Let it all Hang Out

Blair did it. And Brown tried to do it. Cameron seems a natural. I mean writing entirely pointless OpEd pieces “full of sound and fury...signifying nothing.”

Cameron’s target in yesterday’s Evening Standard was the illusory Health and Safety culture, largely the invention of tabloids, “which has become an albatross around the neck of British businesses.”
He even referred to pupils wearing eye protectors to play conkers when it has long been exposed as a stunt by a Headteacher. The article was full of empty rhetoric such as seeking “the real pioneering, risk-taking spirit” and making it “the time our country really goes for it”. It read like a master imploring his boys in the school magazine to really get stuck into helping out at the next Arts and Crafts show.
Except this is the Prime Minister’s growth theory. This level of laissez faire is unheard of even when Keith 'Mad Monk; Joseph (pictured) and Geoffrey Howe sat in the Cabinet wishing Liverpool would just fall into the sea.
The piece was written with barely any examples, figures or supporting quotes. Presumably the word of the PM should be enough to be convincing.
He showed he had a laughable expectation about the outcome of his dreary visionary zeal. “I want 2012 to go down in history not just as Olympics year or Diamond Jubilee year, but the year we banished a lot of this pointless time-wasting from the economy and British life once and for all.” Has a PM uttered anything so silly since Blair wanted to march vandals to the cash-point?
He referred to Lord Young’s investigation into the compensation culture “an expert in his field”. However the noble Lord found, “The problem of the compensation culture prevalent in society today is, however, one of perception rather than reality.... fuelled by media stories.”
The Health and Safety Executive was established to allow individuals protection from unscrupulous and negligent employers. The sub-plot of Cameron’s text is the ‘Employer is King’ and the individual, a nuisance.
It was interesting that on the same page of the Evening Standard was a warning about a potentially dangerous baby’s high chair which had failed Health and Safety Regulations and caused several injuries. Cameron may find it annoying for businesses to abide by these pesky burdensome rules but I think manufacturers should be compelled to ensure their product doesn’t allow babies to fall on their heads.