Notes and Comments: No. 11

Today sees the return of these Notes & Comments postings as I slowly try to return to regular updates, postings and so on here.

Anyway, When Michael Portillo was in government I thought he was an utter arse, and - like so many - I enjoyed his electoral defeat. Nevertheless, here I find myself in quiet general agreement with him, as I have been with quite a few things he has said in recent times. Strange days, indeed.

Emotional vulnerability has become fashionable. Kathryn Ecclestone on the growing use of psychologists in schools.

These trends create a circular logic of suggestibility. Some psychologists argue that no one is immune from debilitating feelings of emotional "un-wellbeing" and that we all have "esteem issues". This cultural mantra is now so prevalent that denials of depression or low self-esteem lead to a diagnosis of repressed feelings and lack of emotional intelligence.

Sometimes, it seems it won’t be very long before the entire public realm is closed down; least we inadvertently ‘offend’ someone. I find myself increasingly drawn to the idea of removing all restrictions on freedom of speech and thought, because it seems that once a society starts out on the road to banning and outlawing such things, the easier it seems to get more and more stuff restricted. This leads to the increasing infantalization of people as they get ‘offended’ by increasingly trivial things and expect someone to save them from being troubled by it too much.