This morning I attended my daughters school sports day….wow what an eye opener into the type of society we have become.  Scary.

First up, all the parents walked into the school and were faced with the stark message.  No cameras please.  We were told because of rules, regulations, privacy and data protection laws we were not allowed to take photos of the sports day.  Forgive me for saying so, but I go to sports day to share in my daughters joy in taking part in a fun sporting day.  I want to capture that memory on film and share with friends and relatives.  I don’t go to take photos of other children…they may creep into shot but these are my daughters friends and she wants pictures of her with her friends but the main purpose is capturing my daughters joy on film.

How crazy we live in a world that we are made to feel guilty of wanting to take photos to share memories.  There are only a small proportion of people who object to such draconian rules.  The nanny state is ruling us with an iron rod.

Interestingly the school hired an official photographer for the day, who was charging parents for taking photos, (which yes included other children in the background).  That was ok…and the school made money from this.  And the school is happy to charge for group class photos.  So the rule is therefore that it is alright to have photos from school days BUT only if you buy them from the official photographer.  What a bizarre ruling that official photos are ok, parents photos are not.  Surely privacy and data protection is the same whether official photo or parents photo…………?

Next eye opener was the structure of the sports day.  It was important there was no competition to the day.  Competition results in winners and losers.  Losing is something bad that schoolchildren should not face as it can be distressing.  The message is all about taking part.   Now I have nothing against ensuring all feel included but the spirit of competition is an important element that children have to learn and cope with.  Competition will come into whatever they do….be it school results, be it in their careers in seeking promotion, be it competition in the boardroom.  Competition is how entrepreneurs are born. 

So schools are breeding kids, who are socially inclusive but non competitive.  Then, us adults, pass them conflicting messages about winning.  The UK is all behind Andy Murray….we all want him to win Wimbledon…it’s not the taking part we are interested in…it’s the winning.  At the Olympics, it’s the medal table that matters….especially the number of Golds.  And of course, the World Cup next year….we will all be cheering for our home team.  None of these examples do people say…it’s the taking part that counts!!!

We are really becoming the ‘cotton wool’ society—nicely wrapped up and protected by the nanny state…..is this the UK we really want?  Come on Ed Balls….let’s ditch the political correctness…….and prepare kids for real life.