The worst of British …

It’s been a tough 12 months and 2017 on it’s own hasn’t been much good either but two events this month struck me as exemplifying just how wrong we can get it sometimes. I may be conflating the trivial with the tragic but they’re two sides of the same coin.

The first is the trivial and is our response to the recent hot weather. Sensible people of course dress for the weather but not everyone’s allowed to because there’s a uniform policy. So there had to be a protest at the ISCA Academy in Exeter because their strict school uniform policy required them to wear long trousers even in the hottest weather.

It’s the pettiness of the rules and the inability of those who set them that are so disappointing. It was hot, there’s a silly rule, change it. But no; rules must be adhered to and can’t be changed without ‘consultation’.

Thankfully good sense has prevailed, it’s wonderful what a little press publicity does, and the school said ‘Contrary to news reports, we have not banned shorts; shorts are simply not part of our school uniform’. If that’s not double-speak I don’t know what is.

Of course here in Histon this is old news. In 2011 Chris Whitehead of IVC hit the headlines with a similar protest. IVC has since changed its rules but I seem to remember at the time that it was reluctant to obey the dictum ‘do the obvious straight away’. Click here for Chris’ opinion on the latest protests.

The second is the tragic and the dreadful news of the fire at Grenfell Tower. Here it was the apparently flouting of good rules, fire regulations, which are in place to protect people.

Unfortunately there have been recent trends. Firstly the idea that red tape is bad and regulations are just that. No they’re not. They provide the guidance which helps  companies do the right thing.

The second trend is the squeeze on council budgets which sees them being ever cost conscious in  their tendering and short of staff to inspect what’s being done. Add to this is the desire of the private sector to get the business and an idea that rules can be bent or broken and you get what we’ve got.

It’s difficult of course. How do you differentiate between good and bad rules? Common sense is a good place to start. If you’ve set the rule than you can change it. If some higher authority with no axe to grind has set it then follow it.