Don't blame me.

Where will blame culture end? I hate it. I hate the idea that someone is always responsible for accidents. Shit happens! Get over it.

I listened to a lawyer on the radio who was upset that after 4 enquiries "the finger of blame hadn't been pointed at anyone." Maybe no-one was to blame. Maybe, instead of demanding 4 enquiries, you should just have let people get on with their lives.

About a year ago I drove into the back of someone. I was travelling at 10 miles an hour at the time. We pulled over, shook hands and had a laugh about it. There was no damage to either car. We exchanged details, "just in case."

Three days later I got a letter from my insurance company asking for details because the guy was suing for injuries sustained in the crash!

Food labelling is another case where things have gone too far. Companies are clearly worried about being sued. Food labels, that used to be fairly straightforward, are now encyclopedic in their detail. Vending machine cups warn us that the coffee might be hot. No kidding! Labels contain detailed allergy advice. I suppose this is fair enough if you are an allergy sufferer and you want to eat. I can live with that. However, I bought a ready made sandwich today, and on a break from work began to read the label.

"Allergy advice: Recipe - no nuts. Ingredients - no nuts. Factory - no nuts. We cannot guarantee that this product contains no nuts.

Then who the fuck is slipping nuts into all day breakfast, egg, bacon and sausage sandwiches? The delivery driver? If a shop can't guarantee that, what use is a guarantee.

"This product is guaranteed for 12 months - we cannot guarantee the guarantee."

We live in a risk-averse, blame culture and it is destroying us. Bad things happen, by accident, all the time. We manage risk by taking responsibility for it ourselves. If TESCO can't guarantee there are no nuts, despite there not being any in the ingredients, the recipe (I still don't know why those two things are different) or the whole factory, why should I believe the front of the packaging that says it's an "All Day Breakfast" sandwich? If they can't tell me what's not in it, how do they even know what is in it?

And why just nuts? I have a very rare allergic reaction to the grease secreted by corporate lawyers. Can they guarantee there is none of that in here? I bet they can't.