Pancake race avoids cancellation

A British primary school cancelled its traditional Shrove Tuesday "pancake race"--where children run while flipping a pancake in a frying pan--when its liability insurer quadrupled its premium and demanded 25 marshals to line a 50-yard race route. Publicity about the plight caused another insurer to step in with a more reasonable premium, so long as the school limits the number of entrants and spectators. "A spokesman for the British Insurance Broker's Association said the UK was an increasingly litigious society, and people wanted to cover their backs should an accident occur." ("Pancake race beats policy problem", BBC, Feb. 21) (via Jacobs). A Press Association reporter notes that the "growing compensation culture" in the UK has forced the cancellation of St. Patrick's Day and Remembrance Day parades, as well as a Guy Fawkes bonfire. (Karen Attwood, "Cancellation Leaves Pancake Racers 'Flipping' Bemused", PA News, Feb. 20).