Do we need to toughen up?

Snow, ice and sledging has understandably been a pretty big topic of the week, and so with it comes the inevitable huffing and puffing about life as we know it coming to some kind of a limbo. According to one blogger if you clear the snow from the pavement in front of your house then you risk being sued:

"I could not believe it, but the law is firmly on the side of those who do nothing. If you do not touch the pavement, the local authority holds liability for accidents. Sweep so much as a snowflake and you risk losing your house to any passer-by who happens to go arse over tip."

Startled? We were. For the failure of so many systems in extreme weather causes requires some degree of debate.

Is the UK really the only country which comes to a standstill in extremes of snow and ice? Believe it or not but the mood amongst most businesses is one of a real desire to do work and get 2010 off to a good start. Deals may well have been done, and time will tell if this was the case, but one thing is for sure: the situation was not helped by the example set within the education system.

Do schools close too quickly on the grounds of health and safety? Businesses are already stretched due to the number of employees who simply cannot make it in to work - is it necessary to compound the problem by adding those with caring responsibilities to the list of absentees?

Business simply does not have the same luxury and the loss of employees during the first week back in 2010 is not helpful. The Sting in the Tail is that businesses are at the mercy of bureaucracy over common sense at a time when it needs it least.

Do you have any comments on this topic? We would like to hear your views.
Please email: stinginthetail@epmagazine.co.uk

Here are some comments received from our most recent Sting in the Tail on the VAT increase:

"I am the manager of the Banqueting House in Whitehall which is a major hospitality venue. While the increase or decrease in VAT has little or no effect on corporate customers, it does have an impact on private clients - eg those celebrating weddings, birthdays, bar mittzvahs, anniversaries etc. On a facility fee of £13,500 the saving of 2.5% matters."

"France reduced VAT on all Restaurant Food to 5%, now that really has helped. The Vat back to 17.5% has left more doubt in the consumer's mind about our industry, as most of us did nothing re the reprint or reducing prices. I have seen a tacky sticker, saying if you complain we will reduce the costs by 2.5%, and other similar nonsense signs are being posted. Now take this quote: "The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome (insert London) become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance." Cicero - 55 BC - kinda sums up the phrase "history repeats itself" I say..."

Didn't read the last sting in the tail? Read it here