Podcast: Kindergarten culture

Listen to the Battle of Ideas 2014 debate on why the government treats us like children.

In the past, government generally stayed out of our private lives. In recent years, however, this has changed. Smoking is now banned in most public places and even in private spaces like cars, and smoking in the presence of children is about to be banned. Smart meters may soon regulate our electricity usage from afar, while parents are increasingly lectured to about how they should raise their children. Why has government become so keen to make decisions for us? And why do we not even seem to take ourselves seriously as autonomous citizens?

SPEAKERS

Martha Gill
journalist, the Economist

Dan Hodges
blogger; columnist, Daily Telegraph

Ben Pile
independent researcher, writer, and film-maker

Chris Snowdon
director, lifestyle economics, Institute of Economic Affairs; author, The Art of Suppression

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