Kids can’t call shots on vaccine
EWATCHING health ministers say that children aged 12-15 could overrule their parents over having the Covid vaccine sent shivers down my spine. Since when did we give carte blanche to kids to overrule their parents? For Conservatives to abandon the concept of parental responsibility, taking power away from the family and passing it to the state, is inexcusable to me.
The more I’ve thought about it, the more annoyed I’ve become. In one fell swoop the Government is dismantling “authority”, upon which any stable country depends.
For if children can overrule their parents – not just with impunity but with the active encouragement of the state – why shouldn’t they start overruling teachers, police officers or anyone else in a position of power and authority?
This is an act of vandalism on society that I would expect from a bunch of anarchists, not Conservatives – the impact will be felt long into the future.
So why are they going down this path?
Well I guess it was a bit like the Government overruling the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation on this same issue... if you don’t like the answer you get, then find a way around it.
Despite saying for the last 18 months that we must follow the science, the Government has decided not to on the issue of vaccinating children.When the scientists refused to recommend this, Government chose to bring in other people to overrule that decision to get the answer it wanted. For belt and braces purposes we’re being told children could overrule their parents too, so as to leave nothing to chance.
It begs the question, why are ministers so desperate to vaccinate children that they are prepared to trash the science and abandon the core Conservative principles of parental responsibility and authority?
Was this to keep pupils in schools, and to ensure that they don’t miss more education? No,
I suspect this is all because the Government thought it was easier to take on parents than it was the more militant teaching trade unions.
The Government needs to tell these unions that healthy children don’t need to be vaccinated and schools can stay fully open.
It makes you wonder if there are any principles the Government is not prepared to ditch.
EMMA Raducanu (maybe she should be renamed Emma Radu-can-do) is a most welcome addition to the world of sport. She is a real ray of sunshine on the tennis court, oozes wholesome positivity and plays the game with a huge smile on her face, and what’s more the crowds love her. Oh yes, she is also modest too – booking a plane home from the US Open early, wrongly thinking that she would have been knocked out by then. She is only 18 and has the sporting world at her feet. I’m pretty certain she will prove to be one of our greatest ever sport stars.