If she wasn't already, Britannia will be weeping after she reads this
Please accept my sincere apologies for starting the week with such a sorry tale …
A Cornish village drama group has had to register a toy gun with the police to comply with health and safety rules. Carnon Downs drama group in Cornwall have also had to keep their plastic cutlasses and wooden swords locked up for the pantomime, Robinson Crusoe. Producers of the show called the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) rules "farcical".
A spokesman for the HSE said the rules were designed to make risks "sensibly managed".
The climax of the show is a fight in which actors use replica 4ft-foot long plastic cutlasses. There is also a toy gun which produces a flag saying "Bang". The directors contacted police after receiving advice from the HSE and the National Operatic and Dramatic Association
I can’t even being to describe the all consuming rage that I feel when I read this sort of utter utter nonsense. Can anyone out there seriously tell me that this can be fixed?
Thanks to Peter for pointing out the latest fit of Nanny statism. I'm now off to polish some firearms before heading for the rooftops ... just before first light
Comments
Toy swords CAN be dangerous, you know. I just can't think of how, for the moment.
I just can't imagine Romeo's duel with Tybalt being fought with plastic swords, without me (and no doubt the actors) dissolving into giggles.
Posted by: Kim du Toit | January 20, 2008 11:46 PM
Cretinous. This is the same HSE that insists a work colleague of mine will have to pay nearly £500 to straighten one slipped roof tile as it needs risk assessment, scaffolding, fall arrest, etc.
I may join you on the rooftop...
Posted by: Bruce | January 21, 2008 11:23 AM
If you gentlemen do indeed take to the rooftops, kindly make sure that risk assessments, scaffolding, fall arrest harnesses, steel toed boots, and a letter from your parents are either filed or in place before the festivities commence. How long before government makes certain that absolutely nothing gets done?
Posted by: Bomber Harris | January 21, 2008 2:45 PM
I want one of those tshirts.
Posted by: Dave Petterson | January 21, 2008 4:16 PM
I also want one of those shirts. Group buy? :P
But a 4ft long cutlass? That's no cutlass, that's a sabre ;)
Posted by: Simon Clark | January 23, 2008 8:30 PM