Let’s hear it for good old common sense

Aug 9 2007 by Paul Corcoran, Liverpool Daily Post

THERE has only been one topic of conversation in Liverpool this past week, and that is the Mathew Street Festival.

For more than 20 years, the festival has been an iconic annual event, bringing in tens of thousands of tourists, showcasing the musical talent that has emerged (and continues to emerge) from our very own city.

But this year we were told it would be scrapped. The reason for this sensational turnaround, and the cancellation of one of our greatest economic funding streams? Health and safety.

It would appear that certain “boxes” had not been ticked and, as a result, more than 350,000 of us would be unsafe taking to the roads during the Bank Holiday weekend.

In this day and age, when we are probably one of the savviest nations in the world, why do we find ourselves being wrapped up in cotton wool and being nannied by the powers that be? When did it become unsafe to cross the road on a Bank Holiday weekend – Beatles festival or not? When exactly did health and safety take over from good old common sense?

Agreed, some of us have more of it than others. I certainly have had times in my life where I do feel that any blessing of common sense I have (or ever had) sometimes, has at some point slipped off the kerb and down the nearest manhole.

Take last Christmas, for example. I returned to my parents’ newly-decorated home to collect my Christmas tree from storage in their attic. Rather than bother anybody else to retrieve my faux pine tree, I took it upon myself to climb on up and collect it on my own.

Without meaning to sound overly dramatic – and, believe me, it really was dramatic – no sooner had I entered the attic, than I felt a movement under my feet, before it all went dark and there was a loud accompanying bang.

There was a reason why I had never been up in the attic before – it turns out I am not the best at balancing on joists. Consequently, I fell feet-first through my parents’ newly- plastered ceiling, covering their new carpet (and myself) with plasterboard and dust.

What a start to the festive season, I thought.

And so my (hilarious) Christmas tale brings us back to the issue of health and safety. After I crashed into my parents’ view, did I drag myself up onto my swollen feet and blame my parents for having an attic not displaying full health and safety instructions? Did I come to the conclusion they were completely to blame for my fall from grace into the dark of their bedroom below? Of course I didn’t.

The moral of this week’s column is that we should be allowed to enjoy our festival and to make our own mistakes, which chances are we will, no matter how many barricades and miles of safety tape are put in front of us.

While we await full details of the future for the Mathew Street Festival, I will be taking myself along the East Lancs Road this weekend to the St Helens Eclectica Music Festival, to enjoy the likes of Echo and the Bunnymen and the new boys on the block, The Maybes.

Although, in the interests of health and safety, I may just shelve my usual festival attire in favour of a hard hat, high- visibility vest and a pair of steel- capped boots. After all, you never know what might happen.