Our Wanker this Week is the anonymous spokesman for the government's Department for Children, Schools and Families who talked to the press about Aric Sigman's research into the behaviour of young people. Dr.Sigman, a fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, has attracted media attention this week by announcing something that the rest of us have known for years: the behaviour of young people is dreadful, and it's because of a serious lack of discipline in the home and at school - a lack which our present government have deliberately and knowingly encouraged.
Psychologist Sigman says that a growing lack of adult authority has bred a 'spoilt generation' of children who believe grown-ups must earn their respect. The rise of the 'little emperor' spans the class divide and is fuelling ills from childhood obesity to teenage pregnancy. Attempts to 'empower' children and a lack of discipline in the classroom have also fostered rising levels of violence, at home, at school and in the street. Even nursery-age children are becoming increasingly violent and disrespectful towards their teachers, 'parent battering' is on the rise and the number of policemen attacked by children is soaring.
Dr.Sigman said: 'Authority is a basic health requirement in children's lives. Children of the spoilt generation are used to having their demands met by their parents and others in authority, and that in turn makes them unprepared for the realities of adult life. This has consequences in every area of society, from the classroom to the workplace, the streets to the criminal courts and rehabilitation clinics. Being spoilt is now classless - from aristocracy to underclass, children are now spoilt in ways that go far beyond materialism. This is partly the result of an inability to distinguish between being authoritative versus authoritarian, leaving concepts such as authority and boundaries blurred.
And the consequences are measurable - Britain now has the highest rates of child depression, child-on-child murder, underage pregnancy, obesity, violent and antisocial behaviour and pre-teen alcoholism since records began.'
For his report "The Spoilt Generation" he drew on 150 studies and reports, including official figures on crime and data on parenting strategies. Taken together, they showed many of the problems blighting 'broken Britain' are linked to lack of discipline. This is being exacerbated by misguided attempts to give children more control over their lives.
Dr.Sigman says youngsters' inflated sense of their own importance is fuelling the obesity epidemic, because children feel they have the right to demand foods which would once have been given as occasional treats, and he suggests that some children thought to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder might simply have never learned how to behave - something that every teacher instinctively knows already! Calling for 'commonsense policies' to put children in their place, Dr Sigman said: 'There should be an absolute presumption both in law and in policy that adults "know better" and are in the right unless there are exceptional reasons. Teachers' authority has been vastly weakened legally, professionally and culturally. There should be a presumption that teachers "know better" and are in the right, unless it is shown otherwise.'
His views have been echoed by experts in health and childcare. Michele Elliott, of the children's charity Kidscape, said: 'Children no longer have boundaries. It's bad for children and it's bad for parents. Some parents, due to a lack of time, pressures at work and so forth, are trying to buy their children's love, which is toxic. They feel guilty for not being around as often so when their children ask for things they simply say "yes" to compensate.'
Professor Cary Cooper, head of psychology and health at Lancaster University, said long working hours had taken a terrible toll on families. 'As a result parents cannot invest the time in their kids that they should. With their parents out to work all the time the children are turning to their peer groups to provide them with the family they need. We have been more concerned with becoming an affluent, successful country at the expense of investing in our family and our children.'
All interesting stuff, which we could have told them ages ago if anyone'd take the trouble to listen. Still, more power to Dr.Sigman - better late than never, and this sort of stuff needs saying.
So what was the response from our Wanker at the Department for Children, Schools and Families?
He said: 'It's pathetic to knock a whole generation of young people through sweeping generalisations. The vast majority of young people play positive roles in their communities, do well at school and are a credit to their families and themselves. Parents, not politicians, bring up children. We've given police and teachers the tough powers they've asked for to deal with anti-social behaviour, criminal activity and poor discipline by the small minority.'
Amazing. These people still think they can get away with the oldest trick in the book. They still believe, like Machiavelli in the 15th Century and Adolf Hitler in the 20th, that all you have to do is tell a big enough lie and everyone'll fall for it. Just how stupid do they think we are? And just how stupid does that make them?
No, Mr.Spokeswanker, giving police and teachers the tough powers they need is precisely what you have NOT done. You're saying the opposite of the truth, and we all know it. What you've actually done is remove or water down the powers that schools, the police and the courts have to deal with anti-social behaviour, criminal activity and poor discipline. And we don't give a toss whether these activities are carried out by a small minority or a large one. What we care about is that when our granny has petrol and shit put through her letterbox, or when our teacher wife comes home bruised and crying every day from school, someone finds their arse in a sling. Is that so much to ask?
The Spokesliar went on: 'Standards have never been higher in school' (no, Wanker, that should have read "lower", and you know it - GOS) 'and there has been massive investment in youth facilities and activities outside the classroom. Teenage conceptions are falling and fewer young people are drinking alcohol or taking drugs.'
Then the real lulu: 'Ministers are clear that this should be the best country in the world for children to live'.
Wow. And just yesterday we posted a Grumpy Page in which historian A.N.Wilson said "I would honestly say that - in some respects, and for most British children - there has never been a time in this country when it was less enjoyable to be a child". Well, no prizes for guessing who we'd rather believe!
Evidently it was no accident that we mentioned Hitler a moment ago, because our Spokeswanker has clearly been studying the great man's writings, and has taken on board his advice that ...
"By the skilful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise"
... and ...
"If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed".
Ain't that the truth? And one might sleep easier at night if one didn't wonder whether the Department for Children, Schools and Families hadn't also taken on board another of Hitler's dictums: "He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future". And of course to "own the youth" you have first to allow all their previous loyalties to break down, to cut them loose from their society and from traditional habits of behaviour and morals . Then you can offer them a new framework, your own, in which to live. When all the little pots are empty, how much easier to fill them up with your own brand of honey?
Does that seem to be going a bit too far for credibility?
Maybe. But Machiavelli, Hitler, Stalin and George Orwell would have recognised it instantly ....
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