Tony Blair says ... "We need a proper and considered debate about how we manage the future." This begs the question. What we need is a debate about whether we manage the future.Now, if I were running the national curriculum, and I could introduce just one issue of political philosophy which all pupils were forced to ponder critically, that would be it.
It has become far too much of an unexamined assumption among commentators of all persuasions that, whatever the problem, "we" (society; in practice, the elite — on behalf of the state) need to think about what "we" should do about it. Chris rightly draws attention to this point. Now, if only a few more people would stop and think before reflexively using the word "we" ...