Pancake tossing

I see the annual pancake race at Ripon has had to be cancelled this year after the jobsworths of the local council, aided by those bundles of fun from health and safety, decided to have a meddle.

First the organisers were told to pay £250 to close a road then the elves wanted risk assessment forms, medical staff on hand and all manner of bureaucracy completed before any pancake was tossed.

No doubt whoever rang the cathedral's 15th century pancake bell had to wear earplugs and mittens as well just in case. The cathedral is involved, by the way, because pancake day, Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras, is a Christian festival to mark the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday.

I shudder to think how the poor people of Ripon have managed without such help and concern for the past 600 years.