Monday, April 23, 2007

Time to take responsibility

"We will take no lessons from David Cameron and his 'hug a hoodie' Tories about how best to empower people to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour."

That's the government response to David Cameron's new announcement regarding a "manifesto" for society (see here). If Labour had a proud record in this area, I'd let it get away with yet another spin-laden non-constructive comment. Sadly, at the same time Home Office Minister McNulty was making this statement, the RSPCA released figures showing the number of pets being placed in its care has soared in the past few years by over 40 per cent (see here).

If you want an example of how people need to start getting a grip on themselves and taking responsibility back from this nanny state, this is it: people dumping pets on the RSPCA's doorstep because they no longer want them. Imagine if you tried to do that with your children? Frankly I'm appalled at such irresponsible behaviour from the vast majority of human beings that have done this - there are always exceptions to every rule, but I suspect most of these weren't place in care as a last resort because the owner was physically or mentally no longer able to look after them.

The government is getting something right in this area: the Animal Welfare Act will make you and me legally responsible for any pets we own, so maybe you'll think twice next time before getting a pet for Christmas and ditching it come New Year.

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