Nanny state

An old wet nurse symbolising France as nanny-state and public health provider (colour photomechanical reproduction of a lithograph editorial cartoon by N. Dorville, 1901)

Nanny state is a term of British origin that conveys a view that a government or its policies are overprotective or interfering unduly with personal choice.[1][2] The term likens such a government to the role that a nanny has in child rearing. An early use of the term comes from Conservative British Member of Parliament Iain Macleod who referred to "what I like to call the nanny state" in the 3 December 1965 edition of The Spectator.[3][4]

The term was popularised by journalists Bernard Levin[5] and Auberon Waugh[6] and later by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

  1. ^ "nanny, n.1 and adj". OED Online. Oxford University Press. December 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  2. ^ Wheeler, Brian (11 October 2018). "Are we living in a 'nanny state'?". BBC News. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  3. ^ 70 m.p.h., The Spectator, 3 December 1965, p. 11.
  4. ^ "Nanny Knows Best . . . Sometimes". The Times. 4 October 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  5. ^ "Industry Documents Library".
  6. ^ "Industry Documents Library".