Children’s mental health: Forever repairing sand castles?
In December last year the government produced its green paper on children’s mental health. The opening paragraph begins with an optimistic note that the state can make a difference. “Children with a persistent mental health problem face unequal chances in life. This is one of the burning injustices of our time.” Alas, it’s all downhill […]
It’s not ‘cuts’ that put children in care
I could have written it myself. In her foreword for a new report from IFS on spending on children’s services, Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield, said this: ‘Children do not arrive in extreme need overnight and many could be prevented from getting to that point if we helped them sooner in a more effective way. ‘The economic […]
All you need is … Love Island
Royal wedding preacher Michael Curry had it right when he said ‘there is power in love‘. And with love in the air, yes, ITV’s hit reality show ‘Love Island‘ is back! It may not be everyone’s cup of tea but 2.5 million viewers watched last year’s season finale. I have to out myself and admit […]
A simple policy on marriage for Mrs May
Government policy on marriage is lukewarm at best and downright ambivalent at worst. On the one hand, the state is terribly interested in marriage. We have strict laws on who can marry and how marriages can end, and we have special rules that favour transfers of assets between husband and wife in life and after death. But […]
Cheap sex, so why should men marry?
There’s a deep irony about the subject of marriage and men. On the one hand, marriage appears to benefit men more than women. Men’s health in particular, for example, is better among those who get and stay married. On the other hand, men appear to resist marriage more than women. In a couple of surveys […]