From nanny state to naggy state

A family member teaches at an Academy, where throughout this hot spell, the children have been obliged to wear their blazers, with shirts done up to the neck complete with tie. To add insult to injury, they are not allowed to have water in the classroom. Stupidity is not just confined to members of the public.

People who work in schools are members of the public.

As a teacher in that school I would have encouraged the children to break the rules re blazers and I would have allowed them to have a bottle of water on their desks. Decent schools already allow this, realising that well hydrated kids work better and don't feel so tired.

But we do get reminders (all the bloody time!) and people still behave stupidly! How can anyone not know that hot sun burns skin and that babies are particularly at risk?

Natural selection at work!

I feel sorry for the kids though

Of course people who work in schools are members of the public, Bags. Presumably is it the governors or the head who have decided this daft policy.

Ana - all the reports say that 6 soldiers collapsed, two died and one is in hospital. This on the hottest day of the year round here. Only likely explanation is heat exhaustion and dehydration - one falling by the wayside might be something else, but six is a bit too many. It is thoroughly irresponsible. The army medics should have cautioned against the exercise, or altered it to take account of conditions. It is one thing to die of heatstroke in a combat zone, but quite another on a training exercise. Pointless waste of young lives.

Daft rules should be broken, or at least bent when hot weather or things happen that the makers of the daft rules didn't think of – contingency plans. I doubt if it would really be a problem. Even presidents and prime ministers take their jackets off in warm weather.

I agree, Mishap, it was a terrible thing to happen (and not for the first time) - but we don't know whether they had been deprived of water, or not given enough, which was what you implied in your original post.

Just been reading about the soldier deaths. Not looking good. However, I do think the army knows about keeping soldiers hydrated on exercises. There must have been a breakdown in the system, for which somebody could be responsible.

I noriced it was an exercise to choose people for SAS training. I'm wondering if they are supposed to be at a stage where they deal with things like heat exhaustion without supervision at this stage.

It is still shocking.

From what I understand from the BBC news, although not confirmed by the MoD, the soldiers were aspiring SAS members.

If it was a selection exercise and they were being judged, and in competition with each other, it's understandable that determined young men would not want to give up or appear defeated.

I can't think of another explanation for such high numbers.

It does seem sad that their desire to be accepted and not to appear wimps might have lead to their deaths. Collapsing from heat exhaustion carries with it the inevitable conclusion that there was insufficient water consumed. I also understand that part of the exercise was for them to be going it alone, which did not allow for colleagues spotting the warnng signs and alerting the person. Steps should have been taken to increase the safeguards after even a cursory glance at the weather forecast.

The combination of SAS and TA didn't sit well for me. However keen I can't imagine that most part time soldiers would be as fit and resilient as professionals - and even they get into trouble sometimes.

My DH made himself quite ill yesterday, insisting on trying to finish decorating the downstairs Loo regardless of the temperature. But then he always knows best!

It seems that they may have been seen by hikers