It's our lives you are talking about

Hospitals banning crisps and chocolate in vending machines, for our own good of course, and the Government's so called experts giving us another lecture on how much we can drink, this time aimed at mums-to-be, is yet another example of the State sticking in its two pennyworth whether it is wanted or not.

I am no expert but pregnant women with a tendency to get legless at every opportunity are unlikely to take any Government guidance on board while the responsible mums-to-be, the majority, are already taking care and need a bit more than "cos we say so" before they take much notice of yet another Government directive.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence, whose main function I always thought was to prevent any drug costing more than a couple of bob being available on the NHS, freely admits that its advice on drinking in pregnancy has no reliable scientific grounding - which is a posh way of saying they don't actually know any more than you or me but thought they would stick their oar in just the same. It probably justifies some eye watering salaries we are paying for.

There are not alone though. We seem to get some group of Government experts in the pulpit every other day preaching on what we should eat, when we should breathe, how many times we should blink or swallow and so on to the point where I am surprised we are not even given advice on when and how to die. And as for drink - we are told it either causes or prevents half the conditions known to man depending upon whose round it was among the experts to issue advice. Drink to prevent heart disease and dementia on a Monday and you are a binge drinker by Tuesday but hang on, you will be back to being a social drinker by Wednesday and so on.

Perhaps if all these experts really wanted something useful to study they could start by finding out what it is about their own lives that makes them want to interfere so much in ours.