Statements of the morally obvious

I was distressed to see that there was a parliamentary statement on "rights and responsibilities" due today. A bit fluffy and Blairy, I thought. It turns out to have been Jack Straw's Bill of Rights Green Paper, a list of statements of the morally bloody obvious including:

• parents' duty to look after their children
• not claiming benefits when able to work
• obeying the law
• reporting crimes
• co-operating with the police
• paying taxes

Without going into full Daily Mail rant, this is pretty silly, isn't it? If you aren't managing to stick to those five points, is Jack Straw and his rolled scroll full of suggestions really going to help? The Tories totally failed to make any light hearted hay of this - the best Dominic Grieve could come up with was that the proposals are "for the birds". Hm, cutting. The full ridiculousness is here; it doesn't really compare with the laugh-out-loud comedy of Ed Balls' Play Strategy.