There appears to be a secret contest between the US and the UK over who can grow the biggest, most intrusive government. So far the UK appears to be winning, but the US isn’t too far behind. Here are just a few examples of recent nonsense from across the pond.

“Parents who forbid their children to cross roads alone may be preventing them from learning vital lessons in how to avoid being run over, according to an analysis of official figures.” Surprise surprise – if you don’t let kids cross the road themselves they’re going to have problems with this rather simple but very important survival skill.

If you’d like to bring flowers to someone at the Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester, forget it. They’re now banned everywhere in the hospital, including the maternity unit and geriatrics ward. Hospital officials are afraid that bacteria could grow in the water, then the water could get spilled, then the spilled water could come in contact with patients, then, maybe, they could get an infection.

They’d better ban magazines and books too – those paper cuts can be nasty.

(Note that the URL for this article ends with …Docs=Dumb)

Well, at least you can go to the pub and enjoy yourself, right? Not so fast. Not only has smoking been banned in pubs, but now the government is writing up plans that will make it illegal to flirt with the female bartenders and waitresses. The law makes the pub owner liable if his staff gets miffed about a customer’s behavior.

And to wrap it up, this article lists more ridiculous attacks on what should be simple personal choices.

Although the UK has a slight lead in the number of laws and policies, the US is rapidly catching up. Between legislators and lawyers, we’re rapidly replacing the once famed Yankee Ingenuity with the idea that everything be perfectly safe and everyone should be prohibited from doing anything that might offend someone, and no one should ever get their feelings hurt. While we don’t know which government will win this race toward blandness and mediocrity, we can be certain that the citizens of both countries will be the losers.