PrintJuly 30, 2007
Spot the missing word
Britain's teens are among the worst-behaved in Europe and it's all the government's fault. At least that is the conclusion of a "study" by what the French news agency AFP calls the "centre-left Institute for Public Policy Research", a British think tank. You see, the poor darlings "are left to their own devices through successive policy failures."
The conclusion writes itself with such a perspective: more tax money to hire more people to work in agencies and offer "programs" to address "needs." So it was perhaps not entirely a coincidence that:
The report -- "Freedom's Orphans: Raising Youth in a Changing World" -- was published as the government announced a new 184-million-pound (275-million-euro, 378-million-dollar) 10-year strategy for young people.
Nowhere in the AFP's article does the word "parent" appear. Imagine that! An entire article about teens and their problems with behavior and not a thought to parents.
It takes a think tank to raise a child (without parents).
