New Wine in Old Skins

St Augustine of Hippo (354-430) writing on ‘Health and Safety’ and the Compo Culture:

            ‘God forbid that we should be blamed for accidents which, without our desire, happen to others through things done by us or found in our possession which are in themselves good and lawful.  In that event we ought to have no iron implements for the house or field, lest someone should by them lose his life or take another’s; no rope or tree on our premises, lest someone hang himself; no window in our house, lest someone throw himself down from it; the oxen of a Christian should have no horns, his horses no hoofs and his dogs no teeth.’