Dear Mr Huppert

A recent (Wednesday 24 August) article in The Independent (
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/ridiculous-health-and-safety-bans-challenged-2342895.html
) chronicles local authorities' appeals to health and safety
regulations in banning everyday risks such as dodgem cars, kite flying,
monkey bars, schoolyard games, and sack races.

All of us suffer from the vagaries of Britain's hypertrophied health
and safety bureaucracy.  Most memorably, I was once admonished by a
Churchill College librarian please to unplug my laptop from the mains
becuase it had not been checked and had the appropriate sticker affixed
by the college safety officer.

Children, however, are disproportionately affected by our absurd health
and safety regulations, because they are a vulnerable population and
because they are by nature an active, risk-taking population.  It is no
hyperbole to observe that for the sake of Britain's future, the
country's children must be permitted to be exposed to the normal,
everyday risks and triumphs of childhood: this is how children learn
self-confidence.  The overprotected child of today will become the
over-conservative businessperson or government official of tomorrow;
thus when we shield children from all the risks in the world, we
produce a generation that will turn its back on inovative
technologies, innovative policies, and any untried or unproven new
approach.  Avoiding that catastrophe is worth a few scrapes and broken
arms.

It is some consolation that the government has awakened to the
overextent of health and safety regulation.  I hope that you will do
all that you can to further this recognition, and to rein in these
overzealous applications of health and safety rules.  As you know, the
University has of late been emphasising the development of
entrepreneurship skills amongst its students.  We will never develop
such skills in our young people if we don't allow them the growth that
reasonable risk-taking provides.

Kind regards
Matthew BELMONTE