Good news from the UK: Brown declares war on "Nanny State culture"

[Blind_Io]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1770

Brown vows to fight nanny state culture that bans hanging baskets and conkers

By STEVE DOUGHTY Gordon Brown: Stop nanny state



Gordon Brown promised yesterday today to fight the nanny state culture that removes hanging baskets from the streets and stops children joining the Scouts of Guides.
He called for new thinking in Whitehall to prevent the development of useless laws and rules that do no good in the name of health and safety.
But Mr Brown came under fire from critics after his first move to fight red tape.... was to set up a new quango.
The Risk and Regulation Advisory Council, to be headed by City businessman Rick Haythornthwaite, will report directly to the Prime Minister.
Its first tasks will be to examine laws and guidelines governing obesity, company management, and "systemic risk aversion".
Risk aversion includes the attitude to any possibility of accident that has led councils to ban hanging baskets in case they fall down, hospitals to ban flowers in the cause of preventing infection, and schools to stop children playing conkers.
Fear of high-cost compensation for accidents and the grip of restrictive regulation has also reduced the chance for youngsters of joining groups like the Scouts or Guides or taking part in adventure and outdoor activities.
The new Council comes in the wake of a report produced by a watchdog group two years ago which found self-reliance and adventure are being stifled by "knee-jerk" legislation and which found the state's attitude to allowing people to take risks was "defensive and disproportionate" and produced "regulatory overkill".
That report - also produced by Mr Haythornthwaite - ridiculed the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority, set up in the aftermath of the 1993 Lyme Bay canoeing disaster in which four teenagers drowned.
The Authority required organisations running activities like white water rafting to get licences and undergo inspections - but while only 13 were refused licenses, 600 activity centres were forced to close by the costs of the new bureaucracy.
The Authority was closed down earlier this year.
Mr Haythorntwhaite's report also condemned the decision by the Food Standards Agency in 2005 to ban Worcester sauce made by Premier Foods because it contained tiny amounts of the prohibited food dye Sudan 1.
The resulting product recall affected large ranges of products sold by all supermarkets and cost the company £100 million. The risks to the public, the report said, were in fact 'negligible'.
Mr Brown said yesterday: "The issue of public risk is one of the most challenging areas of policy-making for any government.
"I have asked the Risk and Regulation Advisory Council to provide a catalyst for the we need in the way policy is developed across all departments."
Mr Haythornthwaite said his 2006 report, published by the Better Regulation Commission, which the new body will replace, "touched a nerve and put the spotlight on the relationship between risk and regulation, acknowledging that all parts of society are responsible for a disproportionate attitude towards risk."
Tory MP Julian Brazier, chairman of the all-party ARISC group that monitors the restriction of leisure activities in the name of health and safety, said: "This initiative is in principle very welcome.
"But it begs the question: why is the Prime Minister setting up a commission instead of taking action?
"Australia and many American states have acted by raising the bar for legal actions against organisations that run adventure and outdoor pursuits.
"You can no longer sue for negligence - to win a compensation case you have to prove reckless disregard. "Organisations like the Scouts or those running mountaineering or water activities need to be protected from greedy lawyers and the blame culture."

So for everyone who's tired of this crap, support this guy.

[Peter3hg]

Originally Posted by Blind_Io

So for everyone who's tired of this crap, support this guy.

Seriously don't. The only reason he is saying this is to try and garner support. He is currently 13% behind in the polls so needs to do something radical. This is all smoke and mirrors, he won't actually do anything.

[vegasrebel29]

Nanny state abolition from the man leading the party that brought you the nanny state.

[upyourego]

Yeah to be honest this is all a bit rich coming from the man holding purse strings (and practically being number two in charge) of the Government that brought all the nanny state laws in originally.

This is just another example of Gordon Brown trying to distance himself from the Blair government - a government he was a central part of.

[teeb]

Originally Posted by Peter3hg

Seriously don't. The only reason he is saying this is to try and garner support. He is currently 13% behind in the polls so needs to do something radical. This is all smoke and mirrors, he won't actually do anything.

Please note Gordon Brown's definition of 'something radical' is in fact "whatever is on the front page of the Daily Mail".

[Blind_Io]

Well, poop. With how much everyone complains about those nannying laws, I was hoping that it would be a major campaign issue and you guys could get out from under some of these incredibly mico-managing laws.

Is it too late for armed insurrection? There's no reason why the UK should be left out of the popular past time of continental Europe: Setting Citroens on fire.

[No Boss]

I read this last night and got really excited but wanted to hear from some resident Brits before I said anything.

Now I'm just a disappointed panda.

[Twerp128]

So is it true children are not joining the scouts in the UK because of these nanny laws? I'm an Eagle scout, and I can't tell you how much scouts has helped me.It would be very disappointing to see youngsters put off by risk of injury. Plus where are you gonna get injured in England? Playing on the Moors?

[tigger]

Well that's a let down. "Let's fight overreaching bureacracy with ... more ... bureacracy ...?" Just sounds like political posturing to me.

[epp_b]

In other news, getting rid of the nanny state will be troublesome because all the paper work may put countless government workers and bureaucrats at risk for paper cuts.

[vRS]

I'll believe it when I see it, which we won't.

[Peter3hg]

Originally Posted by Twerp128

So is it true children are not joining the scouts in the UK because of these nanny laws? I'm an Eagle scout, and I can't tell you how much scouts has helped me.It would be very disappointing to see youngsters put off by risk of injury. Plus where are you gonna get injured in England? Playing on the Moors?

I've not heard anything about it and I've been involved with the Scouts since I was 4. A few things have been banned like British Bulldog at our troop but that's fair enough as we ended up with two people with broken limbs in a single night. We still play mat rugby which is rugby with all rules removed.
The only slight bit of nannying we have is we supposedly can't give press ups as it counts as physical punishment. We still give them out though.
There is a lot of red tape for certain things but we largely ignore it.

[Ford Prefect]

Alright I admit I really have very little clue about all the politics going on in the UK, but it´s about time someone takes action against all nannying that´s going on all over the western world.

The kids that grow up on a farm eating dirt for kicks and climbing trees all day are gonna be among the healthiest adults you can find. I´m so sick of people telling me I shouldn´t drive fast, ski fast, smoke, get drunk, have sex, operate dangerous machinery, etc. Of course you shouldn´t be reckless and stupid, but life is about taking risks, without the danger of dying, how the hell do you know you´re alive? Life isn´t about the moments when you breathe, it´s about the ones that take your breath away.

[Cobol74]

Brown should stop fannying about and do something about all our real problems - which he won't. This particular piece of crap is more - "how to be more popular without actually doing anything".

/EDIT Brown lost it for me when I saw this particularly dour Scot grinning in a really stupid manner into the cameras - I'd rather have a dour competent that a laugh a minute bafoon - which is what we are getting. Watch the economy go tits up in the next 6 months.

[ruuman]

Yep, only way to stop the nanny state is build a time machine, go back 11years and shoot Blair....... and his wife and children just for good measure

[Cobol74]

ruuman Harsh - but fair.

[Scooby5]

Originally Posted by Peter3hg

A few things have been banned like British Bulldog at our troop but that's fair enough as we ended up with two people with broken limbs in a single night.

That's what childhood is, bones are made to be broken once in a while...... hell, i've just had three stitches taken out my arm and i'm closer to 40-yrs old than 14, it happens and the quicker we see/feel this stuff the better.

I went through cubs, scouts and ventures and lost a fair bit of skin on the way but in the end i'm alive, fit, not scared of the woods at night and can jump into a river in full spate and feel my nuts shake hands with my tonsils. I would be a much weaker person now if all these rules were in place in my time and it does have to change.

Whilst people have poopoo'd the article and Brown just showing face without action..... IT's A START! You complain when things go bad, then complain again when things might be on the verge of changing for the better, then again that it's not how it used to be. As a Brit i know we complain for fun but there's a limit to it. We should read this with hopeful eyes instead of blind despair.

After all, looks Like Gordon's a reader of our forum

[tigger]

Originally Posted by Ford Prefect

I´m so sick of people telling me I shouldn´t drive fast, ski fast, smoke, get drunk, have sex, operate dangerous machinery, etc. Of course you shouldn´t be reckless and stupid, but life is about taking risks, without the danger of dying, how the hell do you know you´re alive? Life isn´t about the moments when you breathe, it´s about the ones that take your breath away.

Tell it, brother! I couldn't agree more. We're all going to die someday, might as well have some fun!

Originally Posted by Scooby5

...... hell, i've just had three stitches taken out my arm and i'm closer to 40-yrs old than 14, it happens and the quicker we see/feel this stuff the better.

Just last week I was thinking how long it had been since I managed to hurt myself (short of poking myself with a soldering iron at work, which I managed 3 times today!) Then I got hit in the shoulder with a chunk of firewood yesterday. Because my roommate, who seems to be incapable of making snowballs, decided to throw a log. Kinda hurts . Anywho, I think Health and Safety would have a field day with "log fights".