In praise of the nanny state
I don’t suppose I need to repeat the refrain about this government’s authoritarianism. In its eleven years in power, Labour’s base instinct has been to legislate its way out of every problem, every bad headline and every moral panic.
We’ve seen a criminal justice policy dictated more by Paul Dacre than common sense and we’ve seen public health campaigns that achieve Cromwellian standards of piety. Such is the level of disgust with the overbearing Big Brother State, we’re frequently seeing liberals, libertarians and some left-wingers converge onto a common ground they rarely share.
And then this week the government went and threw a fork in the road.
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Sorry, you mean some bloggers aren’t white men?
Sunny’s recent post about writing for the bearpit that is Comment is Free – and the attendant issues about the abuse slung at women and minorities – raises a lot of interesting points, most of which this white, Cambridge-educated Yorkshireman isn’t all that qualified to answer without sounding like a complete dilletante.
Still, I’d like to think that there are one or two non-moronic observations I can make.
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It’s time to start worrying
By now, you won’t need me to tell you that poor Gordon’s political future is as precarious as an icecube in an ocean.
Every day we see stories about the New Scandal!, the latest Poll Shock! or a rumoured Cabinet Coup! and every day we see our nation’s blessed punditocracy bashing their heads against their keyboards and submitting the results under the title of What Gordon Must Do Now.
Run to the left! they cry. No, run to the right! Let’s reconnect with out heartlands! No, don’t forget about our precious marginals! After reading only a handful of these articles, you’re forgiven if your ears start ringing with white noise.
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Violent femmes
Here’s a dilemma that’s got ‘Bleeding Heart’ written all over it: how do we understand the not-so-shocking fact that rather than just being simpering, sugar & spice sweethearts, women are just as capable (though far less likely) of committing crime as men?
Whilst he doesn’t make any earth-shattering insights (this is Comment is Free, after all), Ally Fogg at least makes an honourable attempt at it. Fogg’s main argument is that whilst there are some easily-identifyable facts about gender & crime – (a) we live in a patriarchal society, (b) men commit the most crime & the most violence and (c) women are more likely to be victims of male agression than vice versa – female criminality shouldn’t be reduced to just a symptom of these problems.
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Labour’s useless prisons
Whilst the weekend papers were regurgitating the ‘revelations’ in Cherie Blair’s autobiography (did you know Gordon & Tony don’t really get on? Yeah, I was stunned too!), the former Prime Minister’s wife was plotting to make an even more audacious attack on his successor. Why, you might ask, didn’t this feature prominently on Andrew Marr’s Sunday show or get plastered across the tabloids as a ‘Bollocking For Beleaguered Brown’? Well, probably because she was attacking him on a matter of substance.
A cell in Borstal, taken by Flickr user Flipsy (Creative Commons)
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Peter the Prophet
Ah, those Hitchens boys and their messianic resolve. This time, it’s the runt of the family:
I sometimes wonder why I bother being a prophet. All my predictions of horrible things come true, and nobody does anything about any of them.
The BBC have discovered that there are now quite a lot of grannies in this country in their 30s. They interviewed Tara Bailee, 36, who goes clubbing twice a month, has (of course) split up with the father of her daughter Rickeita, who got pregnant at 15 and has (of course) split up with the father of her daughter, Lexie.
A weak Prime Minister is good news
For those of us who believe that the current economic climate is exactly the worst time to consider raising the taxes of those on meagre incomes, yesterday’s u-turn compromise by the Chancellor is a victory of sorts.
There were no certainties or specifics, and suspicion surely remains that this ‘compensation package’ will be aimed at the more politically-appealing pensioners and families rather than any single people and under-25s who’ll lose out.
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