Anthony Barnett (London, OK): Over at the Spectator James Forsyth argues that today's speech by Cameron in Glasgow will shift the ground on personal responsibility and public morality. I think people should take responsibility for their actions and their families. The wider public morality can't function without this. But I can't help feeling that Cameron doesn't do it for me and that he is playing to the dark side of our regime. If you want to see a speech that addresses the need for personal responsibility in a deep way, without flinching, then Obama's fathers day address does it. In contrast, there is a punative rather than forcefully educational tone to Cameron's rhetoric. It is also one-sided. He says that he has decided to stop being "sensitive" in his use of words, and we all know that politicians circumlocute most dreadfully. But this is what he says to business:
if you take responsibility you can help change culture and we will help
you with deregulation and tax cuts … but in the long run they depend on
the steps you take to help tackle the costs of social failure that have
driven your costs up and up.
But he isn't telling obese people to stop eating "in the long run". The dots "...." by the way are in the text of the speech. It takes a populist, cod anti-establishment stance, but it is still top down.
