[Silhouette]

It's easy to blame the incumbent government - and maybe in that respect there is some justification for doing so - but I doubt the deeper issues here are really about party politics. The previous Labour era was also increasingly authoritarian and Starmer, despite his history as a defence lawyer with an interest in human rights cases, has so far shown little willingness to roll back these kinds of measures. I find that remarkable given the number of large and potentially very harmful data breaches there have been this year alone from police services and other government offices including those with responsibilities for sensitive child protection matters but perhaps it is a sign of the times.

I do worry that our society has just resigned itself to the fact that these intrusions will happen and every now and then someone will suffer very badly as a result but "it would never happen to me". I find that ironic when the original subject was child protection where the main concern is situations that are relatively rare but can be very harmful for the child when they do happen.

[Doctor_Fegg]

Certainly experience here in Oxfordshire (my wife has been safeguarding lead at her last two schools) is that the dramatic increase in CAMHS and EHCP referral times is entirely during the Conservatives' spell in power - and the consequent underfunding of local government. It could just be a local issue, and Oxfordshire have certainly been doing badly, but reporting suggests it's widespread. But like you I have no confidence that Starmer will make things better.

[Silhouette]

I don't doubt you about the situation in Oxfordshire. I suppose I'm suggesting that these measures are symptoms of a wider malaise that has developed in our society over a longer period, where "personal responsibility" are somehow dirty words and everything has to be someone else's fault now.

That leads to unrealistic expectations that the government will somehow solve all problems. That in turn creates a political culture dominated by fear and CYA with an unhealthy side order of paranoia and everything conceivable being monitored/measured.

I don't know for sure what caused this. I suspect a product of several factors including 24/7 news, near-universal access to online systems and particularly social media, and a few high profile events like 9/11 where governments responded very badly and effectively encouraged a culture of fear. It's definitely something about our culture that has changed very clearly within my adult lifetime though. The idea of having principles and understanding why they matter feels very old-fashioned today. And again I don't think that's healthy for our society at all.