Halloween and other fancy dress occasions encourage dressing up for adults and children alike. So its no surprise that it is possible to hire, or buy, a mad surgeon outfit complete with blood splattered white coat.

But it the syringe and needle OK for children? Without wishing to promote the nanny state, the syringe and needle might just soften a childs’ understanding that handling discarded syringes is a bad thing to do.

Society’s attitude to guns as toys have changed considerably in recent years – though gun crime seems to escalate, so perhaps there is no cause and effect here – but it surely cannot be a bad thing to turn syringes and needles into playthings.