April 13, 2004
END BULLYING! NATIONALISE EVERYTHING!
Fourteen years after losing power, evil Margaret Thatcher is still destroying Britain somehow:
The legacy of Thatcherism has led to a rise in aggression and bullying in schools, a teachers' leader said yesterday.
Pat Lerew, president of the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers, said that, nearly 20 years after Margaret Thatcher declared that there was no such thing as society, parents who grew up in the 1980s had produced a generation of youngsters brought up to be selfish and to think the only thing that mattered was money.
These Thatcher brats are England's crack babies! Stop them before they form gangs and privatise the public service! (For more on that celebrated "no society" quote, click here.)
Posted by Tim Blair at April 13, 2004 01:57 PMThanks for the link to the page with Thatcher's speeches. You'd think that Pat Lerew, president of the National Association of Schoolmasters would have a better understanding of what Thatcher really said and meant.
If there is a rise in bullying I'd be willing to bet it's because children have picked up on today's mantra: "YOU are responsible for MY happiness.". If the child isn't happy and is frustrated, the child acts up. Why are we surprised when we take away individual responsibility and replace it with state responsibility?
We are encouraging our citizens to look to everyone, except THEMSELVES, for care, feeding, safety, etc.. In short, we are encouraging our citizens, via the 'Nanny State' to remain children. I'm surprised the real, biological children aren't behaving worse since adult role models are getting rarer and rarer.
Posted by: Chris Josephson at April 13, 2004 at 02:38 PMBracks is attempting to string together three elections wins all based on the platform of "its all Kennett's fault", so why shouldnt others keep digging up political zombies 14 years after the fact...?
Though the Liberal's "Guilty Party" was a variation on the same theme, and is still the most effective political advertising campaign i have ever seen.
Posted by: attila at April 13, 2004 at 02:59 PMAh - the old rights versus obligation argument!
AKA "Society must ensure our rights - What do you mean, we have obligations to society?"
Major problem ahead in that there are fewer and fewer people who can advise of our obligations to society, and even less who will meet those obligations.
(And that includes Clergy, Armed Forces, genuine chatities etc)
Posted by: DaveACT at April 13, 2004 at 04:53 PM(.....charities, spelling and grammar teachers.....)
Posted by: DaveACT at April 13, 2004 at 04:56 PMThank you for the link to Thatchers' speech. The real tragedy is that she so clearly and compellingly identified a problem that was and is destroying 'society'. Nearly 20 later, and we still have not addressed this issue. Indeed the demand for collective responsibility for an individuals action has increased. No 'one' is to blame anymore, yet somehow we are all responsible.
Emily
I've just been reading the second volume of John Campbell's excellent (and even-handed) biography of Thatcher, and he suggests that Thatcher was a lot more cautious than the baby-eating, community burning ideologue of popular myth. But that doesn't really suit anyone, does it?
Posted by: Craig Ranapia (Other Pundit) at April 13, 2004 at 09:06 PMThe bleat of "Thatcherism" sounds like the never ending re-hashing of McCarthyism here in the US. 50 years and they're still at it. "Keep those wounds open, empowered womyn n' helpless boys!!!"
Posted by: Joe at April 13, 2004 at 11:54 PM