Starmer to embrace ‘nanny state’ with plan for toothbrushing in schools
www.theguardian.com
Labour leader hits out at perceived criticism as he attacks Tory record on child health

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/6562239

Keir Starmer has said he is “up for the fight” of defending the “nanny state” as he announced plans to improve child health under a Labour government, including supervised toothbrushing in schools.

The Labour leader said that children were “probably the biggest casualty” of the Tories’ sticking-plaster approach to politics over the past 14 years, adding that, if the government were a parent, they could be charged with neglect.

“I know that we need to take on this question of the nanny state,” he told reporters. “The moment you do anything on child health, people say ‘you’re going down the road of the nanny state.’ We want to have that fight.”

Ahead of a visit to a children’s hospital, Starmer criticised the Tories’ record on child health. “They’re probably the biggest casualty of sticking-plaster politics in the last 14 years,” he said. “Frankly, if parents had treated children as badly as the UK government has, they would probably be charged with neglect. It’s that bad.”

  • mipadaitu@lemmy.worldEnglish
    62·
    10 months ago

    Wow, you really wrote a giant paragraph to say that something that works just fine for the vast majority of people, but is slightly sub-optimal, is grounds for dismissing someone as a lost cause.

    Yes, tying your shoes correctly does make the knot slight neater, and slightly less prone to coming undone, but it’s not that bad. It most likely doesn’t impact people as you think.

    Spending your whole life trying to optimize every little detail, especially something as minuscule as tying your shoes, can be a very wasted life.

    • Wanderer@lemm.eeEnglish
      51·
      10 months ago

      I’m not on about optimising it’s about doing one of the most basic daily tasks most humans do wrong.

      Makes you wonder how many other basic tasks people are doing wrong. Or how many average or advanced tasks.

      It’s also the ignorance and insistence that they are right, and the unwillingness to change to do something right.