientists and no rebellion against the stifling conformity of traditionalists. Free thought and action is what has enabled the human species to survive and progress. There is a poem called “To Risk” which should be sent to the Health and Safety departments of every local council and company in the country. You can read the poem on Google but the last few lines are worth quoting –

“To try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken, because the
Greatest Hazard in life is to risk nothing.
People who risk nothing, do nothing
Have nothing, are nothing.
They may avoid suffering and sorrow
But they cannot learn, feel, change,
Grow, love and live.
Chained by their attitudes they are slaves:
They have forfeited their freedom.
Only a person who risks is free.”

(PS. I’d like to credit the poem to somebody but several people appear to claim it as their own. Anyway, whoever wrote it, they were surely right!)