The slow death of handwriting

Christmas cards, shopping lists and what else? The occasions in which we write by hand are fewer and fewer, says Neil Hallows. So is the ancient art form of handwriting dying out?

A century from now, our handwriting may only be legible to experts.

For some, that is already the case. But writer Kitty Burns Florey says the art of handwriting is declining so fast that ordinary, joined-up script may become as hard to read as a medieval manuscript.

"When your great-great-grandchildren find that letter of yours in the attic, they'll have to take it to a specialist, an old guy at the library who would decipher the strange symbols for them," says Ms Florey, author of the newly-published Script and Scribble: The Rise and Fall of Handwriting.

FAMOUS HANDWRITING

King Henry VIII wrote this love letter to Anne Boleyn (pic: British Library)

Jane Austen completed her last novel, Persuasion, in 1816

In 1864, Lewis Carroll wrote his most famous work for Alice Liddell.

Aged 16, Winston Churchill wrote to his mother Lady Randolph Churchill

Jimi Hendrix's lyrics for Machine Gun were written in 1969

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She argues that children - if not this generation then one soon to come - may grow up using only a crude form of printing for the rare occasions in life they need to communicate by pen.

The way handwriting is taught has undoubtedly changed. At Ms Florey's school in 1950s America, a nun beat time with a stick as the class copied letters from the blackboard. It was not a place for individuals. There was a right way to form letters and very many wrong ways.

For much of the last century British schools ran in a similar way. At my primary school in the 1970s, whole classes were devoted to work being "written up for best" and I remember a story coming back unmarked because I had crossed out a single word. I wonder what my teachers would have made of a James Joyce manuscript.

Crossing 7s

Many found the experience tedious, but for left-handers it could be torture. Often they were forced to write with their right, while their "bad" hand was tied down.

More than a century of children turning out letters by the yard produced a great conformity. In the 1940s Ealing drama, Went The Day Well?, a contingent of German soldiers sets up camp in the English countryside, disguised as Royal Engineers. One reason they get rumbled is that a soldier writes a "7" with a line through it. "Why should they form their figures in a continental way?" a villager asks.

If everything we do still had to be done by hand, there would not be enough hours in the day Registrar Ruth Hodson Send us your handwriting

These days, the shape of a child's ovals, loops and slants matters less than what they write. "Content is everything," says Mark Brown, head teacher of St Mary's Catholic Primary School in Axminster, Devon. "The emphasis is much more on having a go, and expressing yourself, and getting the ideas down."

He says letter formation is still taught in the early years of primary school, but the appearance of handwriting takes less of a priority as children get older, provided it remains legible.

Some parents expect handwriting to be drilled in the same way as they experienced themselves, but Mr Brown argues the content of children's writing has significantly improved as a result of the change in emphasis, and that they write far more at school than they will as adults.

Scrawling

So once we leave school, does it really matter? Apart from the odd shopping list, do people still need to use a pen?

Some do. Registrars of births, deaths and marriages have been recording life's significant events in their usually impeccable writing since 1837.

Writer's hand: Not a word crossed out in this instance of Neil Hallows' writing

"All registrars are conscious that they follow a long and noble tradition," says Ruth Hodson, interim registration manager for Peterborough City Council.

But even their fountain pens will soon barely be heard scratching on the registers. Under a modernisation programme, an increasing amount of the information is being entered directly on to a computer.

Ms Hodson is unsentimental. "If everything we do still had to be done by hand, there would not be enough hours in the day."

But perhaps handwriting gains its greatest importance when it is least legible. The reputation of doctors for scrawling was enhanced by a study in the British Medical Journal which found medics' writing was considerably worse than other healthcare workers or administrative staff. Poor writing has often been blamed for medication errors.

Gwyn Williams, a junior doctor in Carmarthen, says that despite technological advances, a great deal of clinical communication is still handwritten.

Remember this?

"We have to write so much, on so many occasions, with the clock ticking. The end result is so difficult to interpret that even I have to concentrate on occasions to work out what [I have written].

"There doesn't seem to be any other logical way of doing it. Typing clinical notes on a computer seems so cumbersome in the limited time available that I can't see how it would work."

In many jobs though, a person can go for months, even years, writing only the odd phone message in their own script.

Nevertheless, some employers still ask for a handwritten application, or a sample of writing, although the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development warns employers they need to be clear about the reason for that, to avoid accusations of discrimination.

10-page letters

There are those who see handwriting's slip in educational priority and increasingly eccentric role in the workplace as evidence that, in the West at least, we are forgetting an ancient art form.

A panic, perhaps, and one witnessed every time the dominant style of writing changed or a new form of technology seemed to threaten it. An early typewriter led the Scientific American in 1867 to marvel that "the weary process of learning penmanship in schools will be reduced to [writing] one's own signature and playing on the literary piano".

Maybe a couple of times a week [pupils] could produce something handwritten that is judged partly on its legibility, or even its beauty Kitty Burns Florey

But look at the decline in letter writing. The students I knew two decades ago who knocked out 10-page letters during a morning in bed have probably not yet written 10 pages of handwritten prose of any kind this year.

For Ms Florey, the answer should start in the classroom. Not a return to the nuns with sticks, but for children to value handwriting by learning a simple, legible, attractive script from the start - in her view a form of italic - and then keep reinforcing it beyond the early years.

"Maybe a couple of times a week [pupils] could produce something handwritten that is judged partly on its legibility, or even its beauty."

Adults too can improve their writing, in a matter of weeks with a textbook and expert advice. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs has said that if he had not taken a calligraphy course at college, he would not have thought of putting multiple typefaces on the Mac.

Perhaps the best argument for keeping our pens is that otherwise, in a society that is recorded in more detail than any which came before it, we will leave plenty of data but very little of our personalities behind.

Our descendants may struggle to read our letters, but they'll never even see most of our texts and e-mails.

What's the ideal number of friends?

By Tom Geoghegan BBC News Magazine

The more friends you have, the more you earn, says a study. But modern life can allow little time to maintain meaningful relationships, so what's the optimum number of friends?

It's widely accepted that friendships are invaluable to the soul but few of us were aware that they could also boost the bank account.

A study of 10,000 US students over a period of 35 years suggests the wealthiest people are those that had the most friends at school. Each extra schoolfriend added 2% to the salary.

The researchers said this was because the workplace is a social setting and those with the best social skills prosper in management and teamwork.

'I HAVE 700 FRIENDS' Toks Timson, 41, from Croydon, has 707 Facebook friends 'I actually know or have met or worked with or went to school with or am related to at least 550. 'The others are just friends of friends or random adds from people. 'Having that number of friends is a lot of work for sure. I'm a bit of a raver and also someone who makes friends easily.'

If a wide circle of friends is taken as a popularity indicator, does that mean the more you have the more successful and happy you are? Or can you have too many? What is the best number?

The average number is about 150, says leading anthropologist Robin Dunbar.

It may sound like a lot, but think of your Christmas card list - 50 cards to 50 couples = 100 friends.

"It's the number of people that you know as persons and you know how they fit into your social world and they know how you fit into theirs. They are a group of people to which you have an obligation of friendship."

They usually consist of an inner circle of five "core" people and an additional layer of 10, he says. That makes 15 people - some will probably be family members - who are your central group and then outside that, there's another 35 in the next circle and another 100 on the outside. And that's one person's social world.

Aristotle said friends must have eaten salt together Philosopher Mark Vernon

Friendships help us develop as people, says Mark Vernon, author of The Philosophy of Friendship, but the very term "friend" covers a whole range of relationships. You have a very close friendship with your partner but with others it may just be a common interest or history or simply children the same age.

"Aristotle said friends must have eaten salt together and what he meant is there's a sense that people have lived a significant part of their life together. They've sat down and shared meals and the ups and downs of life.

"You really have to have mulled over things with them to become really good friends and there's only so many people you can do that with.

"You can have friends because of what you do together or enjoy something together like football or shopping, but they're not as profound friends as those who you love for themselves because of something in their character. And it doesn't matter what you're doing with them, even sitting alone in a room."

'One in, one out'

There's a limit to how many close friends like this you can have and it's probably between six and 12, he says.

"I think this idea that you can have virtually limitless numbers of friends does water down the concept of friendship. I think it's one of those things where less is more."

Not if you're a socialite like designer Nicky Haslam, who recently threw a party for 800 friends. But even people who don't inhabit the heady world of fashion and celebrity have too many friends to manage.

A newspaper columnist once told of her shock when, having struck up a rapport with a man over dinner, she was told at the end of the meal he had no vacancies for friends. He was operating a "one-in, one-out" policy. Six months later she received a card stating he was now available for friendship.

That's an extreme example but many people view their friendships scientifically and regulate them accordingly.

'I STREAMLINE FRINGE FRIENDS' Penny, a 35-year-old mum of two in Brighton, says she has 12 good friends but of those would only really confide in four 'There's not enough hours in the day or days in the week to see everyone. 'Certain people ask if I'm around to meet and I don't really want to commit because I've got other people I want to see. 'So you do start streamlining, but your oldest friends are always there.'

Julie, a 34-year-old PR consultant in London, says she has three categories of friends. Firstly there are nine close friends - the Premier League - whom she could ring any time of day or night and they would drop everything and come if necessary.

"I try to see them every few weeks and speak at least once a fortnight. I have a rota in my head and try and ring one of them each night as I drive home from work. It shows how pressured we are for time that speaking to friends is multi-tasking."

Julie's next social group has about 20 people, mostly men, whom she would see every couple of months, then there are more than 100 people beyond that on the outer fringes - friends from work, friends from her last job and friends from travelling.

"There are two people whom I don't really want to stay friends with but I don't have the heart to say no to. People I used to work with, they invite you to dinner and then you feel you have to invite them back, but you really don't have the time and it gets really stressful, especially since getting a boyfriend.

"I want to spend two nights a week with him, two nights to myself at home and two nights at the gym, so that leaves one night to see people."

Far-fetched it may be, but five close friends is about average

There is a perception that as society has become more mobile, and traditional family bonds have loosened, friendships have become more fleeting. But on the other hand, modern technology has meant we can stay in touch with more people than ever.

"First email, then mobile, and now social networking sites like Facebook have made it much easier for people to grow their circle of friends beyond their immediate inner circle," says digital media expert Dan Clays of BLM Quantum.

"But the swelling is predominantly in the outer-reaches of their circle, and often the fringe group. If you were to examine the profile of someone's group of friends on Facebook, the probability is that a large contingent were accepted as friends out of curiosity and after an initial exchange, the level of dialogue slows down to a trickle."

This is especially apparent in the 16-24 audience group, the digital generation, he says, so it will be interesting to see if they are able to maintain that contact later in life.

But maybe we're too fixated on numbers, says Mr Vernon.

"Ask yourself about the quality of your friendships, not about the quantity."

For the sake of friendship, some names have been changed

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways

Sonnet 43 - How do I love thee? Let me count the ways
Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints,—I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

Page last updated at 11:24 GMT, Tuesday, 24 February 2009

How do you explain a missing hand to a child?

By Tom Geoghegan BBC News Magazine

Burnell joined CBeebies last month

Parents have complained that a children's TV presenter with one hand is prompting awkward questions from young children. So how should you explain this kind of disability to a child?

No-one comes up with wrong-footing questions quite like a young child. And young, curious minds don't hesitate to point out differences in people they see around them.

So when the BBC's children's channel CBeebies employed presenter Cerrie Burnell, who was born with only one hand, her appearance on television screens prompted a debate among parents about what they say to their children.

Online message boards on CBeebies and the BBC's disability magazine Ouch! were brimming with support for the employment of a person with a disability, and the way this educated children about diversity.

But a minority of parents expressed concern that Ms Burnell's appearance was "scaring" children. One father said he feared it would give his daughter nightmares and a mother said her two-year-old girl could not watch because she thought the presenter had been hurt.

Ms Burnell, 29, says she doesn't take this personally but these kind of comments highlight the prejudice that disabled people face.

'CHILDREN ASK COOL QUESTIONS' Clare Johnston is a student primary school teacher, 31, from Edinburgh, who uses a wheelchair "Children will be direct, but they don't seem to have the assumption that it stops you doing other things, and they will tend to ask rather cooler questions like 'Can you do wheelies?'" "Adults are frequently surprised to find you are able to go on with your life, work and hobbies." When a teacher told the class not to ask questions about her, it made matters worse, she says

"Children come up to me in the street every day and say 'What's that?' I wouldn't say they're frightened but certainly they're inquisitive.

"I would always take the time to explain to a child. All they want is an explanation. They want to know 'What's that?' and 'What's happened?' and 'Why are you different?' And then they will move on."

She hopes that her presence can show young children what they can achieve on merit. But what parents say is up to them.

"I'd never comment on anyone's parenting or the time for them to have a discussion with their child about disabilities.

"It's a totally personal thing and people have to do it when they feel comfortable to do it. But I would just hope that, I guess, me being on CBeebies would present an opportunity for them to do that in the comfort of their own home."

If the child asks questions then they are old enough to understand the answer, she says, and her story is simply that she was born with one hand but it doesn't stop her doing anything.

Hard-of-hearing Barbies

The problem lies with the parents, not the children, says Sir Bert Massie from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

"I think what's happening is a number of adults do have prejudices, do have very negative views about disabled people, and instead of admitting the views are their own, they're projecting them on to their children and saying the children are doing this. And of course they don't give their names [on message boards], so it's all anonymous."

It becomes harder for older children because they can be socially embarrassed Child psychologist Penelope Leach

Attitudes have improved over time, helped by changes in the law, a higher profile for some disabled people and more awareness of equality issues. And children are more likely to see people with disabilities because many are now taught in mainstream schools.

Even toy makers are getting on message - turning out disability aids like wheelchairs, dark glasses and hearing aids for dolls and action figures.

Child psychologist Penelope Leach says children are faced with so much variety in the world that they do tend to accept what they see, unless someone else implies to them that something is wrong.

Tilly is a doll in a wheelchair, made by Kids Like Me

"Three to four year olds can't be sure that there aren't people in the world who only ever have one arm. There are people who have glasses, or are very tall, or have different skin. Why shouldn't there be people in the world who have a different number of arms?

"It becomes harder for older children because they can be socially embarrassed and they think 'Should I say something or not?' People in wheelchairs complain bitterly that older children and grown-ups don't look at them in the eye but you don't get that with young children."

While young children may react badly to the sight of blood, they would not be frightened by a person with one arm, unless it triggered something that had happened in their family.

"There are a lot of answers you could give. They won't say 'How did she lose her arm?', they are more likely to say 'Where is her arm?' or 'Why has she only got one arm?' And the parent can just say 'I don't know exactly, but maybe she had an accident.'

"Listen to the question you are being asked and answer the question. I wouldn't suggest looking at the presenter and pointing it out but if their child asks a question or makes a comment it's a great mistake to say 'hush, hush'. They want to know the answer to a very sensible question."

Ms Dilley says children relate to her better than adults

The difference in attitude between children and adults is striking, says Maddy Dilley who was struck by a debilitating condition which means she uses a wheelchair when leaving the house.

"Children are normally very positive. In buggies they seem to love it because I'm on the same level as them. They tend to grin and young children on foot turn back and smile," says the 24-year-old from Cambridgeshire.

The odd child will hide behind their mum or dad because they're not sure what's going on or point or react slightly differently, but overall it tends to be very positive, open and inquisitive.

"They don't see it as something different because it's not bred into them. While adults can see it in a discriminatory way, children are more innocent."

Adults sometimes ignore her and avoid eye contact when she clearly needs help with something, she says. On one occasion she was wheeled out of the way in a supermarket, which left her in tears.

So instead of shielding children from disability, it seems some adults should take a lead from youngsters in how to respond to it.

春秋战国的士 明治维新的武士

春秋战国的士 明治维新的武士

[1103]　(2009-01-15)
　
春秋战国的士和明治维新的武士以配带武器代表自己身份,穷困的士虽然穿破衣吃不饱也要带配剑,像韩信那样,明治维新的武士随身带刀.中国的士可以被嘲笑,但是日本武士是不行的.

　　春秋战国的士和明治维新的武士社会身份很接近,都是下级贵族,士要靠有封地大夫和诸侯国,日本武士靠大名.

　　但他们也是独立的,不依赖于诸侯,结成一个有共同意识的精英集团.春秋战国的士不忠诚于自己的国家,日本武士忠诚自己的藩主,但是最后灭了所有诸侯.

　　士和武士也是知识分子,春秋战国的士思想活跃,百家争鸣.明治维新的武士思想活跃,有多种思想竞争. 他们都是知行合一的.陈寅恪独立之精神和自由之思想其实是士的精神.

　　春秋战国的士帮助秦国统一了中国,明治维新的武士对日本进行个变革,推翻了幕府和消灭大名.士也是革命者,一直到近代.

　　中国成了统一国家后,士的作用下降了,因为只能依附一个皇帝.西汉司马相如认为现在统一国家之下,看不到士的高下. 士从贵族变成士农工商四民之首.

　　后来的士都成了儒士,思想竞争少了.士是以文武全才六艺为身份,唐朝的士像李白随身配剑,杜甫可以骑马射剑.到宋朝和明朝重文抑武,士主要是文士,成为士大夫,讲琴棋书画.

　　士不论文武最重要的不是身份,而是先天下之忧而忧,为理想而献身,视名节为一切的精神,像徐悲鸿画的田横五百士图体现的那样.

　　而在后现代社会,士的精神也消失了.明治维新之后,日本武士也随着社会结构变成现代化,而消失了.

　　广州 麦辰

郑愁予

郑愁予（1933- ），原名郑文韬，出版的诗集有《梦土上》（1955）、《衣钵》（1966）、《燕人行》（1980）、《寂寞的人坐着看花》（1993）。原籍河北，生于山东济南。1949年赴台。其诗中贯穿着两种互补的气质神韵：一种是豪放、爽快、豁达的"仁侠"精神，另一种则是曲折动人、情意绵绵、欲语还羞的婉约情韵，这两种气质充分显示了诗人深厚的古典文学修养。


火炼 寂寞的人坐着看花 佛外缘 贵族 当西风走过 生命 度牒 未题 梵音 媳妇 醉溪流域 港夜 归航曲 雨丝 边塞组曲 天窗 情妇知风草 四月赠礼 窗外的女奴 水巷 夜歌 南海上空 俯拾 山外书 山居的日子 落帆 崖上 结语 探险者 港边吟 小溪 殒石 垂直的泥土上 岛谷海湾 小小的岛 船长的独步 贝勒维尔 水手刀 如雾起时 晨景 小诗锦 除夕 晚虹之逝 雪线 晚云 钟声 乡音 偈 定 客来小城 错误 港夜梦土上 赋别 雨季的云 裸的先知 盛装的时候 最后的春闱 右边的人 编秋草 厝骨塔 小站之站 召魂 望乡人 野柳岬归省 晨 下午 草履虫 静物采贝 姊妹港 一○四病室 清明 嘉义 左营 南湖大山辑 大霸尖山辑 玉山辑 雪山辑 大屯山汇 大武山辑 边界酒店 旅程 草生原 燕云 四月图昼九月图昼


郑予愁 《错误》
我打江南走过
那等在季节里的容颜如莲花的开落
东风不来
三月的柳絮不飞
你的心如小小的窗扉紧掩
恰如青桥的石板向晚
跫音不响
三月的春帷不揭
你的心如小小寂寞的城
我达达的马蹄声是美丽的错误
我不是归人
是个过客

Teen pregnancy: Why are rates rising?

Last Updated: Friday, 27 May, 2005, 10:54 GMT 11:54 UK

Teen pregnancy: Why are rates rising?

Why can't we match up to our European neighbours?

The debate on how best to tackle teenage pregnancy has arisen again as latest figures show the rate in under-16s in England and Wales has increased.

The government says it can do no more without the help of parents, while others are again calling for a broadening of sex and relationship education in schools.

The UK has the highest teenage birth rates in Western Europe - twice as high as in Germany, three times as high as in France and six times as high as in the Netherlands.

Why are the figures on the increase?

One thing that is lacking in the UK is a consensus on how to deal with the problem of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among teenagers.

All the incentives are going in the wrong direction - the best thing the government could do is stop undermining the family Robert Whelan, Civitas Parents 'must help'

While there is often broad agreement on the root causes, there are differences over the "cure" that range, in their simplest terms, from promoting abstinence and traditional family values to encouraging more openness about sex and relationships.

A report by the government's Social Exclusion Unit, which forms the basis for its teenage pregnancy policy, says a number of factors stand out when looking at the reasons for the UK phenomenon.

Low expectations of education and employment opportunities for some young people, ignorance about contraception, and mixed messages about sex from the adult world are all cited.

Three sisters who gave birth at 12, 14 and 16 recently hit the headlines

Brook, which provides sexual health advice to young people, mostly agrees with the government's assessment, but says it needs to learn from the openness of other European countries.

Chief executive Jan Barlow said there were three main reasons why so many other countries enjoyed lower pregnancy and STI rates.

Good comprehensive sex and relationship education, better access to young people-friendly services, and a more open attitude to sex, she says, lead to young people making different decisions.

"We've got to normalise these issues. One way to do that is to make sex and relationship education in schools compulsory, as part of the PHSE (Personal, Social and Health Education) curriculum."

Having lived in Scandinavia, she has first-hand experience of a region that has a "different attitude" towards sex and enjoys low rates of teenage pregnancy.

We are setting them adrift in this sexualised society without giving them the tools to look after themselves Jan Barlow, Brook Young sisters all mums

"There is an interest in other people's sex lives, such as celebrities', to an extent, but people are more able to separate that from real life.

"Here we get really into things like Celebrity Love Island, wondering whether these people are going to have sex on TV. In the UK we can deal with the fantasy but not what the reality is for young people."

Sex is around, it seems, but no-one is talking to young people about it, she adds.

"We are setting them adrift in this sexualised society without giving them the tools to look after themselves."

The government has promised more sex education training in England but schools are only currently obliged to teach the biological "mechanics".

Ms Barlow said she believed ministers had rejected proposals from advisors to make sex education within PSHE compulsory because they were sensitive about being perceived as a "nanny state".

SEX AND OUR NEIGHBOURS France: age of consent is 15; consenting sex not illegal below that age Germany: unlike the UK, parents do not have the right to withdraw their child from sex education Netherlands: sex with 12-15 years olds only prosecuted if formal complaint made Spain: age of consent is 13 if both parties are 16 or under

But Brook says research shows comprehensive education which starts before sexual activity begins does not make young people more likely to have sex.

According to studies done for the NHS at the University of York, it helps them delay having sex and makes them more likely to use contraception when they do.

Young British people often say the sex education they receive is "too little, too late, and too biological", adds Ms Barlow.

But Brook's position is vehemently disputed by think tank Civitas.

Deputy director Robert Whelan said the high rates were mostly down to the breakdown of the family.

"You can't just treat this in isolation, give them contraception and hope that will be the end of the problem. In any case, they are not efficient users of contraception."

Mr Whelan said the government thought it could solve the problem by "by transferring money from one section of the community to another via the welfare system".

'Wrong direction'

"The welfare system in itself is an incentive to become a single non-working parent. Working two-parent families are treated as cash cows that can be milked to support any other lifestyle choice," he said.

"All the incentives are going in the wrong direction. The best thing the government could do is stop undermining the family."

But a further claim - that the UK has a "large number of sexually active teens" - is contradicted by research from the Alan Guttmacher Institute in the USA.

In comparing rates between Europe and the US, where rates are much higher - it found the difference in levels of sexual activity were small.

The much-quoted research concluded that countries enjoying low rates of teen births were characterised by, among other things, an acceptance in society of the sexual activity of young people.

Page last updated at 12:29 GMT, Wednesday, 3 September 2008 13:29 UK

Why such a downer on teenage pregnancy?

By Finlo Rohrer BBC News Magazine

News that the daughter of the vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin is expecting a child at 17 has again focused the spotlight on teenage pregnancy. But why do we have such a problem with it?

A teenager expecting a baby is a bad thing. Or so you would believe if you ever read the news.

It is proclaimed that the UK's rate of pregnancies in females aged 15-19 makes it the "worst" in Europe.

Teenage pregnancies are rising; so are drunkenness, sexual offences and crimes of sadism Sir Keith Joseph, 1974

This is certainly the government's view. The stated goal of its Teenage Pregnancy Strategy is to "halve the under-18 conception rate by 2010, and establish a firm downward trend in the under-16 rate".

With under-16s it's easy to see the reasoning - the age of consent is 16, compulsory schooling runs until 16. But for those over the age of 16, but under the age of 18, or even 20, is it still a social ill?

The first curious thing about the issue of teenage pregnancy is that many people do not have a handle on the numbers.

Stats confusion

"People massively overestimate the numbers of people who get pregnant when they are very young. When people believe it is a bigger problem than it is then their response will be more polemical or however you want to describe it," says Simon Blake, chief executive of Brook, a charity which offers young people sexual health advice.

Kizzy, who allowed BBC cameras to follow her pregnancy aged 13

Victoria Gillick, a "pro-life pregnancy counsellor" who found fame in the 1980s while fighting for the right to be told if her teenage daughter was prescribed the Pill, often asks people how many girls under the age of 16 get pregnant every year. She is told figures that are dramatically in excess of the real stats.

"In only one year, 1990, has it ever reached 1%," she tells them.

Many people might be under the impression that teenage pregnancies are rocketing. But over the past 10 years they have been falling in England. In 1998, the figure was 46.6 conceptions per thousand girls aged 15-17. In 2006 it was 40.4.

For 13-15 year olds, numbers are also falling. In 1998, there were 8.8 conceptions per thousand girls. In 2006, there were 7.7.

But it is still a pervasive issue in the media and in popular culture, with representations as varied as the positive spin of the recent movie Juno, to the now notorious Vicky Pollard of Little Britain.

Michelle's baby

And we've taken a dim view of teenage pregnancy for some decades.

Michelle Fowler with baby Vikki

Conservative politician Sir Keith Joseph spoke of the fears of many when he said in 1974: "Teenage pregnancies are rising; so are drunkenness, sexual offences and crimes of sadism."

In the 1980s, an EastEnders storyline that featured the 16-year-old Michelle Fowler becoming pregnant caused national debate.

The fear is that teenage pregnancies are symptomatic of a wider breakdown in society, the crumbling of stable families and the institution of marriage.

Ms Gillick says attitudes have changed since the 50s as perceptions of the relationship backgrounds of pregnant teenagers has changed.

"There was no outcry about 18-19 year olds getting pregnant in the 1950s because they were married. It is if they are unmarried that they become a burden, and the mother and child are very vulnerable."

The economics of teenage parenthood are a major factor in the eyes of the public.

If you go to different parts of the country, you will see generations of teenage parenthood - it wouldn't be considered a problem Simon Blake, Brook

"We know lower socio-economic women are more likely to get pregnant early and go on to have the baby," says Mr Blake.

"The life chances in terms of social exclusion - and for the children - are poorer than those who are not teenage parents."

As well as purely economic factors, groups such as children in care and those from unstable homes are vastly disproportionately represented.

Knowing the economic difficulties of teenage parents, it is easy to think in terms of increased benefits budgets.

And Britons are having babies later. According to the Office for National Statistics, in 1977, women aged 25-29 were twice as likely to give birth as women aged 30-34. By 2007, women aged between 30 and 34 had the highest fertility of any of the age groupings.

Delayed parenthood

In more ancient times, when lifespans were shorter, marriage and children often happened much earlier. But we have long got used, in the industrial age, to birth happening later.

Weight of expectation: Bristol Palin and boyfriend Levi Johnston

"Most European countries have married late and started families much later," says Ms Gillick.

Taking the figures for England of all the births, in 1938 4% were to mothers under the age of 20. In 2004 the figure was 7.1% - higher, but still well down on the late 60s, when more than 10% of births were to mothers under 20.

But our continued concern comes at the same time as a general feeling of worry about the demographic problems of an ageing population. The UK's birth rate has been rising in the past half decade, and is considerably higher than many other Western nations, but we are still becoming a greyer nation.

For the first time, those over the age of 60 now outnumber under-18s. It's yet to be seriously advocated that we should stop discouraging those who are 16 and older from having children, but it's not beyond the realms of possibility.

"If you go to different parts of the country, you will see generations of teenage parenthood - culturally it wouldn't be considered a problem," says Mr Blake.

"That is not to say they can't be good parents. The Teenage Pregnancy Strategy says, when supported, teenage parents can be very good parents."

And this support is preferably offered by stable loving families, says Sally Gimson, of the Family and Parenting Institute.

"If you come from a family where you don't talk to your family or where your family has broken down; if you haven't done well at school and have got pregnant as a response to that, that is when your circumstances and the baby's may have more difficulties. If you have a supportive family, life may be fine."

Hateful looks

Another factor is our view of teenagers having sex, even over the age of consent.

Good support makes a good parent

Jenny Billings, a research fellow at University of Kent's Centre for Health Services Studies, has carried out a study among 4,000 15 and 16 year olds across the county.

"It's because we don't like the thought of kids having sex. There's almost an entrenched cultural stumbling block that spills over into how parents talk to their children."

And so pregnant teenagers receive negative reactions, she says.

"The initial response was one of horror and shame and it made the kids feel terrible. They meet prejudice on every single corner. Going down the road looking pregnant, people looking at them in a hateful way.

"They are seen as feckless and promiscuous when all it is is kids that are brought into the teenage world under-prepared and incredibly ignorant. We let them watch it on television but we don't talk about it."

She objects to the way teenage pregnancy has been "problematised".

This tends to scoop all teenagers into the same pot, as though a 19-year-old is the same as a 17-year-old, and that either are comparable to a 15-year-old or a 13-year-old.

"A 13-year-old is a very different girl from a 19-year-old - one is on the brink of womanhood," says Ms Gillick.

Page last updated at 08:07 GMT, Sunday, 15 February 2009

Anne Frank guardian reaches 100

Miep Gies kept Anne Frank's diary safe before its publication

The last surviving member of the small group who helped hide the Dutch Jewish girl Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis has turned 100 years old.

Miep Gies will celebrate her birthday on Sunday quietly with relatives and friends, she said this week.

She said she was not deserving of the attention, and that others had done far more to protect the Netherlands' Jews.

She paid tribute to "unnamed heroes", picking out her husband Jan for his courageous defiance of the Nazis.

"He was a resistance man who said nothing but did a lot. During the war he refused to say anything about his work, only that he might not come back one night. People like him existed in thousands but were never heard," Miep Gies said in an email to the Associated Press this week.

Accolades

Mrs Gies was an employee of Anne Frank's father, Otto, who kept them and six others supplied during their two years in hiding in an attic in Amsterdam from 1942 to 1944.

But the family were found by the authorities, and deported.

Gies, bottom left, and Otto Frank, next to her, were reunited after the war

Anne Frank died of typhus in the German concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen later.

It was Mrs Gies who collected up Anne Frank's papers, and locked them away, hoping that one day she would be able to give them back to the girl.

In the event, she returned them to Otto Frank, and helped him compile them into a diary that was published in 1947.

It went on to sell tens of millions of copies in dozens of languages.

She became a kind of ambassador for the diary, travelling to talk about Anne Frank and her experiences, campaigning against Holocaust-denial and refuting allegations that the diary was a forgery.

For her efforts to protect the Franks and to preserve their memory, Mrs Gies won many accolades.

"This is very unfair," she told the Associated Press.

"So many others have done the same or even far more dangerous work."