Don't you think it's more likely that requiring plumbing be done by expensive card carrying professionals will actually cause more leaks not to be fixed as the householder will now have to pay, what, $50-$100 for a plumber to come and fix that dripping tap or overflowing toilet cistern vs a few dollars in parts to do it themselves?

Besides, how many DIY plumbers would actually leave a leaking joint in place?

I rest my case...

Do you mean you have no problem with there being "regulations" (eg IEE/IET wiring regs for the UK, NEC for the USA, VDE etc)?

Or are you saying you approve of running plumbing and wiring as a closed shop, artisan style?

The former is necessary - but I have not problems making my wiring IEE 17th compliant. OTOH I detest closed shop practices and I'm surprised and slightly disappointed the Australians put up with it.

In which case I can see how they might like Nanny watching "the Internet" to keep the bad men away...

And in the UK, the RIPA Act 2000 was roundly abused:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/23/councils_ripa_warning/

Big surpise...

I do not think DIY should be regulated beyond requiring that the person doing the work "is competent" (which is what the laws pertaining to UK gas plumbing state[1])

England and Wales went through this in 2005 with the introduction of "Part P" of the Building Regulations. Basically anyone doing electrical work that is notifiable (most major work) must either be registered or must report the work to the Building Control dept of the local council for a fee. The councils generally don;t know how to handle this so mostly just get an electrician in afterwards to perform a full system test for another fee making, say adding a new circuit cost around £200-300 in fees alone.

Prior to the introduction of Part P the government's own stats for England and Wales stated there were around 5 deaths per year from fixed electrical wiring. It notes a further 25 possible deaths due to fires where the fire was due to an electrical source of ignition but that does not break down into fixed wiring vs appliances and extension leads. Most informed sources estimate the number of deaths from fixed wiring directly or by resulting fire to be around 10 per year.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CFsQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stockport.gov.uk%2F2013%2F2994%2Fdevelopmentcontrol%2F14406%2F41351%2Fpartpelectricalsafety&ei=QvU1UJaYHe210QW8mIDoBQ&usg=AFQjCNGZgEjqrIWPIGTCIWqii5Metf20jw&sig2=2aV0bfyQw0v8RUIUotcsTg

The number of deaths on the road in the GB was 1901 in 2011. Scale that back a bit to remove Scotland.

Do I think limiting who can do electrical work is a waste of resources? Yes I do. The resources would be far better spend on road safety.

To require being a member of an accredited institution to do water plumbing (with the possible exception of sealed heating systems) is even more laughable.

There is a difference between regulation and limiting electrical and plumbing work to members of a closed shop artisan/union style which seems to be the case in Australia and becoming the case in the UK.

[1] I am legally allowed to do my own gas work in England, provided it is "not for hire or reward".

s/force/forge/

Knowing about how Australia likes to regulate home electrical work and even plumbing (I'm talking water, not gas here) I would say the average Australian is either very much asleep or very much likes being cared for by Nanny.

Not quite what I would expect from the children of pioneering emigrants looking to force a new life...

No, that's not the case.

But the reason I am not kicking your arse over your comment is that the reality is worse.

No-one cares. This place has descended into total apathy.

Not going to happen.

We have two main parties who are now extremely similar in politics and a third "half" who lacks spine and a mismash of tiny parties who will never get represenation under our current voting system.

Coupled with the fact that the majority of the people are either apathetic (because they believe the above is insoluble) or just uninformed (and do not care to be), there is absolutely no chance of anything changing in this country. We've been this way for decades now - the last major movement of consequence was the Suffragettes.

We've been kissing Uncle Sam's butt since WWII if not before.

John Simpson, a famous former BBC foreign correspondent, holds dual Eire-UK citizenship. In one of his books ("A Mad World, My Masters", IIRC) he mentions that he did this purposefully as the UK Government will seldom lift a finger to protect its own citizens who are in trouble abroad should that action compromise some particular deal or negotiation that going down - whereas the Irish government have a much better track record in that regard.

And here's another one:

http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/rileyy69-aka-reece-of-weymouth-and.html

Some pretty nasty alleged comments in there.

They'll still book the meeting because they'll forget to check the calendar.

Not only - but you can even use the GoogleAPI to completely automate stuff as far as you wish.

This may be helpful:

The blog: http://neverseconds.blogspot.co.uk/

BBC story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-18454800

Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/school-dinner-blogger-martha-payne-photo-ban-overturned-7854487.html

Council rebuttal: http://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/news/2012/jun/statement-school-meals-argyll-and-bute-council

Some of it looks OK. Some of it looks utterly dire, even compared to what I was being forced to eat 35 years ago! It's not a patch on what my local school serves my kids (I've eaten 3 meals with them, paid for I should add!) and down in East Sussex, £2 consistently buys a good healthy and tasty meal. I was so impressed I actually emailed the catering company's Regional Manager (Chartwells who are contracted to provide our school dinners) and East Sussex CC (school meals division) and said I thought it was an apt time to praise there efforts - the email was received with some excitement judging by the reply I just got back :) It's very easy to criticise, sometimes the opportunity to praise is overlooked. Back on topic - full marks to Martha aka VEG - trended on Twitter worldwide today, 1000+ comments on the BBC News story, front page on BBC News and Independent news (web editions). And as someone said, it looks like Argyll and Bute Council have reversed their decision - probably because her MSP (Member of Scottish Parliament) who also happens to be the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning told them to! This sort of story warms my heart - thanks to the Internet, a minor coverup of a small time incident[1] that would have never made it past the local paper now becomes a national and international story. [1] This is a fairly minor event in the grand scheme of things, but is rather symptomatic of the "brush under the carpet" attitude of the authorities in the UK - hopefully this particular event will make other authorities sit up and listen.