Your Letters
17:08 UK time, Friday, 9 May 2008
Your article (, 7 May) bears out the fact that the "rise" of no-win, no-fee is more of a perception than a reality. But it's a powerful perception, and one that is often the root cause of seemingly irrational decisions to require schoolchildren to wear goggles to play conkers, but not to wear them in the swimming pool when the chlorinated water irritates their eyes! My profession, health and safety, then gets saddled with the blame. But the reality is that it's not a result of advice given by health and safety professionals - rather officials seeking an easy way out of a difficult decision or racked with unrealistic fears that they might be sued should something go wrong. Modern health and safety practice is about striking a sensible balance. Unfortunately, it's a powerful and believable excuse for some in positions of authority. Health and safety professionals are not interested in preventing people from doing activities that have gone ahead without serious harm for generations. We want people to have good fun - in a safe and healthy way.
Ray Hurst, IOSH President, Wigston, Leicestershire
I'm sad to see the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ reporting that there are . The words should be "manufacturing wind turbines", and you are missing companies such as GEWind, REPower, Enercon; to name but a few.
Kieran, Kernow
Re Thursday's letters, it's quite easy to find the "Biblical attributes of a virtuous woman" by typing that phrase into a search engine. It makes for enlightening reading. Planted any vineyards recently? No? Then according to the Bible, you're not a virtuous woman. And I bet you haven't grasped a spindle in ages. You sinner.
Adam, Belfast, UK
Is anyone else utterly sick of seeing the word "row" in ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ headlines? If this were the sixties, would the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ insist upon referring to the "Cuban Missile Row"?
Alex Knibb, Bristol, UK
Steve from Newcastle (Thursday's letters) - you haven't got it right, I'm afraid. ITV have already paid most of the £7.8m back to viewers or to charities. The £5.7m fine is on top of that. And sending Michael Grade to prison would be rather harsh, since he joined ITV after the various phone scams had already happened!
Alan, Chelmsford
Re , let's hope any exotic fruits (lemons etc) that Gordon uses are locally grown then, where can I get bananas and pineapples local to Sussex please? (My lemon tree has never borne fruit.)
Naomi P, Sussex
In , the story says she was "ordered to complete 60 hours of unpaid work, pay £250 costs and was banned for life from keeping animals". Re the last line - do cats not class as animals?
Kath, Cheshire
Can I just make it clear that I have nothing to do with .
Ralph, Cumbria
I see the "most e-mailed' story on Friday morning" is ... and I thought interest in ornithology was somewhat dwindling.
Adam, Manchester
Did anyone else rub their hands with glee, and indeed in preparation, before opening the story called "Great tits cope well with warming"?
Gazardo, Stockport
You know the noise the crowd at a football match makes when they think the ball's going to go into the goal, and then it just misses? A bit like "YEEA-Oooohhhh". That's the sound I heard in my head after seeing the headline for and then reading the article itself.
Robert Phillips, Cardiff, UK
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