Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Anyone here speak Giddens?

Can anyone translate the conclusion of today's Guardian article by the former Blair guru Anthony Giddens into plain English?

It goes:
Therapists such as Susie Orbach have long insisted that developing emotional literacy should be the foundation of most areas of social policy. I agree. Whenever individuals' behaviour is controlled by habits that they should control, we are at the fulcrum of the relationship between domination and freedom. Government has been reluctant to intrude, but now it must.

4 comments:

HE Elsom said...

"The government should feel free to order people about if they are fat."

Tristan said...

People are stupid (probably especially the poor) and cannot make choices so must be ordered around for their own good to make them free in some way which has nothing to do with liberty and personal freedom.

Duncan Borrowman said...

Susie Orbach says we should tell people how to behave. I agree. When people do things we don't like, such as filling up the exchequer by drinking we have a choice between being liberal or draconian I go for draconian.

I had to read this bloke once for a degree course.

He seems to have swallowed a lot of bullshit since then

dreamingspire said...

Come on, Liberals, flaunt it, and stop the march of those who want to set up the Gulags.