traptunderice wrote:
^Keynes was amazing at responding to nay-sayers.
@Zad: I just don't think you understand the fact that this girl probably had little sexual education, too poor to buy "frivolous" (the quotes represent her view as a lower class individual) birth control, and probably parents who were too busy distracted either by raising their own kids that they had due to the aforementioned reasons or working multiple jobs. In those kinds of situations, the oldest child which I believe was her usually have to fend for themselves. I'm generalizing with a lot of this so it may not apply to that girl specifically.
Indeed; I'd be amazed if it turns out that teen pregnancy isn't directly correlatable to inequality in a society. The only country in the developed world with a hgher teen pregnancy rate than the UK is the USA, and, amazingly enough, it's also the only country in the developed world that is more unequal than the UK as well. Same with crime, and probably the same with drug use as well, although I haven't checked that.
This, Goat, is what I believe trapt means by "material causes"
Normally I get fed up of Polly T's constant New Labour love, but she puts it pretty well here. (Although I would never condone the utterance that New Labour is "improving" anything
)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... new-labourQuote:
When Alfie's father emerged in a devil mask carrying a sign reading "No Comment Ring Max [Clifford]" as newspapers blandished cheques, the saga offered a perfect allegory. It went on getting better: two local boys claimed to be the real father; Alfie's father turned out to have eight other children by various women; Chantelle's family is awash with half- and step-siblings, but not a job in sight. "Welcome to modern Britain, Maisie" read the Sunday Times leader, thundering on at the "underclass, devoid of the values and morality of a civilised society". "Failed by liberals" was the Daily Mail's leader, pressing the repeat key on its increasingly cult-like belief that sex education causes sex.
Expect that repeat key to be thumped again next week, when more bad news will thrill the 80% of the press that is now solidly bent on electing David Cameron. Broken Britain will be "proven" when the 2007 teenage pregnancy figures are set to show an increase.
Disgraceful distortions of the figures make it look as if teen pregnancies have risen since 1998. In fact the rate is lower than for 20 years. Not surprisingly, Brook, the young people's advisory service, finds public opinion grossly overestimates the problem, imagining five times more teen pregnancies than is the case. The Mail cheated by giving total numbers, not percentages. Since there are more teenagers now, crude numbers look worse. But the percentage of teen pregnancies has fallen since 1998 by 12.6% among under-18s and by 12.3% among under-16s. And 60% of young girls now opt for abortion - so there are 23% fewer teen births. But next week's figures for 2007 will show a dispiriting up-turn, and it's impossible to know if it's just a blip.
...
Step back and look at the big picture: Britain's teenage pregnancy rates are appalling, with only the US worse in the west. Why? Because teen pregnancy tracks inequality. That does not absolve Alfie, Chantelle and their parents of their personal responsibilities. But the most unequal nations have the greatest number of dysfunctional families, unless the cycle is broken by determined and expensive intervention in generation after generation.
Labour has tried, but most of Europe, under more decades of social democratic governments, has worked harder for longer. Too often Labour thought it could move mountains with teaspoons, making Swedish promises with neither Swedish taxes, nor the will to force social democratic policies on to local services. There will be plenty more Alfie, Shannon and Baby P stories - testaments not to a worsening "broken Britain" but to a low tax, weak social policy century that Labour has only started to improve.
