Tuesday 28 August 2007

Joined Up Government

David Cameron, a Leader of the Tories, has decided that if he came to power he'd ban violent videogames. Well, in his usual manner he's a bit wishy washy about it, but this is what he says:
"We are never going to deal with crime unless we look at the broader context and say, 'Yes, tough laws, strong action on the police, but also action to strengthen our society'.

"And that includes, I think, video games and things like that where we do need to think of the context in which people are growing up."

It seems to me that you don't fight crime by turning the previously law-abiding into criminals.

And, well, studies show... Studies seems to show whatever the person making them wants them to show. Wired Blogs had a recent report on one study that seemed to show common sense, but then again I am biased:
You've got to basically read your own kid. If you have a quite hyper kid they will come down after playing a bit, but for the rest of kids, the vast majority, it makes no difference at all in their general aggression rate.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Of course Cameron does a lot of hand wringing about our broken society. Though his analysis always forgets Thatcher's statement in 1987, "There is no such thing as society!" So when he wonders where things went wrong, maybe he should look a little closer to home.

Paul said...

Quite.

I imagine one thing that would go towards creating a better society would be the greater availability of well paid (and, hopefully, rewarding and fullfilling) jobs. The sort that the pits and other related, and now closed, industries used to provide.

Could just be me, though...

Anonymous said...

No it's not just you.

Of course the other thing that, the pits, steel works & the other industries destroyed by the Tories, provided was a set of shared values & experiences for the individuals who worked there. This of course created a sense of common purpose that was the glue that held communities together. Thatcher was more than happy to stamp on this in order to crush the unions. Pity Cameron didn't have a conscience back in the 80's.
Or would it be cynical if I were to suggest that he's never had one and is just chasing after headlines & votes?