Sunday, 29 April 2007

At the start of the week, the NSPCC launched a campaign to encourage all supermarkets to adopt a “no smacking” policy after market research showed that 40% of shoppers would prefer to shop in a “smack free” environment. Then Alcohol Concern called for parents to be arrested if they offer any alcohol to any child under the age of sixteen. I would not belittle the problems of alcohol abuse or child abuse, but both of these two initiatives seem to be conceived by Marketing people with too little real work to do. People’s personal lives should not be micro-managed by the state, still less policed by their local supermarket. Isn’t this History lesson number one?

But today there were two much more important demonstrations. Across Europe and the world, there were demonstrations to draw attention to the humanitarian disaster in Darfur. IN the UK, demonstrations were supported by Amnesty International and many others. Now this is what charities should be doing: acting as the world’s conscience and drawing attention to real need and injustice.

And in Turkey there was a million-strong demonstration against the intermingling of religion and politics. Imagine. Thomas Jefferson’s call for the separation of church and state has never been more relevant.

At home, Jackie and I spent the entire day in the garden. Excellent.