Before I delve into this, I need you to keep in mind, dear reader, that French fries are known as "chips" in Britain. This word survives in this sense in American English in the phrase "fish and chips".
Now then, one popular electrical kitchen item in many British homes is something called the chip pan. You pour oil into it, plug it in and fry your potato sticks or wedges up in that. Sounds safe, right? As you have already guessed, they are notorious for catching fire as a result of all the oil that is involved with using them.
It also doesn't help that many people, who are on the idiotic side of the spectrum, use their chip pans after a night out and addled with intoxicants. As soon as they get in the door at 4 a.m., they think the following:
In the campiest English accent I am capable of: "Ooh, time for some chips. That would be just lovely. Some nice, lovely chips coming up."
After firing up the chip pan, you can almost guarantee an individual like this will crash on their living room sofa, intending to wait for the oil to get hot, and become absorbed in their text messages or a repeat of "The X Factor" or whatever vacuous garbage passes for "entertainment" these days. It is just a matter of a very short time till this person, along with several unlucky neighbors, will be made homeless once the oil goes beyond being hot, if you get my drift.
Chairman of the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority David Acton said, in the wake of two serious local home chip fires in the space of one day, "Chip pans are dangerous and we want people to get rid of them and use safer alternatives like oven chips instead." The Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service notes that "chip pans can be extremely dangerous" and "are the cause of the largest number of fire-related injuries in the home." [Emphasis mine.]
So, chip pans are pretty bad and really shouldn't even be offered on the market. I am not a big fan of the ban, but this is one exception I'd consider, especially as these devices are responsible for causing most fires in the average home.
The unelected oligarchs of the European Union have declared war on powerful electrical appliances. A ban on vacuum cleaners with motors of 1,600 watts or over went into effect last week. The aim is to make only vacuums with just 900-watt motors available by 2016. Not satisfied with this, a whole range of other high-power electricals including tea kettles, hairdryers and lawnmowers will be banned and replaced by lower-wattage versions.
How this makes sense when people will be using these appliances for longer in order to get their carpet clean or hair dry or water to boil has not been explained.
Also, is anyone — aside from those who honestly believe the Obama adminstration is committed to defeating ISIS — stupid enough to believe that these privileged politcos will abide by the same diktats they handed down to us?
Seriously, go into European Commission leader Jean-Claude Juncker's home in 2016, and I guarantee you'll find not just one but several 1,600-watt vacuum cleaners. Hypocrisy, it's elemental, dear Watson/reader.
Chip pans, however, do not appear to be on the list of appliances targeted by the EU. It's fine to allow people to endanger their lives and possibly those of others by using these little fire-starters.
The EU needs to learn that the point behind a ban on things, if considered, usually evolves from the desire to save lives, not power. The purchase of a 1,600-watt vacuum cleaner to adequately clean one's floors is a free market choice. Having to flee your residence because your jackass of a neighbor viewed his kitchen as his personal fast-food establishment while high is a choice no-one would make.
I am not suprised that the EU lacks the libertarian élan to know the difference.
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