Out of control
From Sir Peregrine Worsthorne
Sir: Fraser Nelson is quite right to question David Cameron about ‘social responsibility’ (Politics, 20 January), and I would appreciate a chance to follow suit. My gripe is that Mr Cameron does not seem to recognise that all responsibility involves control. Only someone in control can be held responsible, i.e. accountable. Personal responsibility means that each individual could and should take control of himself or herself. So presumably social responsibility must mean that some individuals take control of other people.
Unfortunately Mr Cameron fails to grasp this nettle. He envisages a new order of responsible social controllers, in addition to those now empowered by the state and/or the invisible hand of the market, without giving us any idea where this new order of authoritative citizens is likely to come from.
In the old days, of course, they largely came from a hereditary governing class, with the ingrained habits of authority, many of whose members
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