We must lament and cause a fuss...

Page 7 of today's Metro - "Two die in cord accidents" - mentions a coincidental pair of tragic accidents. Two young children (one 3 years old, one 16 months) strangled themselves with blind cords they got entangled in. This is a terrible shame, and it must be heart-wrenching for their parents.

However, the grieving parents of one of the children have launched an imbecilic campaign to ban looped blind cords. Yeah, because that's the problem. A child couldn't strangle himself on a treadmill cord, or a phone cord, or a belt, or a network cable, a tangled bedspread, any reasonably-sturdy wire. Oh, no. It's only looped blind cords. So we must ban them, obviously.

Never mind that there are millions out there not killing anyone, that the alternative is more complex (and more expensive), that there is no way in hell a toddler should be able to reach a blind 4ft off the floor, no, we must Ban This Sick Filth.

I look forward to having to have my landlord fix my "dangerous" blinds, and maybe put padding on the walls at the same time, because - you never know - someone might hurt themselves. Clearly the world is too dangerous for people to live in.

Whatever happened to parental responsibility?

- KoW