Scouts to no longer bring penknives on camping trips

From Telegraph.co.uk

Scouts will now be a little worse prepared after they were banned from carrying their traditional penknives due to the fears of those in charge of health and safety.

By Chris Irvine Published: 10:44AM BST 06 Sep 2009

Dave Budd, a knife-maker who runs courses training Scouts about the safe use of blades, wrote that the growing problem of knife crime meant action had to be taken.

"Sadly, there is now confusion about when a Scout is allowed to carry a knife," he wrote. "The series of high-profile fatal stabbings [has] highlighted a growing knife culture in the UK.

"I think it is safest to assume that knives of any sort should not be carried by anybody to a Scout meeting or camp, unless there is likely to be a specific need for one. In that case, they should be kept by the Scout leaders and handed out as required."

Troops leaders however have said the decision is "very sad". Does anyone else see this as insanity? This smacks of the common U.S. "Zero Tolerance" lunacy where a child is expelled from his school for wearing a hard-earned t-shirt extolling his skill at competitive marksmanship. They are banning tools in the U.K., first guns, now pocket knives... Is the rise in criminal use of knives any surprise? Soon lots of very young Englishmen will be running willy nilly* with scissors! *wil·ly–nil·ly

Pronunciation: \ˌwi-lē-ˈni-lē\

Function: adverb or adjective

Etymology: alteration of will I nill I or will ye nill ye or will he nill he

Date: 1608 1 : by compulsion : without choice 2 : in a haphazard or spontaneous manner