Ho, ho...

The news that Josie Bottino was the only person to answer pleas for a CRB-checked Father Christmas in Caernarfon comes as no surprise.
The amateur actress saw an appeal in the Daily Post from organisers of an annual Christmas Fair, which starts today. They’ve been desperately seeking someone with a Criminal Records Bureau check to stand in as Father Christmas after no-one came forward to answer an initial job advert.

This should be a matter of concern, not only to all elves whose jobs are clearly under threat, but - more seriously - to us as a society. Our media-led obsession with and terror of all forms of risk is creating a society in which we are legislating for events we cannot possibly anticipate. Only this week, Carneades was attending a Rotary meeting in which one of the members was saying how he would no longer be playing the part of Santa for the first time in many years.  For those who don't know, by the way, Rotary is one of the biggest fund raisers for and supporters of local charities and the work it does in the community is outstanding. However, the insistence by our reactive political masters that everyone remotely likely to encounter children on a regular or even occasional basis should be CRB checked has led to significant leader shortages in many youth organisations and - interestingly - a surfeit of females in previously male-dominated positions within those organisations.

There are many of us who are fully CRB cleared and checked, yet would not volunteer for any such role in the current climate, since the restrictions on what Santa can do or say have become ridiculous and the latent fear with which many parents now regard all men tends to put something of a damper on the festivities. We are in danger of becoming a society in which our children live in constant fear and suspicion, and in which the perfectly innocent can be approached and branded as perverted simply for having cameras on their possession. And the fate of any  Male who might engage a young child in conversation in a public place can only be imagined, such is our Salemist national attitude to such encounters.

This attitude is peculiar to the UK and America - whose terminal obsession is even greater than ours -  but our European neighbours still take a reasoned, intelligent and mature approach towards such things.  CRB checking was instigated because of the sad case involving the two young girls in Soham. In that case the murdered had previously been investigated but was never charged;  the new rules flag up even the innocent, who may have been totally exonerated.

The irony of all this is that we tell young children that a old, white-haired man will creep into their bedrooms in the middle of the night, and they should be delighted at the thought. The following day, the same children will be ushered speedily past any lone male, grasped closely if said lone make is actually taking a walk in the park by themselves and trained to treat all offers of kindness from any man not known to them as though the act were a prelude to being infected with leprosy.  Yes - we need to take care of our children and yes - we need to teach them to be cautious. And no - we will never eliminate all threats, no matter how hard the DFM would have us believe we can. Perhaps it's time to start accepting that and teaching our children that not all good Samaritans are predators in disguise.