Tony Blair to Launch Crackdown on Bad Parenting
Tony Blair is taking action to make sure children give their elders a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Under his new “Respect” program, Blair plans to expand law enforcement discretion in the use of “parenting orders”, which formerly could only be issued once a student had been expelled. Now, officers and other child welfare officials will be able to issue them at the first signs a kid is setting up shop on the wrong side of the tracks. While some decry this as the expansion of the nanny state, others say the PM isn’t going far enough, and was sending mixed messages by letting stores that sell booze remain open later under new liquor license laws.
What does PBB think? Obviously, we’re not the sort to brook bad parenting. On the other hand, we also have a soft spot in out heart for so-called “bad kids” who buck the inanity of adult authority. Some of society’s most successful adults are kids who “went off the tracks” when they were young, convincing the grown-ups around them that they had no future. In all likelihood, this Draconian legislation will stigmatize and harass otherwise good parents, while having zero effect on those who are actually doing their children harm. Still, if these laws result in a series of inane restrictions on otherwise decent parents that produce a parental version of The Breakfast Club, I guess that would be worth the cost to society.
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