TWO stories caught my eye this week.

One was comic, the other tragic; in a strange way both were linked.

The comedy first, and the farce of the two police officers told by Ofsted that their mutually beneficial childminding arrangements were illegal.

Sometimes I wonder whether deep in the bowels of the bureaucracy there is a civil servants’ secret society hell-bent on causing as much mischief as it can. Perhaps on a Friday afternoon, there’s a coded signal and members of the sect slip away from their desks and congregate by the photocopier. There, high on milky coffee and rich tea biscuits, they concoct a competition to see who can come up with the barmiest idea to grab the biggest headline.

Sadly, this little fantasy doesn’t explain this nonsense. The truth is more mundane.

In the past dozen years we have seen an explosion of legislation and regulation. Much of it is badly worded, impractical and unnecessary.

It is often applied without commonsense.

The powers-that-be have given up actually governing the nation, and instead are trying unsuccessfully to micro-manage our lives.

We don’t need it. Most of us handle life and its complexities better than they can. At times like this, the Government reminds me of one of those old-fashioned park keepers who used to be the bane of everyone’s life, forever chasing picnickers off the grass and stopping kids playing football; enforcing so-called rules that mean everything to them, but which contribute nothing to the good of society and are ignored by the sensible citizen.

Now the tragedy, and the awful, heartbreaking case of Fiona Pilkington who, let down by her local council, police and other agencies, killed herself and her disabled daughter after years of harassment from antisocial neighbours.

At first sight you may think there’s no link.

In fact, isn’t one case about over-zealous public servants and the other about lax ones?

I think the link hinges on three key qualities: initiative, judgement and responsibility.

When we employ public servants we expect more than a walking, talking rule book. We expect someone who will examine the rules and apply them using discretion and fairness. We ask them to use initiative and judgement.

This didn’t happen in either of these cases.

In the first, the man from Ofsted should have known no harm was being done.

In the second, the police and councils should have realised that they were dealing with an extraordinary situation and they should have used their initiative and devised their own solution, one that maybe wasn’t in the rule book, but one that would have worked.

They didn’t because no one would take responsibility.

The Ofsted inspector wouldn’t go back to his boss and say “nothing doing”. He knew this wasn’t what he wanted to hear.

The police and council did not give poor Mrs Pilkington adequate support because they felt safer sticking to the rules.

It was fear – fear of the comeback, fear of failure, fear of litigation, and it led to official paralysis.

Society needs rules. But we also need people who will challenge the rule book and, where necessary, rewrite it. We need people who will lead by action and example.

Public servants who are prepared to take risks and do this should be praised when they get it right, but not pilloried when they make mistakes – as they inevitably will.

The alternative is a society where we all watch our backs and keep our noses clean – and do precious little else.