We deserve the freedom the Dutch enjoy

In Amsterdam, I was gratified to see the streets and tram-tracks thronged with cyclists, young, middle-aged and very old, along with motor-scooter riders, male and female, all wearing no helmets.

It is not that I want to see crushed skulls or gory corpses, but I laud the personal freedom that this implies.

Here, when the health and safety issue arises in conversation, the consensus invariably is that we have allowed bureaucratic nannies to earn secure employment and good salaries by dreaming up more and more legislation to protect us from ourselves.