It isn’t just the fox-hunt ban: “According to the British Horse Society, dozens of pony trekking centres and riding schools are being forced to close because of spiralling insurance costs and customer claims. Some riding schools have seen insurance costs increase five-fold in the past five years.” (Richard Alleyne, “Injury claim culture ‘is killing off our riding schools'”, Daily Telegraph, Jul. 14). “Children’s charities have been forced to cancel activities and shut down centres because of a big rise in insurance premiums as a result of the fear of parents making compensation claims for trivial incidents,” reports the Daily Telegraph; the prospect of U.S.-style litigiousness spreading to Britain is widely blamed (David Bamber, “School trips and charities hit by soaring insurance costs”, Daily Telegraph, Aug. 29). A sanitized childhood without cuts and scrapes is too dire to contemplate, thinks Quentin Letts (“A child has a right to dirt and bruises”, Daily Telegraph, Aug. 22). David Davis, shadow Home Secretary, sounded the alarm last month in the Spectator (“Victim nation”, Aug. 28). And insurance broker AON has published a report on the problem entitled “Blame, Claim and Gain” (PDF). For more, see many entries on our U.K. page. P.S. More from the Telegraph, from May (Joshua Rozenberg, “Is there a compensation culture?”, May 20). And from September (Liz Lightfoot, “Adventure pursuits ‘too risky for schools'”, Sept. 28).
Posts Tagged ‘United Kingdom’
U.K.: toward Christmas pantomime sensitivity
In Devon, England, a community theater producer who faced accusations of hate speech last year after staging a Christmas pantomime entitled Snow White and the Seven Asylum Seekers has announced that he has begun production on a presumably less offensive show, Snow Person and the Seven Completely Ordinary People. The north Devon village of Merton near Okehampton had banned producer Bob Harrod’s pantomime last year following advice from the government’s Commission for Racial Equality and a regional race council, after complaints that the show’s satirical portrayal of asylum seekers might violate laws against racially offensive speech. The show featured seven asylum seekers with names like Chemical Ali, Comical Ali, Back Ali, Dark Ali, and Bowling Ali. The nearby village of Langtree, however, agreed to host the production. (“New target for Snow White writer”, BBC, Sept. 11; Nov. 3 and Dec. 1, 2003)(via Norvell). More on British hate speech laws: Jul. 16, 2004, Dec. 18-19, 2002,
Iraq: suing swords into plowshares?
Tying down the military Gulliver with writs: “The mother of a Scottish soldier killed in Iraq plans to sue the Ministry of Defence over her son’s death. Rose Gentle believes the MoD was negligent and breached its duty of care” by not equipping the patrol on which her 19-year-old son Gordon was serving with an electronic signal jamming device that might have prevented a roadside bombing in Basra in June in which the younger Gordon lost his life. (“Soldier’s mother plans to sue MoD”, BBC, Aug. 27). (& letter to the editor, Oct. 31). In the U.S., meanwhile, attorneys with the far-left National Lawyers Guild (see Apr. 27, 2000) “plan to open another front against the war in Iraq …with a federal lawsuit targeting Pentagon orders forcing military reservists to remain on active duty. The so-called ‘stop-loss’ orders have kept people in the military beyond the end-dates of their enlistments since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.” (Jeff Chorney, “Challenge to Be Filed to Military’s ‘Stop-Loss’ Orders”, The Recorder, Aug. 17).
U.K.: terrors of the magazine intern
Want to spend a bit of your summer holiday helping out around the office of a venerable British periodical? Before you can start filing or photocopying, you’d better prepare for a government-mandated mini-seminar in workplace hazards. “The fact remains that the only job her week at The Spectator prepared Lucy for was that of a health and safety officer, or a serial bringer of law suits against employers with loose telephones and no barrier creams.” (Mary Wakefield, “Work experience is all about health and safety”, Daily Telegraph, Jul. 26).
“Public liability — a f?te worse than death”
Britain: the need for liability insurance is “the hidden, insidious enemy of variety in communal life”, choking off all manner of neighborhood get-togethers and local fun. Goodbye to a football barbecue: “In order to cover against someone contracting a stomach ailment and then deciding to sue, it would have cost the football club more than ?250 for one afternoon to run the barbecue”. Goodbye also to the local annual tradition of “pole-walking” on a greased telegraph pole in a seaside Welsh village, deemed uninsurable though no one had actually hurt themselves seriously doing it. And “no one dares go ahead without cover. It is happening everywhere: f?tes and fund-raising events shredded of anything that might carry potential for injury, and thus potential for fun.” (Jim White, Daily Telegraph (U.K.), Jul. 5).
“Public liability — a f?te worse than death”
Britain: the need for liability insurance is “the hidden, insidious enemy of variety in communal life”, choking off all manner of neighborhood get-togethers and local fun. Goodbye to a football barbecue: “In order to cover against someone contracting a stomach ailment and then deciding to sue, it would have cost the football club more than ?250 for one afternoon to run the barbecue”. Goodbye also to the local annual tradition of “pole-walking” on a greased telegraph pole in a seaside Welsh village, deemed uninsurable though no one had actually hurt themselves seriously doing it. And “no one dares go ahead without cover. It is happening everywhere: f?tes and fund-raising events shredded of anything that might carry potential for injury, and thus potential for fun.” (Jim White, Daily Telegraph (U.K.), Jul. 5).
“Public liability — a f?te worse than death”
Britain: the need for liability insurance is “the hidden, insidious enemy of variety in communal life”, choking off all manner of neighborhood get-togethers and local fun. Goodbye to a football barbecue: “In order to cover against someone contracting a stomach ailment and then deciding to sue, it would have cost the football club more than ?250 for one afternoon to run the barbecue”. Goodbye also to the local annual tradition of “pole-walking” on a greased telegraph pole in a seaside Welsh village, deemed uninsurable though no one had actually hurt themselves seriously doing it. And “no one dares go ahead without cover. It is happening everywhere: f?tes and fund-raising events shredded of anything that might carry potential for injury, and thus potential for fun.” (Jim White, Daily Telegraph (U.K.), Jul. 5).
“Public liability — a f?te worse than death”
Britain: the need for liability insurance is “the hidden, insidious enemy of variety in communal life”, choking off all manner of neighborhood get-togethers and local fun. Goodbye to a football barbecue: “In order to cover against someone contracting a stomach ailment and then deciding to sue, it would have cost the football club more than ?250 for one afternoon to run the barbecue”. Goodbye also to the local annual tradition of “pole-walking” on a greased telegraph pole in a seaside Welsh village, deemed uninsurable though no one had actually hurt themselves seriously doing it. And “no one dares go ahead without cover. It is happening everywhere: f?tes and fund-raising events shredded of anything that might carry potential for injury, and thus potential for fun.” (Jim White, Daily Telegraph (U.K.), Jul. 5).
“Public liability — a f?te worse than death”
Britain: the need for liability insurance is “the hidden, insidious enemy of variety in communal life”, choking off all manner of neighborhood get-togethers and local fun. Goodbye to a football barbecue: “In order to cover against someone contracting a stomach ailment and then deciding to sue, it would have cost the football club more than ?250 for one afternoon to run the barbecue”. Goodbye also to the local annual tradition of “pole-walking” on a greased telegraph pole in a seaside Welsh village, deemed uninsurable though no one had actually hurt themselves seriously doing it. And “no one dares go ahead without cover. It is happening everywhere: f?tes and fund-raising events shredded of anything that might carry potential for injury, and thus potential for fun.” (Jim White, Daily Telegraph (U.K.), Jul. 5).
“Public liability — a f?te worse than death”
Britain: the need for liability insurance is “the hidden, insidious enemy of variety in communal life”, choking off all manner of neighborhood get-togethers and local fun. Goodbye to a football barbecue: “In order to cover against someone contracting a stomach ailment and then deciding to sue, it would have cost the football club more than ?250 for one afternoon to run the barbecue”. Goodbye also to the local annual tradition of “pole-walking” on a greased telegraph pole in a seaside Welsh village, deemed uninsurable though no one had actually hurt themselves seriously doing it. And “no one dares go ahead without cover. It is happening everywhere: f?tes and fund-raising events shredded of anything that might carry potential for injury, and thus potential for fun.” (Jim White, Daily Telegraph (U.K.), Jul. 5).