Psychiatrist and social commentator Thedore Dalrymple has spent a lifetime working with the dregs of British society — violent criminals and the politicians he believes are responsible for many of the failings of modern society.
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Less than 24 hours after arriving in New Zealand this week, he had already opened a Pandora’s box of moral and social outrage by suggesting divorce should be outlawed except on the grounds of violence, infidelity or “failure to keep one’s responsibilities”. Tax breaks should be offered to married couples in order to reassert the power of the family and a “sexual revolution” was responsible for soaring domestic violence.
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In a 1998 essay, What Causes Crime (published in his book, Life at the Bottom), Dalrymple ponders the causes of New Zealand’s post-1950s surge in crime. Examining several high-profile cases he concluded of the Peter Ellis sexual abuse affair that “a New Zealand court has given credence to accusations that even the Spanish Inquisition might have found preposterous.”
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“There are areas in Britain where fatherhood is completely unknown other than in a biological sense. Children are growing up in loveless environments in which they regard all human relationships as a means to an end for their personal gratification of the moment. That is a recipe for a very unpleasant life,” says Dalrymple.

Link to complete article on Scoop.

Chris Trotter – A poor excuse for villainy

Theodore Dalrymple is right about the modern welfare state — it is chock full of moral hazards. It does offer a range of perverse incentives to the unfortunate human beings caught up in its bureaucratic coils. And, at its heart, there really is a howling ethical void.