I was wandering through Marks & Spencers at the weekend as you do and some Christmas crackers caught my eye- or rather the notice under them did. It was something to the effect of "....blah, blah....Pyrotechnics Act...blah, blah....Christmas crackers are not permitted to be sold to persons under the age of 16" Huh? I thought.

Anyway I was watching the One show on the Beeb on Monday and there was a slot on the dangers in the home at Christmas with a comedian Arthur (somebody) and a man from the Health & Safety Executive. Turns out Christmas crackers (the snapper strip inside) are now classified as a Class 1 explosive and as such are in the same group as nitro glycerine. Now there's a thought, nitro glycerine in Christmas crackers, adds a whole new meaning to the phrase "making Christmas go with a bang" Certainly liven up those family dinners!

Does anyone remember the Christmas special of the Good Life where Tom and Barbara invited Margo and Gerry round for Christmas dinner but couldn't afford to buy crackers? They made their own out of newspaper and the cardboard tubes from toliet rolls but didn't have the snapper strips so Tom instructed everyone to shout "bang" when they pulled them....talk about predicting the future!

Christmas crackers are more popular in our stores this year and we had some at my work's Christmas lunch last week.

No-one seemed to know what to do with them and the meal had already started so I offered the end of my cracker to the girl opposite me to pull. It split in half but the snap didn't work so I pulled both ends myself so it would crack.

Now, what did everyone else do....................... pull both ends of their snap themselves while still inside the cracker then carefully open the cracker ................... ah well, maybe next year

Probably worth setting up a training session on how to use Christmas crackers in advance of the next work Christmas lunch. Don't forget to include the requisite hard hat and safety glasses!

http://fullfact.org/factchecks/healt...rs_europe-2407

Thanks for the link, good to get things correct even if I was making light of the situation. Followed it and looks like the Beeb got the wording wrong- or it could have been me

Seems Christmas crackers are classed as Category 1 fireworks rather than the Class 1 explosives....oh well so much for the plans for nitro glycerine filled crackers. Health and safety gone mad, wonder if the kiddy cap gun I had as a child has been outlawed?

Note to self, stop trying to be jovial, 'tis Christmas so all us Brits should focus on being glum.

I had to explain Christmas Crackers to the young girl at the check out in Home goods here the other week, she was fascinated and thought they looked like a lot of fun.
Health and safety has run amok.

Not exactly Christmas Crackers, but "crackers" none the less, the posts just reminded me of this recently posted on my FB.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1YXu...eature=related