Nanny state replaced by bully state, argues former MSP

Tuesday October 20, 2009

The nanny state is dead and has been replaced by a more malevolent bully state, argues former MSP Brian Monteith in a new book published by The Free Society. The Bully State: The End of Tolerance is available on Amazon, price £5.99.

The nanny state is dead and has been replaced by a more malevolent bully state that today’s politicians use to coerce the public into submission, is the claim put forward in a new book by former Conservative MSP Brian Monteith.

Monteith catalogues the growth of nanny from the times when government health warnings about risks from smoking were deemed to be enough, to the introduction of compulsory motor cycle helmets and then seat belts, through to the arrival of the bully when the public could be fined for smoking in their own cars and Marmite could be banned in schools.

Commenting on the book, Brian Monteith said, “We won’t lose the freedoms that we cherish by a military coup or some great cataclysmic war engulfing us, but through the gradual invasion of our private lifestyles by the very politicians we elect to protect us, and all in the cause of looking after our health.

“Today’s politicians seem to think that we are mature enough to choose a government but too immature to decide what we should eat, smoke, drink or drive. Their interventions through laws that provide officials with the force of entry, the use of surveillance and the power of the courts to ensure that householders use the right rubbish bins, shops hide their cigarettes under the counter, and picnickers celebrate in teetotal sobriety, have ended Britain’s famed reputation for tolerance.

“This is not some left-wing phenomenon. Indeed, the bully state came into being after the defeat of socialism in the Nineties because New Labour and Conservative politicians agreed that information and choice were no longer effective enough in their brave new target-setting world. Now politicians of all colours seek to limit our choices and bully us into submission if we opt for the wrong option.”

The book considers the evolution of the nanny state and its growing intervention into the realms of smoking, eating and drinking, with a liberal sprinkling of the truly bizarre and absurd examples of politicians’ latest restrictions.

The Bully State: The End of Tolerance is published by The Free Society, price £5.99

For further information:
Simon Clark 07774 781840
contact@thefreesociety.org