27-11-2004, 02:31 AM
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Administrator
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Long Ashton, Bristol
Posts: 10,097
Party: None
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Nanny state knows best, Hodge tells critics
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/st...360744,00.html
Quote:
The government set about rehabilitating the image of the nanny state yesterday, sending Margaret Hodge, the ultra-Blairite children's minister who is regarded by her enemies as the nanny-in-chief, to do the awkward repair job.
In an unapologetic defence of state intervention, she said: "For me it's not a question of whether we should intrude in family life, but how and when."
Her move, portrayed by the Conservatives as proof of the government's meddlesome intent, came as she prepared to publish a national childcare strategy next week, backed up by advice manuals for parents on how to bring up a child.
She said critics of the nanny state misunderstood the role of nannies. "Good nannies don't just tell you what you can't do ... [or] must do. They are about ensuring that you can make real and informed choices for yourself," she told the Institute for Public Policy Research in London.
That, she said, was Labour's intention in its attempt to help parents bring up healthy and well-adjusted children.
"The right still promotes the absolute privacy of the family. What happens behind closed doors in the intimacy of the family is [to them] a matter of private concern ...
"But for the left, we want to promote opportunity for all and we want to enable every child to develop their full potential ... The state can be a powerful force for good in families and communities and we should celebrate, not denigrate, its role."
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