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These days the health and safety fascists have taken over. School trips are getting cancelled because the teachers dont want their faces plastered all over the tabloids if there should be an accident and one of their charged is hurt. You cant get insurance to get a village or a college bonfire going, so hundreds of years of traditions goes out of the window. Actually its being extinguished.

This past monday I had to get my tooth taken out. Before then, the tooth broke. I am not kidding you. It just broke. So on monday I went to the local dentist to take it out. Everything was fine and I was on my way to london from Scotland, as I do most of the weekends. On Tuesday a weird thing happened. In the morning I woke up with pain from removed tooth and thought that I would make my way to Oxford street Borders and stop in Superdrug or Boots on the way. I asked for 'Paracetamol', which is like Tylenol in America. Its over-the-counter pain reliever. The person behind the counter held up the box and shouted 'Paracetamol' at the top of their lings. The overworked 'pointy-haired' manager behind the serving hatch at the back of the pharmacy glanced up, looked up and down for a second nodded his head. I felt weird. Satisfied, of sort. I have been deemed suitable to be allowed to purchase some over-the-counter medication for my pain.

Try to think about this moment rationally. What is the pharmacist looking for? How exactly are you qualify as someone who is allowed to purchase pain relieve medication? What does 'paracetamol' addict look like? What does suicide by tylenol look like?

They can’t even seriously be looking to see if you’ve been in recently to buy paracetamol. First, this happened in a busy pharmacy at Oxford Circus. How could they expect to remember you? Second, if you are a serious 'paracetamol' hoarder, you would go from one chemist to the next like a strung-out junkie buying everything in the store.

I felt like I asked for cocaine at Sainsburry's or for a small coffee at Starbucks. Everyone looks at you to see if you are qualified.

My point is, it may be legitimate role of the State for ensure that all of us know what is good for us and what is bad for us, but then they should back off and allow us to make up our own adult minds. Its not hard to do. Its like this:
A little alcohol is ok. Too much is bad, so stop yourself when you start seeing double. If you drink and drive you go to prison. Dope is less harmful than alcohol and it doesnt lead to harder things, like the authorities would like you to believe. But the jury is still out on that. Smoking is harmful to you. If you want to do it, do it somewhere where its not annoying anyone else. Cocaine, crack, heroin? Bad news. Dont do it. Riding a bike without a helmet? Bad idea. Driving without wearing a seatbelt - fairy straight forward. The airbags will help, but you better buckle up as well. E? Can cause problems, so take it with a friend and drink a lot of water. Scuba-diving? Dangerous stuff. Water-skiing? Broken bones galore. Sky-diving? Should I even explain?

Why not make sure we know what the danger is and leave us the hell alone.