How much farther down the drain can they get over there?

Some choice tidbits of insanity from the Nanny State lunatic asylum that England has sadly become. We honestly don't know whether to laugh or cry at these:

1. 39 prisoners have escaped from Holleseley Bay Prison in Suffolk, England between January 2007 and March of this year. Prison "authorities" would no doubt dearly love to have some of their houseguests back, but they refuse to publicize the names and pictures of the escapees because it would violate the privacy rights of the prisoners:

"They say releasing their names would breach obligations under the Data Protection Act."

What about the law-abiding citizens, the protection of whose rights presumably caused the inmates to be put away in the first place? Anyone? Bueller?

Amazingly, this isn't the first time this sort of situation has happened over there:

"In January 2007 Derbyshire Police refused to release pictures of two convicted murderers on the run from jail. Chief Constable David Coleman said Jason Croft and Michael Nixon posed "no risk'' and the force had to consider the Human Rights Act and data protection laws when asked to publish photographs. The force later denied human rights had been a factor." (All emphases mine)

Murderers apparently "pose no risk" in Britain.

Huh.

Silly us, that's why the English peasants don't need weapons with which to defend themselves. Just invite the violent thugs in for a cup of tea, and everything will be just dandy. Carry on, then.


2. Seven retirees in Cambridgeshire, England, have been informed by the local Health and Safety busybodies that they may no longer gather at the local library on Tuesday mornings for their coffee group (which they've been doing for four years now without incident) because of concerns that one of the poor old feebs just might spill their coffee on one of the youngsters:

"Coffee club member Derek Taylor slammed the 'laughable' move and claimed they had usually finished their drinks by the time the toddlers arrived for their half hour visit."

If it's so "laughable", Mr. Taylor, then why did your group meekly submit and decide to move the meetings to your private homes like the good sheeple you've been trained to be, instead of fighting back against this lunatic policy?

Here, we'll give you some ammo to use, free of charge:

"However, we understand that is not the case at all, because we have always finished our drinks before the children even arrive, and that it is the case that the librarian doesn't want to wash up extra cups."

You mean to tell us the librarians consume hot beverages when the precious little snowflakes are around? Horrors!! You'd best immediately point that fact out to Health and Safety, and then quiz them on exactly why there are two different policies in place. We're betting they'll let you right back in, instead of cruelly cutting off their government colleagues from their precious coffee and tea. We'd love to see those librarians attempt to deal with a bunch of screaming youngsters while simultaneously being afflicted with raging headaches from caffeine withdrawal.


3. St. Sidwells Primary School in Devon, England has banned its students from wearing swim goggles in their pool, as they apparently become slippery when wet (doesn't everything?) and one of the precious little snowflakes could put their eye out with them:

"Authorities at the school say they're following advice from the British Association of Advisors and Lecturers in Physical Education (BAALPE).

The BAALPE advice states: 'Head teachers should inform parents and carers that goggles can be a hazard and cause permanent eye injury.'

'Wet plastic is very slippery and frequent, incorrect or unnecessary adjustment or removal of them, by pulling them away from the eyes instead of sliding them over the forehead, can lead to them slipping from the pupil's grasp with the hard plastic causing severe injury.'"

Words escape us.


4. Matthew Nice, an Essex, England man, has been ordered by his housing association to remove his kids' trampoline from his yard because it poses a "safety risk", in that criminals might use it to jump through his neighbors' windows and burglarize them:

"Mr Nice, a social housing tenant at the three-storey block in Wicklow, Essex, has refused to comply, saying that his eight-year-old daughter Yasmin plays on the 12 in high trampoline every day"

We'd pay to see the Olympic burglar that could gain access to a second story by getting a whopping one foot of bounce.

Bonus points - guess what Mr. Nice does for a living? If you answered "Health and Safety Inspector", give yourself a nice trinket from the prize box.

It has now apparently come to the point in Britain where the ever-more-intrusive Health and Safety thugs, having throughly sanitized the rest of that country from any risk (and freedom) whatsoever, are now reduced to cannibalizing each other.