Monday, November 19, 2007

Here be health and safety nonsense

Without a doubt this has to be a contender for silliest story of the month if true. According to a tiny column filler in the Times, the author Lindsey Gardiner has said that her publishing editors objected to a scene in one her books where a dragons toasted marshmallows by using the flames from its nose on the grounds that 'it looked dangerous and went against health and safety'.

Update: Also in the Telegraph.
Another of her novels, When Poppy and Max Grow Up, initially included a scene where a little boy climbed a ladder, but that too was changed.

"They didn't allow Max to be on a ladder because they thought it was precarious. But when I changed it, I had him standing on a pile of three paint cans, which is much more dangerous, and they didn't have a problem with that," she said.

4 comments:

nought.point.zero said...

If true, that's just superb. Bravo.

Unknown said...

Hmm, in future I'll check with my health and safety Consultants on the correct procedure before I do any marshmallows toasting or cartoon drawing!.

Anonymous said...

Well, it's obvious that that publishing editor has never seen a real live dragon! I wonder if he/she lets his/her sprogs watch your average Saturday afternoon football match. Now that's dangerous! Good job that person was not editing the Harry Potter series - never do to have kids whizzing about on broomsticks. Do writers not have the power to tell these idiots to bog off?

flashgordonnz said...

Elf n safety bureaucrats (and other nannies) everywhere are masturbating over this news: their pointless interference via regulation, prosecution and, above all, conditioning, has caused something to change. Oh the Power!