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Nanny state

From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.

The term nanny state, used especially in the United Kingdom, is a derogatory term for government intervention, especially in social issues. Nannydom refers to the general way of thinking that can emerge in power hierarchies (even those smaller than states) while practitioners of such behaviour may by called nannycrats.

Policies such as bans on smoking in public places, high taxes on junk food, and anti-pornography laws are often pointed to as an example of a functioning nanny state. Such actions are said to operate on the assumption that the state (or, more often, one of its local authorities) has a duty to "protect" the citizenry from their own harmful behaviour.

A separate category of decisions claimed to represent a nanny state are those which emerge from extreme application of public health, risk management of health and safety policies. Examples have included the felling of mature horse chestnut trees by Norwich City Council in case children slipped on fallen chestnuts, or Tewkesbury's Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership delaying providing napkins with crime prevention information to elderly people receiving home delivered meals from the local council, until a risk assessment could be carried out of the dangers of choking.

Conservatives and libertarians tend to use the term to oppose new government regulations, although many traditional conservatives may also advocate paternalism, which some liberals and socialists may regard as much the same. A further criticism of nanny state policies is that they are less concerned with the welfare of citizens than with preventing litigation.

The British Labour Party politician Margaret Hodge is perhaps the best known defender of the nanny state, saying at a speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research on 26 November, 2004, that "some may call it the nanny state but I call it a force for good".

The city state of Singapore has a reputation as a nanny state, owing to the considerable number of government regulations and restrictions on its citizens' lives. Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, the so-called architect of the modern Singapore, has observed that "if Singapore is a nanny state, then I am proud to have fostered one."

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