There are certain stories you see on the news that just leave you slack jawed with incredulity. Astonished because of what happened; troubled by what it says about the society we seem to have created.
Let me explain. It concerns 44 year old Alison Hume who had been out walking late one night when she decided to take a short cut home. But she was next to a disused mine shaft, and fell forty-five feet, breaking several bones. Her daughter found her and called the rescue services.
The fire service were quickly on the scene. One fireman had been lowered down while a paramedic was strapped up in a harness ready to follow. So far everything is as you would expect. But then senior fire officers refused to allow the men to use a winch to lift out the mother-of-two because the rules said the equipment could only be used to save their own staff. And so the woman lay there - in agony. For hours.
Eventually a police mountain rescue team arrived and pulled her out, by which time she was suffering from hypothermia, had a massive heart attack and died. It has stirred a furious debate over here about the rules on health and safety. The legislation designed to keep us healthy and safe, it would seem, is now being interpreted in ways that fly in the face of common humanity. The Scottish fire service in question has not apologised to the family; only said it will review the way its rules are implemented. How lame.
I was presenting a TV show a couple of years back, and had to tape the opening walking beside a canal. Not along a slippery towpath, but a properly built sidewalk in the middle of the city of Birmingham. I was told by my producer I would have to wear a life jacket in case I fell in. I just laughed, but was told very sternly it was no laughing matter. This from the same organisation that has sent me to cover wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. My managers would say these are the rules. And of course these rules also mean that if they're not applied properly there is someone to blame.
And so if you're a teacher and you want to take the children climbing, you might not in case anyone falls and hurts themselves. Easier to stay in the classroom. And that logic ends with the perversity of people employed by society to keep us safe allowing someone to die. There are some rules that are meant to be broken. This is Jon Sopel for CBS News in London.