Rate in scale of importance
 

Rate what is more important to a society in your opinion on a scale of 1 for least important and 10 for most important.

The society in question is roughly based on amalgamation of any standard Western European nation.


Health care
Universal Education
Military defence
Secular governance
Freedom of speech
Agriculture
Equal rights between sexes/sexuality
National Welfare system
Economical infrastructure
Ethical Animal husbandry and welfare.

its to early for this - need a drink.

In the words of Beveridge the '5 giants' should be tackled first, Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness.
So following that principle..

National welfare
Healthcare
Universal education
Economic infrastructure
Farming practice/agriculture are equally as important.
Sexual equality and freedom of speech are equal too.
Military defence
secular governance

Please feel free to add extra agenda's for another topic I have in mind as I did this quite quickly and have missed loads out

A couple that have sprung to mind

Transportation and Roads
Investments in space travel and search for extra terrestrial resources
Sport and public leisure facilities

I was going to say you haven't mentioned housing.

Yep good one Kizzy.

economy
immigration
nhs

Better ties with China and Russia so I guess Economy, the Brics deal will work wonders for the Countries involved

Freedom of Speech

Secular governance

(Vital, above all else. None of the rest of it will ever work properly without this at the top of the agenda)

National Welfare system

Universal Education

(Both Welfare and Education standards come before healthcare, because enlightened people need the healthcare system less or at least they should need it less, and as for welfare, people struggling to survive on nothing are invariably less healthy)

Health care

Economical infrastructure

Agriculture

Military defence

(This is only so far down the list when thinking about the UK, which realistically currently has very few threats besides terrorism, e.g. we are not at real risk of invasion of any kind. Full scale war between developed nations = the end of humanity. Its sort of a fruitless effort to try to have a traditional military defence against this sort of threat, and IMO the "war on terror" needs tearing apart and re-addressed in a completely new way by a completely different kind of military)

Equal rights between sexes/sexuality

(This is a civil issue for we the people to address and demand from one another, if the first two points which I pointed out are vital are upheld - freedom of speech and secular governance - then there shouldn't need to be government intervention here. It's not that this isn't an important issue - just that it's a social one, not a political one, in a truly free society.)

Ethical Animal husbandry and welfare

(As above, in a free society this isn't an issue for governance, it's an important issue but political enforcement isn't necessarily the way to tackle it)

Define 'enlightened' in terms of an education system... Don't healthier people learn better?

I do believe that food standards and welfare of animals ( a primary food source for most) should and must be regulated by the government as the impact of bad practices can be catastrophic, episode such as the BSE crisis could have been prevented, therefore the development of CJD eradicated as one instance.

I would imagine it's because the better educated someone is, the better choices they are likely to make with regards to personal health decisions?

What if they're too sick to learn?... it's the chicken and the egg :laugh:

Child protection
Health care
Housing
Criminal justice system
Ethical Animal husbandry and welfare.
Economy
Animal Protection
Education.

:laugh:

Well unless we are counting on a similar event to yersinia pestis that will wipe out a third of our nations populace I'm sure the odd 10 or 11 in every 1000 who are too sick to learn for whatever reason won't be too much of a burden to the vast majority.

Stuff yer chicken with that nugget then hen :wink:

I see where your priorities lie Kaz :hehe:

:joker::joker::joker: You know me too well Kyle:hehe:

What about the flu, H1N1 could wipe out hundreds of thousands at the next mutation?

It could, or we could all be struck by a meteor in which case we could discuss this in an underground bunker :laugh:

Well if you're not going to be seriarse :hmph:

I'm outta my depth here Kizzy lol, I know nowt about the likelihood of the flu virus mutating and causing widespread desolation before a vaccination can be distributed.

Is there a decent chance of it happening?

Er.... No, * holds kyle and rocks*

Poor Marsh :hehe:

Health care - 10/10 - lives literally on the line, etc.
Universal Education - 8/10 - I'm guessing this includes tuition fees, which I'm ambivalent about because I'm not sure whether it's totally necessary to get into a career.
Military defence - 4/10
Secular governance - 9/10
Freedom of speech - 9/10
Agriculture - 5/10
Equal rights between sexes/sexuality - 9/10
National Welfare system - 9/10
Economical infrastructure - don't know nearly enough about this to make an informed judgment
Ethical Animal husbandry and welfare. - 3/10

Health care - 10/10
Universal Education - 9/10
Military defence - 5/10
Secular governance - 9/10
Freedom of speech - 9/10
Agriculture - 6/10
Equal rights between sexes/sexuality - 10/10
National Welfare system - 9/10
Economical infrastructure - 9/10
Ethical Animal husbandry and welfare - 8/10

I get what you're saying but then I also think that healthy people making good choices, and importantly, motivated and hopeful people are less likely to need health care at all. Also, I think for better personal health education should be provided so that people would stop over using health care services. There would be no funding issue at all in the NHS if there wasn't so much waste. People go for vaccinations / antibiotics / GP appointments that are completely fruitless far too often... Over prescription, over diagnosis, and too many appointments and hospital visits are a huge problem and it's mainly because most people don't understand their own bodies or know when medical intervention is appropriate. The vast majority of health care spending is unnecessary: if people understood and trusted their bodies they would know better when it's more appropriate to simply rest up and heal.

The UK's education system is woefully inadequate when it comes to actual life skills and personal understanding, sadly. A better educated population, and one educated more fairly and with much more respect for individuality than what's there currently, would need a much smaller health care system to remain healthy. Unavoidable major health conditions aside (genetic conditions, cancers, accidents)... Most people should be able to be healthy for life, or at least until old age, without so much as sniffing a GP appointment.

I appreciate what you're saying about it all being intertwined, though. A better education system is impossible without first addressing some of the major inequalities in society, so that could easily bump both welfare and economic policy up the list.