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U.K. Spiraling Into 'Nanny State' -- Is U.S. Next?

By Bruce Carton

What in the name of Mary Poppins is going on in the U.K., which according to its own local press appears to be spiraling into an unrecognizable "nanny state?" I don't know that I, as an American, can get completely high and mighty about this topic (considering that I recently received a can of peanuts from Williamsburg, Va. with the warning "CONTAINS PEANUTS" on the label), but things really seem to be getting particularly crazy in the U.K. This post on the UsefulArts.us blog lists some of the bizarre measures that have been reported from the U.K. Recently, the British food chain Asda began printing the warning ?contains milk? on its jugs of milk. In London, a restaurant called High Timbers now requires its diners to sign a release before "festive meals" that include plum pudding: ancient custom (and the plum pudding recipe) require the pudding to be "prepared with the odd silver coin or lucky charm thrown into the mix." As a result, to avoid chipped tooth lawsuits, "each portion arrives with both a jug of brandy sauce and a legal disclaimer." London-based author Michael Simkins writes in The National that "what began as a noble initiative to protect...

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on January 15, 2010 (boomark / email).