Compulsory Cycle Helmets in Jersey

A new law has been passed in jersey making helmets compulsory for all cyclists under the age of 18. So, the mainland UK is not the only one with a nanny state.

In a close vote, politicians rejected 25 to 24 the law for adults, but agreed to make them compulsory for under-18s.

Deputy Andrew Green, whose son was left with a brain injury after falling off his bike, had made an emotional plea in the States to bring in the law.

So, we have a politician who suffered a persona tragedy using his position to enforce his belief that a cycle helmet would have made a difference on everyone else.

But Deputy Daniel Wimberley opposed the plans, claiming evidence showed wearing a cycle helmet can make injuries worse.

Well, quite. When the compulsory motorcycle helmet law passed back in 1973, there were unexpected consequences. A helmet will make a difference in some circumstances. In others they will be of little use or even counter productive. At even relatively low speeds, the brain can move inside the skull, leaving the wearer brain damaged. Frankly, I’d rather be dead. Whatever the arguments for and against, it should be a matter for the individual to decide, not the state. As for the matter of children, that is a decision for their parents, not the state.

Deputy Wimberly continues:

I do believe that this proposal is put forward by a well-intentioned lobby group.

But they are proposing a law that would affect half of islanders, effectively criminalising them on a scientific basis that is so weak.

Indeed.

Many politicians argued whether it was the States’ place to compel people to wear helmets. 

It isn’t. Didn’t stop the bastards, though. 

Country is going to the Poodles

Police back Hampshire village’s patrols against antisocial behaviour - Times Online When Marilyn Hebbron bought her house by the green in a Hampshire village she had not planned to become a crime-fighting pioneer. It was only after she was kept awake night after night by youths who congregated on the green, and woke up morning after morning to find the green littered with bottles, drug paraphernalia and occasional comatose teenagers, that she decided to act. She rallied her middle-class neighbours in the village of Four Marks and organised street patrols...She said: “Parties were being held until 4am on the green with lots of noise and inappropriate sexual behaviour. Come daylight teenagers would still be lying about on the roads. Bloody incomers ruining the traditional rural way of life with their la-di-da oh so bloody nice, just a glass of Pinot Grigio, lace curtain twitching, pursed mouth tutting views of life. What are the local kids meant to do now if they can't party with lots of noise and "inappropriate sexual behaviour" on the village green?

Paying for the fantasy

Energy bills to go up with tough EU clampdown on greenhouse gas emissions - Times Online Energy bills will rise but thousands of jobs could be created in green industries under a European plan to impose the world’s most stringent restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions. The Government will today support a proposal tabled in Brussels for a new, much more onerous EU target for cutting carbon dioxide...The EU has already gone farther than the rest of the world by making a legally binding commitment to cut emissions by 20 per cent on 1990 levels by 2020. It is now preparing to raise the target to 30 per cent despite the failure of December’s climate change summit in Copenhagen. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has calculated the cost to Britain of its contribution to the 30 per cent target but is refusing to publish the research. A DECC spokeswoman said: “It is the UK’s view that, given the right conditions, the EU should move to 30 per cent.” She said that the DECC had rejected a request under the Freedom of Information Act for details of the cost of moving to the 30 per cent target “because we feel it would weaken the UK negotiating position in climate negotiations”. The EU at Work, The Planned Destruction of Our Industry, The Belief in Subsidised Jobs, CO2 Reduction Targets, Official Secrecy and The Cavalier Attitude to Our Money - where to start?

On This Day … in 1360 & Others

During the Hundred Years War, 3,000 French raiders sacked and burnt Winchelsea, one of the Cinque Ports. It was a mainstay of English naval strength in the period & the attack was an effort to divert Edward III from his...

Sir John Houghton – We Aren’t Alarmist Enough

We climate scientists are not ecofanatics If the IPCC has a fault, it is that its reports have been too cautious, not alarmist John Houghton The IPCC is not a self-selected group of scientists with a political agenda.... The IPCC is too big an organisation to be captured by an ideological cabal or fall foul of group-think... I was chairman or co-chairman of the Science Working Group from 1988–2002, through the first three IPCC reports.... We had no preconceived agenda regarding our conclusions. The IPCC process also makes it impossible for green propaganda to be slipped in... a report from Greenpeace or any other campaigning body would not be included because the science would not be considered robust enough. A further myth is that the IPCC is alarmist. In truth, it’s far easier to find what now looks like excessive caution in IPCC reports. Perhaps there is a criticism that can be made of IPCC scientists: they have been too slow publicly to defend their integrity. They have not been willing or able to hit the airwaves or make their case in newspapers. But scientists are now faced by powerful lobbies who are working to distort and discredit the science behind climate change. We scientists have facts on our sides — we must not be afraid to deploy them.