Comments on: Windows/Doors/Buildings Regulations

By: Pippy

Pippy — Sun, 12 Dec 2004 10:58:39 +0000

But it took a Tory blog site to let us know, the government wern’t going to! I agree, how incredibly stupid!!

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By: pete

pete — Sat, 11 Dec 2004 23:47:58 +0000

And as usual they have got you all mising the most dangerous bit.
Once we had red (live) black (neutral) & green wires.
We had to change to European standards Brown (live) blue & green/yellow.
The new system has changed the colours. I gave up after reading live is now Black.
In cas you missed it live will become the sam colour neutral used to be – & still is on some modern equipment – this is something akin to changing the traffic light colours around so all new lights will have red for go.
Stupid it is not. Criminally stupid is what it is

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By: Dawn

Dawn — Sat, 11 Dec 2004 16:38:32 +0000

So after 5 years of gaining electrical qualifications at great expense in both time and money, I am deemed to be not ‘competent’
What a farce!

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By: Pippy

Pippy — Sat, 11 Dec 2004 14:57:40 +0000

Well said Boz cat (as ever). It’s all very well arguing the toss and I’m sure fat cats in westminster do that a lot whilst being completely removed from the consequences of thier actions (they can pay!). But consequences to peoples lives are important.

Take my situation for instance: I can’t afford a qualified electrician as is required and so have a 40amp cooker on a 3 pin 13 amp plug. I have no alternative. Also, the door of my fusebox fell off, exposing the analogue and creaky fuse box and meter to the elements (it’s on the side of the house). I have two children under 5yrs old in the house and neither the electricity supplier nor the billing co. want to know. Apparently they don’t do that any more. They wont even change the meter to a digital meter. One fusebox is housed in bakolite!

Regulations are all very well but they don’t necessarily make everyone safer in the real world. What am I supposed to do?

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By: Lori

Lori — Sat, 11 Dec 2004 13:38:29 +0000

I’m just curious; is the government going to restrict sales of paraphenalia for such repairs at places like B&Q? Or will you just have to show your paperwork in order to be allowed to buy, say, a wall socket?

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By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 10 Dec 2004 23:54:50 +0000

Boris – Wonderful article, really gets to the heart of how over-regulation can become both uncontrollable and unreasonable.

Paul Buckland – Did not Gordon Brown lose sight in one eye due to a rugby accident? Should Rugby be regulated to prevent such things happening in the future, perhaps a requirement to wear goggles would swiftly prevent such a costly (both to the nhs and to Mr Brown) reccurance?

Maybe we could go one step further and say only trained-chefs can cook food, after all the cost of food-poisoning/injury in the kitchen to the nhs must run into millions per year?

The nhs is a service, it is not a system which should tell me how to live my life. The ‘cost to the nhs’ arguement is increasingly being used as justification for pushing forward un-reasonable, il-liberal laws. ‘Cost to Nhs’ is an easy sell in essence, it plays on the natural conservative desire for low-taxation (ban this it will save you money by lowering nhs costs) and it plays towards the natural labour-party desire for government-control (we help save people from their own stupidity).

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By: mapj1

mapj1 — Fri, 10 Dec 2004 18:05:18 +0000

Regarding the comments about how we all pay – and this is true of hospitals. As regards the electrical stuff at least, the ‘cost benefit analysis’ performed by the ODPM neglects totally the rise in accidents from extension leads and multiway adaptors we can expect, as a price for safer fixed wiring. Consider as an example, people still want to use power tools in their garage, but are no longer allowed to screw fixed sockets to the wall and do a half decent job. We will all pay for this, as the extension lead out of the kitchen window is the cheapest legal way but massively more dangerous, particularly after the kids have cycled over it a few times !!
Don’t believe the hype,
this one at least is all about lobby groups pushing to create a closed shop under a ‘safety’ smokescreen – see my earlier comments comparing Australia and New Zealand and feel free to cross check the published mortality figures. I think that one can clearly see the very accident displacement effect described above in action. This one WILL cost us more in both accidents and money.

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By: gwalef

gwalef — Fri, 10 Dec 2004 16:35:00 +0000

New Labour are a pain in the butt and everywhere else. When are they going to get off our backs not until we get rid of them).

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By: Paul Buckland

Paul Buckland — Fri, 10 Dec 2004 14:32:12 +0000

Boris, You are very entertaining, especially when you get the bit between your teeth and start ranting away before putting your brain in gear.
In the name of freedom, you castigate the authorities for introducing regulations designed to stop people being stupid ( perhaps using moblie phones while cycling, re-wiring their house with no clue how to ) but you forget who has to pick up the bill when they reap their rewards; the tax payer, me and you. You complain – rightly – about rising taxes, but then how do you cut down on disability payments to someone now wheelchair-ridden having brained themselves falling off their wobbling bike or social security handouts to orphaned kids because the parents died in a mysterious house fire ? We do have choices, but sadly allowing people to choose badly ( smoking, eating fatty foods, etc x 1000 ) costs us poor – at least some of us – taxpayers fortunes. ” Its like stopping people crossing the road at their own freewill, its totally ludicrous .” It’s also called jaywalking in America and is an offence in that famed ‘ land of the free ‘ . I know you’re busy Boris but you really must spend more time thinking things through – oh, I forgot, you are a politican . Having said that, I think you’re great !

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By: eyeball

eyeball — Fri, 10 Dec 2004 13:03:19 +0000

Boris I don’t often agree with your politics, but I agree with you on this one.
Its totally absurd.
People can question my families and my own mental health, but if we want to abuse a door when we’re in a piss,then we should be able to rehinge it afterwards without somebody else prying! OK, its probably not a good idea to take revenge on an innocent object, but it really makes us feel better.Its our door, our property, not hurting the people around us so therefore our business.
Most people have been doing DIY (sometimes unsuccessful)for years and are just fine. Most people have the sense not to tackle things they don’t have the capabilities for. Some people end up in a pickle, but thats their choice. Its like stopping somebody from crossing the road at their own freewill, its totally ludicrous.

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