More cotton wool

The Times reports today on some detective work by MP Greg Hands.

Greg, by using the powers of the Freedom of Information Act, has uncovered the fact that local councils throughout the country are engaged in removing, or recessing into the ground, thousands of tombstones.

In the last three years in London alone 9,463 headstones and memorials have been moved in this way. The cost runs into millions of pounds.

The reason given by Greg is the concern on the part of the Health and Safety Executive that grave diggers or the general public could be harmed by falling stones. They have leaned on local councils to put arrangements in place.

Our guardians, who do not trust us to make safe decisions and assume that we will act recklessly, have exceeded themselves on this occasion. They are responsible for spending the money, - the Times includes the estimate of £15 nationally for moving 76,000 stones, on something with a very low risk. Would it not be more effective to do the other thing, -they enjoy regulation as well, to require local grave trusts to do regular inspections?

It is true that stones do occasionally collapse, and people may have been injured, but there are surely bigger risks elsewhere where the money could be more wisely spent.

Greg Hands himself suggests that people are 4,000 times more likely to be injured by a bendy bus than by a headstone in a graveyard. The conclusion is obvious as to where the money should be spent.