CentreRight

A response to Andrew Lilico

Andrew Lilico has written an interesting review of my lecture on 20th February.  However, I would just like to address his criticisms, which have misunderstood the lecture.   

First, Andrew says he does not see why we need a universal account of how we can sustain our institutions. 

Margaret Thatcher set out her vision of a rich civil society in her speech to the Church of Scotland.  Hers was an explicitly religious appeal.  The challenge I set myself was to achieve the same purpose without recourse to religious obligation.  This is not to say that the religious approach is wrong, but I think there is value in meeting John Rawls' idea of "public reason".  This is to say that we should try wherever possible to explain our policy in terms which all members of our society can agree on and do not rely on any personal sources of reason, such as religious conviction.

Space for childhood

Almost exactly a year ago, UNICEF published a report showing that the well-being of children in Britain is the lowest in the developed world. David Cameron asked me to investigate the reasons for this and what role Government might have in improving the well-being of our children.

What is striking is that most parents are doing the best for their children, spending more time with them than ever before.  However, parents in countries that scored highly in the UNCIEF report had greater trust in other adults, meaning looking after children is more of a shared enterprise. Whereas levels of trust in other adults declined in the UK over the past generation, in places such as Denmark and Spain, it has increased.

Parents are concerned about the dangers of bullying, traffic and crime. 43% of gang members say they hang around in park or recreation grounds. So parents are operating in a more hostile environment and feel they have less support from others.