We’ve all heard the stories; someone is murdered – the person arrested in connection with the murder has a history of violence, drug taking, and suffered parental abuse as a child. It’s understandable, but does that mean that all children who were abused, or young adults who have violent temperaments and those who take drugs will end up being murderers or serial thieves? Is it possible to say that those born into a disadvantaged or dysfunctional family will become criminals?
According to the government today, yes.
The Children’s Minister is to announce today that in the future the government plan on identifying children with criminal tendencies, or those prone to failure, at birth. These children and families will then be assigned ‘Super Nannies’ to steer them in the right direction.
Is this early intervention a good idea? Could this not do a child or family more harm? Social exclusion for children at risk is bad enough already without a child having to develop and live life with this stigma. What would such a change in social policy do to the already stretched Children’s Services apart from take time away from health and social workers, midwives (yes, midwives… these are the workers singled out to ask questions and report at risk children) and other health workers?
To me, this sounds like something from Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science blog! Who am I to comment though – I’m a Computer Scientist, not a Child Psychologist.
For an insightful commentary on this I suggest reading this article over at The Register. The Observer’s article is also worth a look.
NB: The title for this post comes from a recent LSE conference on child social policy: link here.
The G8 summit is currently underway in St. Petersburg and it’s been revealed that President Bush has been caught speaking into an open microphone during a lunch-time conversation with other world leaders.
I’ll give you a brief summary, missing out the boring bits;
On the Middle East crisis: “The irony is, what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this sh!t, and it’s over.”
On presenting to the G8 leaders: “I’m just going to make it up. I’m not going to talk too damn long like the rest of them. Some of these guys talk too long.”
On the secretary-General of the United Nations: “What about Kofi Annan? I don’t like the sequence of it. His attitude is basically cease-fire and everything else happens.”
On flying to Washington from St. Petersburg: “You eight hours? Me too. Russia’s a big country and you’re a big country. Takes him eight hours to fly home.”
On sizes: “Russia’s big and so is China.”
On movement: “I just want some movement. Yesterday I didn’t see much movement. The desire to move.”
On leaving the summit: “Gotta go home. Got something to do tonight.”
Small talk with Tony Blair, the UK Prime Minister: “Yo Blair, what’re you doing? Are you leaving?”
It was also revealed that Bush drinks Diet Coke and that Tony Blair “absolutely” personally picked out a jumper given to Bush as a gift. I want to know what he’s got planned tonight though.
References: ABC AU | Forbes | Reuters | ABC US
With the news that Kyle McDonald has now succesfully traded OneRedPaperClip for a house in Saskatchewan after 365 days and 14 trades, I feel the compulsion to try and beat him. I’m not going to try and trade something smaller than a paperclip for something bigger than a house. Instead I’m going to try and swap another everyday office item for a house - but in less time and less trades.
I am willing to trade one lucky individual the following unique Bulldog Clip for a bog-standard, two bedroom apartment in central Monaco. I’m willing to consider houses and apartments with more bedrooms, but nothing else. We’re on a tight schedule here - I want this trade to be completed by this Friday. Serious offers only please.
