Have you noticed that in more and more areas of everyday life, rather than being addressed like a mature adult, you're increasingly treated like an irresponsible child in constant need of instruction and protection? Perhaps you've experienced this feeling when passing by unnecessary health and safety signage telling you how to walk up a flight of stairs or use a handrail, or when instructed by patronising tannoy announcers to carry a bottle of water with you in hot weather? Or maybe you've spotted it on television, in the countless commercials that use babyish jingles and cutesy cartoon animals in campaigns for adult goods and services? Or it could be you've sensed your diminishing adult autonomy when being talked down to by barely educated politicians or even worse told what to think by entirely uneducated celebrities? But whenever and wherever it happens, you're left with a sinking feeling that something's not quite right; that instead of inhabiting a mature, grown-up world of foresi
