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Keep off everyone - except anyone affiliated to, or supporting Labour.

- Dave Davies, Basingstoke

Stay off the ice! Even here where it's below freezing for most of the winter and most of the water freezes, several people have already died this winter, and many others have been put at risk from their pets falling in.
If you still want to risk it, the only ice that's safe is ice on water that does not move, that has been frozen solid for at least two weeks. If you hear a crack, get OFF the ICE!

- Ryssee, Boston, MA, USA

well....i certainly wouldnt take my children on there just in case. id rather NOT take the risk with my kids lives no matter how small some people think the risk is. and if people have died from walking on ice before then its obviously not a case of lightening up is it???

- Jay, liverpool

Please people, get some perspective. Have a look across the Channel to the Netherlands. Far from stopping kids going onto the ice, they are positively encouraged – entire schools are taking their classes out for the day. Evenings and weekends are taken up by everyone who possibly can going on the ice and having fun. There are even reports of offices closing for the afternoon to give employees time to enjoy the ice. Tomorrow the national skating championships will be held – on an open lake. And the whole country is holding its breath in anticipation of being able to reach that holy grail of people-going-on-open-ice: the Elfstedentocht.

As for George, trust me, the weather there has been identical to what it has been in the south-east of England – so if the ice is thick enough here, it’s thick enough there.

So get over yourselves, stop being ridiculous scaredy-cats and just enjoy this magnificent freeze.

- Skater, Amsterdam

funny how I'm seeing this story about the family everywhere (and i walked on the ice they are on, its very thick and very safe) yet the real story happened about a 100 yards away where a man and a dog where rescued from the frozen ice after the dog fell through

- Mr Steve, wanstead

Its called being responsible for you action that may cause harm to others. Nothing liberal in that!

in the last 10 years 20 people have died from falling through ice, 10 of them were trying to make a rescue attempt.

If that child fell through the ice and died would all the posts here be different? Would they be blaming someone for not preventing the tragedy?

So don't be so selfish and consider the impact of your actions of others.

Oh and just for the record I don't think I mentioned politics or laws in my original post.

- Liberal Thinker, UK

I live next to a navigable river. The river sections (the bits that flow) are unfrozen, but the navigations (the man-made cuts) are frozen. However, I live with the water day by day, and know how thick the ice is. I doubt there is anywhere in the South East where the ice is really thick enough to support someone's weight, never mind two people and a child standing next to each other.

I'm not an 'elf & safety' nut, as I recall walking to school on a frozen canal in the early 1980s, but then the ice was 6 inches thick. This is about pure ignorance.

The problem is that the freeze hasn't been long enough to freeze any body of water adequately, and if you DO fall in through ice, there is nothing you can to to get out, and nothing anyone can do to get to you. If the water is deeper than 4ft, then you're probably going to die, either from drowning, or from exposure, while someone works out how to get to you safely.

If people still don't 'get it', just try to imagine how you would get out of a pond or lake once you had fallen through. The remaining ice is now weakened, and won't support your weight when you try to climb out, but at the same time, the water is about zero degrees. It would be a horrid way to go.

- George, London

"of course you can walk on the ice.. everyone needs to lightnen up and stop being so serious. we did it as children, and guess what, still around today, no accidents ! "

...apart from 'Strangely' Brown who drowned

and 'Chalky' White who got hit by that train that time

and 'Dinger ' Bell who played with those lead soldiers for too long.......

- Dixon Kipretich, Ugley, Essex

18 years ago, as adults, my girlfriend and I went onto a frozen pond. We can both still remember the terrifying sound of the ice starting to crack as we neared a thinner patch. We reminisce everytime we see a frozen pond. Never again, we still don't know how deep it was, but we learned a lesson that day.

- Martin H Watson, Teddington

My late mother often talked about ice skating on frozen ponds and lakes as a child. Usually before they went skating they were given the OK that it was safe - the same applied when it started to thaw. The problem these days is that with 'Elf & Safety' and the compensation culture it would take the local council until mid-summer to make a decision!

- Michael, London

Roz, Post of the day!

- Matt, Richmond

Walking on ice on your garden pond or in a fountain is one thing - you're still pretty safe even if the ice breaks but I wouldn't walk on a big lake or a deep river...just in case.

- Isabel, Woking

Hang on, is that Liberal Thinker up there in possesion of a science 'o' level or GCSE? If so they would know that -1 degrees celsius was sufficient to freeze any quantity of water that was fresh and at sea level. The only limiting factor is TIME; how long the water has been at -1 for. After a day at minus 12 I suspect the ice might be strong enough...the PHOTO of a family walking on it with another couple in the background would certainly seem to support that theory!

I suspect their thinking is so liberal as they have no facts on which to base their outrageous claims. Hang on, Liberal Thinker, your name isn't Jacqui Smith is it? Would you like to pass a law to make ice illegal maybe? That would stop anyone walking on it! Yeah, what a great idea, think of the number of children that would save. Quick, don't consult anyone, pass an unenforceable law!

Just for the record, I have walked on frozen lakes, rivers, buckets of water, bird baths, ice rinks, and a glacier. I've never fallen in, though more than once I've had the ice crack underfoot, and ended up with a cold wet ankle. I've also never drowned. Now, in the same way as its up to me if I choose to accept the dangers of drinking, smoking, bungee jumping, skiing, snowboarding, or travelling to war-zones, its also up to me if I want to walk on some ice.

IMHO I think the dangers of falling in freezing water are similar to the dangers of throwing yourself down a mountain on a couple of bits of wood, yet thats ok?

- Notanidiotunlikesome, Leeds, England

Its just a question of how cold it is. If it is cold enough to freeze the pond, and stays cold for long enough, then it is perfectly safe to walk or skate on the ice. I did so myself as a small child (for whom is is a lot safer anyway, because they are much lighter.)

It is a question of jugement where there is not a fixed "stay off the ice" priciple. It is disgusting to see such a display of pruriant intereringism from passing motorists and overweening newspaper columnists

- Bill, Switzerland

Let them walk on the ice, it is called fun. As your article states temperatures were down to -12 and have been close to below zero for weeks ergo the ice.

Why does every tom, dick and harry feel they need to dictate the actions of others? The ice was thick, they checked it out beforehand and walked on it. People have been doing this for centuries and we used to have the intelligence to make our own decisions.

- Bruce, London

Al and Joanna, please feel free to walk on frozen lakes as you wish; just don't expect me to put my life at risk trying to rescue you if you fall through.

Even in Norway people fall through the ice and it's typically much thicker here than in the UK.

- Chris, Okkenhaug, Norway

They'd be lucky to be up to their knees even if it did break. Hardly a great risk is it? And it is always nice to see a child walking on water.

- John, Dundee, UK

Michael Gove wants parents to run schools. They know best.

- Fred Smith, Farnham England

It isn't the nanny state to tell people not to walk on frozen ponds. It is plain dangerous, -5 isn't cold enough to freeze the ice to a strength that is able to carry the weight of a person.

That's why soon we will see a report on this very site about someone dead because they fell through the ice.

- Liberal Thinker, UK

Let them walk on the ice. Its called Darwinism.

- George, London

It never ceases to amaze me: the hoops that prospective adoptive parents have to go through to proove they are good enough to look after a child, whilst total morons breed with complete impunity.

- Roz, Chamonix, France

Oh for goodness sake. This is the nanny state at its worst. "Despite the little boy falling over several times, they seem to have made it off the ice in one piece" - I suspect that this was because it was frozen! In the last 10 years over 30,000 people have been killed in traffic accidents, and yet some still drive for pleasure. I'm off to find a lake quickly.

- Al, London, UK

Did the parents with that child have ANY common sense?
I think not. Irresponsible and stupid springs to mind...

- Sara Ancill, Dartford, Kent

of course you can walk on the ice.. everyone needs to lightnen up and stop being so serious. we did it as children, and guess what, still around today, no accidents !

- Joanna, london

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