...on this "independent" review.
Ho hum. We will just have to try to ensure that Mr Badman is quite clear that parents, yes PARENTS should be responsible for the education and welfare of their children, that the state only has a duty to intervene where it is clear that parents are failing in their duties, and that the law must respect this balance.
If you haven't done so already, you could be telling him this here.
I suppose, looking at it ultra-optimistically, he could be so sick of 'the system' himself, after all those years, that his secret sympathies actually lie with us..? *Hollow laugh*
ReplyDeleteJust been reading your link to his ECM review...the council making all these positive contributions to keeping children healthy, safe, etc...EEEK...
ReplyDeleteYour point above could be our only hope!
It'd be career suicide for him, though, to do anything other than report as expected. I wonder if he'd have the courage to do it anyway. If he's a man of real integrity, he'll report as he actually finds.
ReplyDeleteIt will surely be difficult for him to approach it with an open mind though, with a history like that.
And yes, he must certainly be good at hoop-jumping! :-(
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ReplyDeleteTell us the 'right' way to argue please then Leo - in detail.
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ReplyDeleteBecause it might help?
ReplyDeleteHi L...am wondering if this is a language problem??
ReplyDeleteI believe I have obligations which are also in practice duties towards my children, whether or not they are prescribed in law.
Is this something to do with the problem you see?
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ReplyDeleteAh, you just did it. Thanks, Leo :-)
ReplyDeleteCarlotta obviously understands the mysterious 'how to get something useful out of Leo' code better than I do.
"the word duty implies compulsion. A duty is a moral obligation to an authority, absent of self-interest and imposed by force."
ReplyDeleteAh right, I see your argument, although I disagree that these are necessary implications of the word duty.
I impose duties upon myself because they are the reasonable thing to do, and therefore I want to do them and I impose them upon myself completely freely. I am my own authority, and some duties I make certain I meet are definitely within my own range of self interest. eg: I owe a duty of care to myself...to eat, go out meet friends etc.
I don't think this is too unusual a use of the word duty, and imagine that others could read it that way.
I wonder if a similar Portuguese word has the stricter connotations you suggest?
What would be your preferred line of defence, L?
ReplyDeleteI would say that a duty is an obligation imposed by one's conscience. It is only "imposed" by moral authority not by the authority of a person or body; it is an act that one considers essential to undertake in order to maintain one's integrity.
ReplyDeleteUnless you precede the word with another that alters context and meaning eg "legal duty".
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ReplyDeleteThe same as you offer for mine.
ReplyDeleteYou publish yourself for free. Don't expect me to, though.
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