A safe compromise

sir – Princess Anne (report, December 28) makes the valuable point that increasing health and safety rules could put more young people at risk.

Children should be encouraged to take part in adventurous pursuits. Danger is an inherent part of most demanding outdoor activities, and timidity can often be the very cause of accidents.

Reckless behaviour is not the answer, but neither is too many restrictions. Outward Bound activities do much to bring out the very best in team building, as well as building the character of individuals involved.

Sensible safety measures will always be necessary in activities such as rock climbing, sailing, canoeing and pot holing. But too many restrictions could destroy the very purpose and value that all challenging outdoor activities are designed to produce. Hiking across wild and arduous countryside with a Satnav rather than map and compass would considerably diminish that activity, as would the use of a mobile phone. The aim must always be to build confidence and good self-reliance.

Lt Col Paul French (retd)

Andover, Hampshire

sir – A few years ago we moved from health-and-safety conscious Britain to rural France.

We used constantly to moan about the over-protection of our son, the risk-adverse culture and its potential consequences as he grew up. How different it is here. We can collect him from school with his trousers torn and a cut on his forehead, only to be met with a Gallic shrug from his teacher. Is there perhaps a happy medium?

Richard Sinnerton

Argeliers, Occitanie, France