Red Tape

This week I was listening to local radio and there was an interview with a coach tour operator. We know the economy is not good and I am sure that he was affected too but he was upbeat in telling us how people were still taking trips out. There were less trips to the Continent but trips were still being taken. They didn't travel too far because they were day trips. Then he mentioned school trips. They had been similarly affected by the economy but there was another factor that was much more important. It seems that school teachers cannot allow children to walk along a footpath without a risk assessment being carried out.

Compensation culture has a lot to answer for. There is a legal expression which is something like if it isn't written down then it didn't happen. You know it happened, they know it happened but we spend so much more of our time writing things down than we do doing things. It sounds a bit like writing blogs but at least you see a finished blog. So much of the important writings for the legal authorities get put into a cupboard and are never seen again until they are destroyed. The extra demands on almost anyone, not just teachers must obviously be worthwhile if it means the correct compensation can be paid. I am not sure that the system works. What it definitely does do is it takes people away from the work that they set out to do and puts them at a desk writing about it instead.

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