>>
go to social
affairs index >>
Epitaph for
the eighties? 'there is
no such thing as society'
"I
think we've been through a period where too many
people have been given to understand that if they
have a problem, it's the government's job to cope
with it. 'I have a problem, I'll get a grant.' 'I'm
homeless, the government must house me.' They're
casting their problem on society. And, you know,
there is no such thing as society. There are
individual men and women, and there are families. And
no government can do anything except through people,
and people must look to themselves first. It's our
duty to look after ourselves and then, also to look
after our neighbour. People have got the entitlements
too much in mind, without the obligations. There's no
such thing as entitlement, unless someone has first
met an obligation."
Prime
minister Margaret Thatcher, talking to Women's Own
magazine, October 31 1987
>> go to social
affairs index >>