Today, Gordon Brown announced that he would create a "network of supervised homes" for teenage mothers.
The sentiment is correct, the idea is not.
When talking to people from all walks of life in the UK, the most common complaint I hear about modern Britain by people from all walks of life is the proliferation of 'Spongers'. These are people who live purely on hand outs while "the rest of us" work hard for a living.
I have been very careful to put "the rest of us" in speech marks because I am aware that I am a lazy student again and I don't pay taxes anymore.
In that way, Gordon Brown has judged the opinion of the nation correctly. In fact, he made that point as much in his speech:
"The decent hard working majority feel the odds are stacked in favour of a minority, who will talk about their rights, but never accept their responsibilities".
(Nevermind that he seemed to contradict that view elsewhere: "It’s the Britain where we don’t just care for ourselves, we also care for each other".)
My belief is that all people should be given the best start possible. Those most likely to break the law, those most likely to become pregnant in their teens, and even celebrities who have 'gone off the rails' at one stage all tend to have one thing in common: they had a tough upbringing.
When you look at the countries that have the lowest GDP, or the lowest quality of life or the lowest life expectancy, they tend to be those countries that have the lowest percentage of children not completing schooling.
My suggestion is this. Don't try and solve the problem after it has manifested itself by creating an expensive network of social housing for at risk teenage mums. Just invest that money in improving schooling and education. Give children the ability to increase their knowledge and improve their improve the confidence and understanding - especially those children which have come from the most horrendous backgrounds.
Policy should try to reduce the root causes of a problem rather than firefighting the consequences when it goes wrong.
The sentiment is correct, the idea is not.
When talking to people from all walks of life in the UK, the most common complaint I hear about modern Britain by people from all walks of life is the proliferation of 'Spongers'. These are people who live purely on hand outs while "the rest of us" work hard for a living.
I have been very careful to put "the rest of us" in speech marks because I am aware that I am a lazy student again and I don't pay taxes anymore.
In that way, Gordon Brown has judged the opinion of the nation correctly. In fact, he made that point as much in his speech:
"The decent hard working majority feel the odds are stacked in favour of a minority, who will talk about their rights, but never accept their responsibilities".
(Nevermind that he seemed to contradict that view elsewhere: "It’s the Britain where we don’t just care for ourselves, we also care for each other".)
My belief is that all people should be given the best start possible. Those most likely to break the law, those most likely to become pregnant in their teens, and even celebrities who have 'gone off the rails' at one stage all tend to have one thing in common: they had a tough upbringing.
When you look at the countries that have the lowest GDP, or the lowest quality of life or the lowest life expectancy, they tend to be those countries that have the lowest percentage of children not completing schooling.
My suggestion is this. Don't try and solve the problem after it has manifested itself by creating an expensive network of social housing for at risk teenage mums. Just invest that money in improving schooling and education. Give children the ability to increase their knowledge and improve their improve the confidence and understanding - especially those children which have come from the most horrendous backgrounds.
Policy should try to reduce the root causes of a problem rather than firefighting the consequences when it goes wrong.
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