Nanny Bans Swimming

Sometimes Nanny's rules are so daft, that even Nanny realises that she has over reached herself.

One such piece of Nanny nonsense, that has even caused Blairy Poppins to reach for the proverbial "sick bag", are the rules and regulations governing the teaching of swimming to children.

Under new guidance, issued by the Institute for Sport and Recreation Management, children under four years old must be supervised by one adult per child and those between four and eight by one adult for every two children.

This, in effect, means that many parents are unable to have their children taught to swim.

Correct me if I am wrong; but isn't being able to swim rather a useful, nay life saving, skill?

Anyhoo, even Blairy thinks that these rules are nonsense; she said in Parliament:

"The current situation and the new guidelines have given rise to a complete nonsense because I think parents are perfectly well able to judge how they are best able to look after their children. I have therefore asked the Culture and Sport Secretary to bring in the Institute for Sport and Recreation Management and the Health and Safety Executive to see if we can't get this situation sorted out."

Clearly this must be an election year!

Now the real story here is, if we were living in a more rational less authoritarian country these stupid rules would not be issued in the first place.

The fault lies at the door of Nanny, her acolytes and ourselves for allowing petty dictators and jobsworths to be given the whip hand over us.

Those of you who would like to read more about the rules affecting swimmers should visit The River and Lake Swimming Association.