The Government’s New ‘Safety’ Obsession Comes With A Sinister Catch

There is a scene in the British animated movie “Chicken Run” where mass panic overtakes the film’s otherwise plucky protagonists. At precisely 7 p.m. on Friday, August 14, a somewhat similar scene occurred throughout the United Kingdom when a piercing alarm suddenly screeched from every mobile phone in the nation. And the reason — I kid you not — was a government warning about the dangers posed by disposable barbecues after a summer marked by hot weather and little rain. 

My phone, which permanently lives on silent, emitted such a piercing wail that I nearly fell off my chair. Fortunately, I was at home at the time so could settle my frazzled nerves with a restorative cup of tea. Others were not so fortunate. There were numerous accounts of near misses on motorways as drivers swerved or braked at the sudden noise. Restaurants emptied as fleeing diners assumed a major fire had broken out in the kitchen. Concerts were interrupted, and a vicar friend of mine was conducting Mass when his congregation upped and fled, assuming the smoke alarm had been triggered. Even the BBC was caught unawares.