Spare us from ‘amber’ weather warnings

With quiet, sinister inevitability, the health and safety edifice has been marching through the festive season, capturing new terrain. Arguably the most powerful cultural force in Britain today, a new target has been seized: the weather. Suddenly, the warnings issued by the Met Office – whose weather forecasting service rarely seems reliable – are taken as gospel. Predictions of snow and ice during the cold snap of the next few days have been seized upon with a similar enthusiasm to the fears that arose during the pandemic: we’re being urged to stay in and stay put.

Winter, even the soft British variety, where temperatures rarely get close to a threshold most Americans would regard as even mildly discomfiting, always comes with a few cold snaps and gentle advice for the elderly and vulnerable. Slipping on ice is a real fear, and the risk should be managed.