"elf and safety"

In a news cycle dominated by Michael Jackson, Iranian clerics rejecting the Supreme Leader's verdict on the vote, and Palin's odd and disjointed resignation, we bring a breath of fresh air from Boris Johnson, the mayor of London.

This week, in his regular column for the Telegraph, our tow-headed mayor touches on a subject that will drive anybody who lives in England nuts: "Health and Safety." The refrain "health and safety" is used widely to justify imbecilic decisions: it is the foundation of the much-maligned nanny state that exists here--and is spreading to the U.S. (traffic cameras are just the beginning). Singapore occupies the outer frontier on nannying--signs in public bathrooms have lectures about remembering to flush, not wringing water on the floor since someone might slip--but the UK is a close second in what is a disturbing trend. As Boris writes:

We were exploring the magical cliff-top castle of Tintagel and we came across a sign on the edge of the cliff. It was expensively hand‑painted and about 1ft high. It said: "Edge of cliff". As a statement of the plonkingly obvious, it could have been bettered only if there had been another sign with a vertical arrow saying "Sky". We laughed so much we almost fell off.

The examples are certainly risible, but they raise a serious question: why is any government so extensively involved in "protecting" us from the obvious? We are not any safer, and as we allow ourselves to be monitored, directed, and constrained, we certainly have less freedom.