AMAZING things can happen when certain items fall to earth. Yes, Icarus may have come unstuck - literally - when he flew just that little bit too close to the sun. Nevertheless, it is possible to take a modicum of comfort reflecting on his untimely end when speculating that gravity might never have been discovered had the apple not fallen on to the head of a certain Isaac Newton.

So, as we can see, there is a positive and a negative side to all things. Let us now consider the remarkable case of the official warning notices that have suddenly appeared on the pear trees in Cripplegate Park. The council seems to think that people could be in mortal danger of being injured by falling fruit and the city council's Ian Yates has valiantly tried to justify the decision, saying "these signs divert people away from the danger". However, something tells us that his heart's not really in it.

Of course, as nearly everybody knows, this is the health and safety mentality taken to a new extreme. The twin factors of living in litigious-happy times and the current crusading zeal to eliminate all risk from human existence are creating a climate of unrealistic expectation.

For life can never be free of risk. We may meet our nemesis in any manner of ways, such is the nature of destiny. There can be no guarantees whatsoever - and while all reasonable steps should be taken to preserve life and limb, the threat posed by earth-bound pears is not one that should divert our attention for too long. Of course, such bounty would once have been regarded as a windfall as any scrumping small boy would confirm. We think that it's a great pity that the urge to regulate and control is now producing such a fearful, nervous society.