|
|
|
|
| 
|
| The professionals are the problem not the solution
04.12.08
Last month saw the tragic death of little Baby P, let’s reflect on who might be to blame. Here in Gravesham family breakdown, lack of aspiration in education, the ‘right’ to live on welfare benefits, etc - cannot be separated from this tragedy.
As I have written before, the expansion of the quango state has squeezed out traditional morality. As the power of functionaries - council officials, standards officers, racism awareness counsellors, Eurocrats, social workers - has grown, that of traditional authority figures - parents, clergymen, head-teachers - has dwindled. Not so long ago, any adult, finding a child out of class during term, would have asked why he wasn't at school. Now, that is seen as the government's job. Not so long ago, we made sure our elderly neighbours were collecting their milk each morning. Now, it's up to someone else to look in on them. The state has assumed the responsibilities that once attached to individuals - and then failed to discharge them.
What else has to go wrong before we realise that ‘letting the professionals get on’ is the problem, not the solution? Our ancestors took up arms to establish the principle that state officials should be answerable to the rest of us. Yet no one seems to want to take the blame
.
|
|
|
|
|
|
CONTACT Adam
By Post:
You can write to Adam Holloway at:
House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA
By email:
hollowaya@parliament.uk
By phone:
House of Commons: 020 7219 8402 Gravesham: 01474 332097
View Larger Map
Please click to vote |
