Has nanny finally blown it? That was what we sought to find out. After having the state tell us what to eat and drink, how to exercise, and even how to cook turkey, anecdotal evidence suggests people are growing tired of it all and would like nanny to stop being so bossy. A small group of self-styled ‘experts’ who think they know better than we do how to live our lives seems to have persuaded government to bully us into compliance.
In 1998 the Adam Smith Institute surveyed, with a polling organisation, the attitudes of the younger generation. We found then that they didn’t expect government to gain them a job, they scored politicians and civil servants low in the admiration stakes, and nearly half (48 per cent) wanted to run their own business.
We decided to commission a different poll, 14 years on, to see if the changed economy has changed attitudes.
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