Dear Reader,

   On Monday it rained hard, and then it rained really hard, and then it rained as hard as I’ve ever seen it. And it kept doing that all day. I didn’t think much about it until mid afternoon, when I heard there were radio reports of road closures and floods.

   Anyway, I managed to get home eventually and watched as it rained some more. Next morning it was bright and clear so I set off for work as usual. After about an hour (the journey normally takes around 10 minutes) it became clear that just about every road of significance in the area was closed by either a flood, abandoned cars or some other hazard. Our office was effectively on an island with one way in…and to get to it that way would have taken most of the day.

   One member of staff did manage to get through. She found we had no power and none of the phones were working either. These are not ideal conditions for operating a business in the 21st century. So I turned around, went home and switched on the TV.

   I went straight to the BBC News and the very first thing I saw was some video footage taken from a helicopter. It was of one of my investment properties, and there was a dinghy sailing past it. That would have been fine if it was on the river but it isn’t. Or rather it wasn’t.

   By Wednesday morning it hadn’t rained for 24 hours , and so I expected a nice easy run to work. But all the same roads were still closed and to add to the drama, engineers were trying to mend a dam which was in danger of bursting and making everything very wet indeed. The M1 through the area was now closed and all traffic was diverted through the few remaining roads still open.

   I have done 5 miles in two and a half hours before, but I was very drunk at the time and on foot. This time I was in a car. As you might imagine, I arrived at work in a less than genial mood. I was only cheered up by the site of our accounts lady turning up having taken three and a half hours to cover roughly the same distance.

   The whole thing was made so much worse because so many roads (including the M1) were closed as a ‘precautionary measure’. There was a man from The Environment Agency on radio, trotting out the well worn line of “If it saves just one life, it will have been worth it.”

   At first this seems like a ‘game set and match’ argument, until you actually think about it. In the last year that figures are available, 184 people were killed on British motorways. So the logical extension of the ‘one life’ argument is to close all the motorways – every day. Almost 200 lives saved just like that. Because as sure as night follows day, a similar number will be killed next year.

   And while we’re at it, how about closing all the other roads as well? Because in the same year, 3,461 people were killed on all UK roads and 36,000 seriously injured. In fact you have a 1 in 17 chance of being killed or seriously injured in a car accident in your lifetime.

   I’m being facetious of course, but there’s an important point to make here. Our society is moving towards a totally risk averse ethos. No amount of risk, however small, is tolerated or accepted. Safety in all matters is not just a priority – it’s an all pervading priority. What I mean by that is that there could be a massive reward out there (in this case, millions of people going about their daily business unhindered) but it is sacrificed because there is a tiny risk of a negative outcome for someone (in this case, that that a dam may burst and some people two miles away driving down the M1 may be affected).

   No account is taken of the risk reward relationship. Total safety is the only goal.

   Well it matters for all sorts of reasons, but it matters most because this ‘risk averse’ ethos is slowly but surely seeping into every aspect of our lives. And for any of us to move forward, either as a society or individuals, we have to take risks.

   The risks I’ve talked about so far are physical ones, (and certainly in the past, we are all grateful to people who have taken great physical risks to open up new frontiers and possibilities), but there’s more to it than that. Recent studies suggest that young people today are more risk averse in their education, careers and approach to life than any other previous generation.

   Right at the time when they should have a ‘go for it and to hell with the consequences’ approach to life, they’re behaving like middle aged drones, worried about mortgages, pensions and a nice safe career.

   In the long run, this can only stifle individual development, innovation and wealth creation. And it can all be traced back to the same ‘nanny state’ culture which closed all the roads in south Yorkshire last week.

   By evening, some of the flood water had receded, power and phones were restored, and the threat of a disaster of apocalyptic proportions through a dam burst had all but gone – which didn’t come as a great surprise. The immediate crisis was all but over.

   Next day we went to survey the damage to our property. The water had been six feet high in the house (not helped I have to say, by the fact that the fire service had pumped millions of gallons from the aforementioned dam down the valley and into my house) but within 24 hours it was gone…

   I spoke to a tenant who told me that people had been looting the houses the previous day by swimming through the back gardens (thereby avoiding the police who were in abundance) and getting in through the windows.

   I didn’t know whether to be more appalled by the despicable crime of kicking people when they are so completely down, or the pathetic desperation of people who will swim through raw sewage to steal water damaged goods. I left there feeling very strongly that we are just one major event away from a total breakdown in law and order as we know it.

   One heartening aspect of this whole disaster was the reaction of those so badly affected. Here were people who had lost their home and possessions, and yet there was none of the hysteria you get when something like this happens elsewhere. Despite the best efforts of the reporters and journalists to whip up a wailing and crying reaction, they didn’t really get one.

   So by Thursday , I was starting to feel a little better about the week, but my mood darkened when I turned my attention to an event taking place in London – the handing over of power from a grinning idiot to a miserable looking slack jawed Scot in Downing Street.

   Now I’ve yearned for the day when Mr Blair made his departure for some time, but this wasn’t what I had in mind. Apparently, Mr Brown informed us, there was a need for reform and change, and that change was about to begin…

   It’s incredible how he can stand there with his head held high and effectively say that what’s gone before was rubbish and now he was going to put it right. Maybe he could have popped round and had a word with his next door neighbour at some point over the past decade. It would have saved us all a lot of trouble.

   And then he announced his first cabinet…a collection of no marks and light weights like you wouldn’t believe. Let me tell you what this shower did for a living before they went into politics:

   Six of them were solicitors, three were teachers, three were reporters, three were union leaders, one was a youth leader…and four don’t appear to have done anything apart from politics.

   Now I don’t wish to decry any of those jobs or professions, but there’s something missing. Not one of those people has ever worked in a business, let alone run one. You remember businesses? Those things that generate the wealth that the politicians love to confiscate and spend.

   How can we possibly have a government that understands and reacts to the needs of the wealth generating sector of the economy, when not one person in it has even a basic knowledge of it. The public sector has grown by 50% over the last ten years. Why? Because It’s all these people know.

   Do you see any problem there?

   The whole sorry mess is summed up by the appointment of the Business and Enterprise Minister, responsible for promoting and nurturing an enterprise culture in this country. He used to be a college law lecturer.

   Is it any wonder, that under the current government, (and previous cabinets have been very similarly constructed) there has been a new law passed for every day they’ve been in power, whilst attention to enterprise, innovation and wealth creation is approaching zero?

   I rest my case m’lud.

   And then Friday came the day the posties chose to have a long weekend. Or a postal strike as they prefer to call it. To someone running a direct response business that depends on post coming in and post going out, this is not good news.

   Now I’m sure there are many postal workers who are excellent spouses and parents and who are the life and soul of many a party, but the minute they go to work they turn into the most uncooperative set of inflexible jobs worths it will ever be your displeasure to meet. Dealing with anyone from Royal Mail is like stepping back into the 1970’s when customers were something to be endured rather than nurtured. Ever seen Life On Mars? Most Royal Mail offices and personnel look like that…colourless, drab with a can’t-do attitude.

   Can you imagine an organisation that charges customers who spend millions a year, exactly the same amount for their services as someone who spends a pound? No need to imagine because it exists. Oh sure, they give something called mailsort discounts, but it’s not really a discount because to get it you have to do their job and sort the mail for them.

   I was once approached by a company doing a survey on behalf of Royal Mail. They wanted to know whether I’d be interested in securing a discount…in return for delivering the mail to their individual sorting offices throughout the country myself. “Tell you what,” I said “I’ll get my trainers on and shove ‘em through the doors for you as well. Save you getting out of bed.” I’m not sure whether they wrote that down.

   I don’t know what Royal mail bosses want to do that’s caused their employees to strike, but whatever it is, it can’t possibly make things any worse. My guess is that they’re insisting on them working for their wages for a change. I can see how that would upset them. Most industries went through this process 20 years ago.

   Now I want to nail my colours to the mast here. I hate smoking, and I hate going into pubs and restaurants and being forced to breathe other peoples smoke. I think the ban is a good thing. But here’s what’s interesting…

   A few weeks ago, the government (at enormous expense) sent out a package of signs and window stickers to every employer and public building in the country. Did you know that you're not allowed to smoke in church? Thought so, but just in case you are in any doubt, every beautiful church door in the country will now carry a big ugly red sign reminding you of the fact. It is an offence not to display those signs, and the fine for not doing so is three times the fine for defying the ban.

   I’ve been in business for the last 17 years. Nobody has ever smoked in any of my offices. Nobody. The time for displaying a sign was when it was legal but undesirable, not when it’s illegal and everyone knows it. What other signs would they like me to display…a no stealing sign, a no GBH sign…a no murder sign perhaps? It’s all illegal.

   They’re wasting our time and our money – and we let them get away with it. Well you won’t find one of their dammed ugly signs displayed in my office, but you won’t find anyone smoking either. I didn’t need their ban to sort than one out. I’ll expect a knock on the door and a court summons any day soon.

   I started out thinking I’d be writing in a light hearted way about a series of unconnected incidents – but a lot of this is connected and it’s not really funny.

   The size of the public sector and the number of people who rely on it for their wages, has grown rapidly over the past 10 years. These people consume wealth, they do not create it. The state sector is overseen by a government obsessed with more and more legislation backed control. Individual freedom is diminished. Risk of any kind is discouraged or even banned. Wealth creation is ignored. Emphasis is placed on the redistribution of wealth already created. Self reliance is shunned in favour of reliance on the ‘nanny state’

   The good news for you and I as enterprising individuals, is that we recognise what’s really happening and carry on regardless. We may be swimming against a tide, but because the masses have allowed themselves to become immersed in the state created culture, there’s less competition. Those of us who know that wealth creation, self reliance and a little calculated risk taking is what we need as individuals and a society, have an open field to run into. And that’s what we continue to do.

   There is an alternative though…

   You could, but I hope you won’t.

   Very Best Wishes,

   John Harrison

Extracted from 'The Toilet Pan Millionaire', by John Harrison ISBN 978-0-9557435-2-8. Published By Streetwise Publications, Eden House, Genesis Park, Sheffield Road, Rotherham S60 1DX. Tel 01709 820033 www.streetwisepublications.co.uk