I don't normally turn on Sky News when I am eating my toast, but this morning I did and was gripped by the lauch of a new report by former Conservative Leader and current Tory MP Iain Duncan Smith, which was called "Breakdown Britain". No other media seem to be picking up on this except Sky News, and Rupert Murdoch's station certainly had the story blown up.
The Breakdown Britain report includes nearly 200 recommendations aimed at tackling the root causes of debt, addiction or third dependency, and dysfunctional family life. Mr Smith pinpointed alcohol as a road to hard drugs and family breakdown. As a result he called for higher taxes on alcohol to pay for strict new drug treatments. Other suggested policies include offering disaffected youths concert tickets as a reward for doing community work.
Economists will be interested in the report's claim that social breakdown costs the British taxpayer £102bn a year. See more here.
What surprised me most was the nature of the coverage given to this report this morning - it looked and felt like it was the launch of a Governmnet report. It could be the case that the Tories have stolen the thunder from under Gordon Brown's feet.
The phrase "Bingo Alone" springs to mind.
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