Nanny state
Nanny state is a term of
The term was popularised by journalists Bernard Levin[5] and Auberon Waugh[6] and later by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Uses of term
Australia
The term has been used to describe the policies of both federal and state governments. Canadian journalist and magazine publisher
New Zealand
The term was used by the
Singapore
The
I am often accused of interfering in the private lives of citizens. Yes, if I did not, had I not done that, we wouldn’t be here today. And I say without the slightest remorse, that we wouldn’t be here, we would not have made economic progress, if we had not intervened on very personal matters–who your neighbour is, how you live, the noise you make, how you spit, or what language you use. We decide what is right. Never mind what the people think.[14]
United Kingdom
In 1980,
In 2004, King's Fund, a think tank, conducted a survey of more than 1,000 people and found that most favoured policies that combatted behaviour such as eating a poor diet and public smoking – this was reported by the BBC as the public favouring a nanny state.[16][17]
The British Labour Party politician Margaret Hodge has defended policies she acknowledged had been labelled as "nanny state", saying at a speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research on November 26, 2004, that "some may call it the nanny state but I call it a force for good".[18]
The "Soft Drinks Industry Levy", the UK's sugary drink tax proposed in 2016 and effective from 2018, was described by Member of Parliament Will Quince as "patronizing, regressive and the nanny state at its worst".[19]
United States
By the 2000s, the term entered use in the United States by some political commentators. The term was used in an at-large sense against the legislative tendencies of liberal political ideology such as in the banishment of smoking in public places or the enactment of mandatory bicycle helmet laws.[20][21]
In 2012, a proposal by
Conversely, Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research think tank used the term in 2006 to describe conservative policies that protect the income of the rich.[25]
China
In September 2021, the Washington Post editorial board decried "dictatorships" that "impose decisions about what people can see, hear and — to the extent the regimes can manage it — think." Xi Jinping, as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and President of the People's Republic of China, the board wrote, is "pushing the nanny state into people’s personal lives" with regulations on, among other matters, online gaming among the country's teenagers. "Not many [parents]," the board argued, "want to cede parenting decisions to an authoritarian party-state."[26]
See also
- Big government
- Criticisms of welfare
- Economic interventionism
- Involuntary unemployment
- Hamburger problem
- Managerial state
- Moonbat
- Paternalism
- Redwashing
- Totalitarianism
- Welfare state
References
- ^ "nanny, n.1 and adj". OED Online. Oxford University Press. December 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
- ^ Wheeler, Brian (11 October 2018). "Are we living in a 'nanny state'?". BBC News. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
- ^ 70 m.p.h., The Spectator, 3 December 1965, p. 11.
- ^ "Nanny Knows Best . . . Sometimes". The Times. 4 October 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
- ^ "Industry Documents Library".
- ^ "Industry Documents Library".
- ^ "Nanny state rules making Australia 'world's dumbest nation'". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2015-05-27. Retrieved 2015-08-26.
- ^ "David Leyonhjelm declares war on nanny state". The Australian. 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2015-08-26.
- ^ "Welcome to Australia: the world's most over-regulated nanny state". The Daily Telegraph. 2015-08-12. Retrieved 2015-08-26.
- ^ a b Collins, Simon (27 January 2012). "Child policy smacks of nanny state, says critic". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
- ^ Amanda Cropp (December 2017). "Auckland's big time 'commercial' Airbnb hosts could be pinged with higher council rates". Business Today.
- ^ Time for Singapore to Grow Up, Bloomberg News, March 29, 2015
- ^ Lee Kuan Yew: Singapore's 'founding father' dies in hospital aged 91 after suffering with pneumonia, Daily Mirror, 22 March 2015
- ^ 5 Quotes From Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew, 23 March 2015
- ^ Wheeler, Brian (11 October 2018). "Are we living in a 'nanny state'?". BBC News.
- ^ "UK public wants a 'nanny state'". BBC News. 2004-06-28. Retrieved 2010-01-05.
- ^ "The Nanny State Debate: A Place Where Words Don't Do Justice" (PDF).
- ^ "'Nanny state' minister under fire". BBC News. 2004-11-26.
- ^ Neville, Sarah (17 March 2016). "UK tax on sugary drinks is 'nannying' and 'impractical'". Financial Times.
- ^ The Real Reason Behind Public Smoking Bans, PBS, July 8, 2013
- ^ "America's 'Nanny State' Laws". CNBC. 31 May 2012. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
- ^ James, Frank (May 31, 2012). "Bloomberg Becomes Nanny-State Epitome For Some, Giving Obama A Breather". NPR: it's all politics.
- ^ Grynbaum, Michael (May 31, 2012). "New York Plans to Ban Sale of Big Sizes of Sugary Drinks". New York Times. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
The measures have led to occasional derision of the mayor as Nanny Bloomberg, by those who view the restrictions as infringements on personal freedom.
- OCLC 777893300.
- OCLC 71423207.
- ^ "China's nanny state grows ever more intrusive". The Washington Post.
Further reading
- OCLC 38063902.
- Bennett, James T.; Di Lorenzo, Thomas J. (1999). The Food and Drink Police: America's Nannies, Busybodies, and Petty Tyrants. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction. OCLC 60213705.
- Huntington, Robert (2004). The Nanny State. London: Artnik. OCLC 59266226.
- OCLC 71423207.
- Hills, Simon (2006). Strictly No! How We're Being Overrun by the Nanny State. Edinburgh: Mainstream. OCLC 74964546.
- King, Thomas J. (2009). War on Smokers and the Rise of the Nanny State. New York: iUniverse. OCLC 610003402.
- Coote, Anna (26 May 2004). "Nanny madness". The Guardian.
- Basham, Patrick. "From the nanny state to the bully state." Institute of Public Affairs Review: A Quarterly Review of Politics and Public Affairs, The 62.1 (2010): 24.