While reading the Mudcat BS section today, I began to be irritated by the grinning face of Esther Rantzen popping up and down in an ad for the Accident Helpline. The ad gives the impression of being an advice service for those who've had an accident, but if you click on it - which I did out of curiosity - it's the usual commercial firm touting for business.

I find these accident claims firms - "No win, no fee" - distasteful, and the "I've had an injury - anyone has to be blamed except me" culture very sad. I'm sure there are very reasonable and distinct cases where compensation is due to someone because of the mistakes of others, but the battening on to accident/injury victims by law firms is - to me - slightly sick-making.

Hardships are bound to befall many of us from time to time, but there seems to be a huge increase in looking for scapegoats - and money - elsewhere, rather than taking responsibility for one's actions.

In my working days, it seemed to me that a large proportion of Health & Safety and Personnel procedures, rules and strategies were driven by the fear of being sued, rather than any benevolent interest in employees.

Hey ho - rant over - back to the tenor banjo (now there's a health & safety issue...)