Sometimes there’s a distinct advantage to being old. Whether, or not, to charge for museum entry is the province of the government, not the management; I well remember the storm of protest when the Thatcher government introduced charges, and how quickly Blair did away with them.
During the 1970s the museum held a symposium every time they published new books in their “Museum Series,” and, at one, I was fortunate to have time for a chat with John Tanner, and put forward some of the complaints voiced above. He told me that, when first envisaged, the museum was to be a “Duxford in London,” with aircraft flying to and from, and the occasional air display; the then leader of the GLC (a certain Mr. Livingstone – remember him?) promised that there would be no building on the airfield, so the museum went ahead; once built, the promise was forgotten, and the housing estate was started.
Don’t blame the museum; you have the wrong target.

Re 63If the ‘domino’ effect as described, impacted on our daily lives, then none would get out of bed to so much as buy a newspaper !.

If you smash up your car, and body, every time you buy a newspaper, maybe that would be a good idea.

The most seemingly insignificant of human activities could, by your reckoning, unleash a trail of destruction, turmoil and death as to rival some of the content of some rugby league matches

.
Killing yourself, in a car accident, might be trivial to you, but not others who have to clean up afterwards.

The ‘picture’ you paint suggest that we should all carry individual, no limit, comprehensive, third party liability, compulsory insurance – just in case !

Only if you have a rather lurid imagination.

In any case, your scenario is already in place and serves to deal; on a daily basis, with your examples. These examples are, fortunately, a minority, because education about the general good sense of wearing a seatbelt has had effect. My general complaint is about compulsion.

Seems we’re arguing pointlessly, then, since the compulsion is aimed at the “I know best” fraternity, not those with the intelligence to see the value of wearing belts.

We will, mindful of our thoughts about the evils of smoking, see that compulsion extended against the remainder of the population who still smoke. I’ve no doubt that many will applaud the proposed extention of non smoking laws into public parks and open spaces regardless of the chipping away by the State of what is left of personal freedom.
Some nanny minded interfering politician intent on making a cheap headlne or two and getting his/her name into Hansard will promote this measure thus ensuring even more firmly that the State is holding our hand when we cross the road – by the approved crossing – of course

It has actually already been denied (do you really think they’d dare to do it just a few months before an election?)

Police are required and have duty to enforce laws and that is it, no matter the laws bias.
There is nothing in any duty laws that say police are to protect and serve, that is a political gimmick..

That might be true in the U.S., but not here:-
CODE OF CONDUCT FOR POLICE OFFICERS
1(a) The primary duties of those who hold the office of constable are the protection of life
and property, the preservation of the Queen’s peace, and the prevention and detection of
criminal offences. To fulfil these duties police officers are granted extraordinary powers; the
public and the police service therefore have the right to expect the highest standards of
conduct from them.

people must have grown-up with very agile mathematical minds!

I can only speak for my (junior) school, but, every afternoon, we had a ten-minute session, where the teacher would throw calculations, taken from anywhere in the 2 – 12 times tables, and the answer had to come back quickly, or you had to stand by your desk; another mistake and it was onto the seat, and a third put you on the desk, with hands on your head, which at 8 years old is mortifying. I always had trouble with the 7 & 8 tables, but soon learnt to calculate x 5, and add two, or x 10 and add take away 2.
L.s.d. came as part of life, and was later invaluable when calculating pattern repeats in old-style carpets, since, for calculations, feet and inches are identical to shillings and pence.

Seriously?

You said “normally.” Naturally, there will be times that it would be preferable, especially if the required answer is in pence.

Can’t you guys use proper measure units, like: litres, kilometres, … ? 😀

Yes, we can, and there’s the rub; in the 1940s/50s, British children were deemed capable of learning (and using) both systems. I was about 7, when I was taught metric (and that included decimetres and decametres,) which stood me in good stead, during my time as a stock controller and production controller, using formulae which were a mix of both.
We had a good laugh, at our grammar school, when a Frenchman (there to help us with A-level French,) admitted that the whole metric system is based on an error; he said that they’d taken the circumference of the earth, divided by a number (which I can’t remember) and came up with the metre, but got the initial measurement wrong.

Just the human brain, no abacus, and no slide rule; workings-out had to be legible, and written in the left-hand column of the page.