In the world of education - the extraordinarily safe world in which I work - fear of prosecution and demands for ever more risk assessments are threatening the very existence of sports, chemistry lessons, school trips and fieldwork. Doctors are responding to the threat by practising defensive medicine - medicine practised more in the interests of the doctor than the patient. Rocketing insurance premiums for consultants and small businesses - the insurance industry's response to the growing threat of liability - are driving many out of business. And the routine pursuit of zero risk is putting up the price of just about everything we buy.

John Adams.