When I was a little kid, pre school, I used to be dragged off by mother to the shops from time to time.One of her regular stops would be a knitting shop, which was bulging to the seams with brightly coloured yarns and a vast array of fearsome knitting needles.
Now at this stage, I guess you think that I am going to engage in some misty eyed self indulgent reminiscences about my childhood and the simple pleasure that I took in looking at the colours of the yarns etc.
Er no!
I found the whole experience totally tedious, and wished only instead to be at home watching Top Cat.
Sorry folks!
Anyhoo, tempus fugit, now the knitting shop is long since closed (although I can still watch Top Cat on Cartoon Network) and my mother can only buy her knitting needles from charity shops these days.
At least that was the case until Nanny, not much of a knitter (more of a nit...Ha!Ha!), came along and stuck her hooter (for the benefit of my American audience hooter=nose not booby) into it.
It seems that Nanny has decreed that knitting needles are in fact dangerous, and has therefore placed them on a list of proscribed products that cannot be sold at charity shops.
This was highlighted on Radio 4's You and Yours last year and is still happening, that is at least according to one of my trusted sources.
If you want knitting needles, you have to find an assistant and ask if they have any for sale "on the sly", much like you would buy beef on the bone a few years ago (which I did regularly during the mad cow scare).
Other proscribed items include; gas appliances, oil heaters, riding hats, glasses, ear rings etc
I normally don't bother putting links in, but the report is a hoot so here it is knitting needles ban.
We truly live in a very odd country indeed!
Hehe Topcat.
ReplyDeleteAnon
ReplyDeleteDon't knock Topcat, he and his friends are in Government at the moment in this country!!
I'm a vintage radio collector and charity shops a happy hunting ground. No more. You can't buy radios in charity shops any more - even transistor sets. Obviously Nanny considers a 9v PP3 battery to be potentially lethal. Surprisingly, Nanny hasn't realised that anyone can sell any sort of dangerous rubbish at car boot sales without any control or regulation. Probably a bit like the old British Rail: She's getting there!
ReplyDeleteShsssh Pete, please don't tell Nanny about potentialy lethel items at car boots,
ReplyDeleteThey're about the last place in this country where you can knowingly buy dangerous stuff.
Not the last; there's ebay too!
ReplyDeleteSorry, you are quite wrong.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.hse.gov.uk/myth/myth-busting/2012/case086-knittingneedles.htm
Are you for real?
You need to read the link you posted:
Delete"We urge the charity to reconsider its decision and at least come clean on the real reason for its decision."
The charity shop did ban the sale, as evidenced by the HSE link that you posted.
But the Health and Safety Executive has not banned it.
Delete"There are no health and safety regulations which apply to sale/re-sale of knitting needles and the panel can see no legitimate health and safety reason which could justify this decision."
How is one charity shop the same as "the nanny state"? They didn't even ban anything in the true sense, i.e. to prohibit by law as you said
"It seems that Nanny has decreed that knitting needles are in fact dangerous, and has therefore placed them on a list of proscribed products that cannot be sold at charity shops."
Incidentally, this should help you find a knitting shop. One has opened up in my area recently.
http://www.yelp.co.uk/search?find_desc=knitting+shops&find_loc=London
Don't drop a stitch!
I didn't say in this article (published 2006) that the HSE had banned it.
DeleteIf you bother to read my site you will see that I use the "phrase Nanny state" to cover all aspects of "Nannyism" practised by both the state, organisations, companies, councils and individuals.