THERE are very few day-to-day activities that do not carry with them some element of risk.

Walking down the stairs, stepping into the shower, driving a car, crossing the road - all have the potential to lead to an accident of some kind.

Once that fact was established the industry now known as health and safety was created.

The H&S Police now govern massive amounts of our lives.

Most people starting work are shown in great detail how to sit in their chairs or how to lift heavy objects (whether or not they have a job that involves sitting or lifting). Kids have to wear protective gear to play conkers. British Bulldog is banned in the playgrounds.

It is a world truly gone mad.

But the mad level has been turned up to totally bonkers in Worcester.

Now that fair city happens to be my birthplace and, as such, I won't normally hear a word said against it.

However, that all changed yesterday when it was revealed that the silly burghers in charge of Worcester have roped off a couple of pear trees (the symbol of the city, by the way) and placed the following notice alongside them: Warning - Pears Dropping.

I kid you not.

The city council believes that such action is preferable to risking a potential lawsuit from someone who might be hit on the head by said falling fruit.

In the words of a well-known newspaper columnist, you couldn't make it up.

What next? Don't go out in the rain in case you get wet? Avoid living in houses in case they fall down?

The H&S Police in Worcester have made themselves a laughing stock. They are prats of the highest order.

Once upon a time, there would have been someone in a position of power to laugh out loud at a proposal such as this, and to give the person who suggested it a menial job without any prospect of promotion, ever.

Sadly, the lunatics have now officially taken over the asylum.

Will the last person to leave please be extremely careful when closing the door in case they catch their fingers in it.