§ 15. Mr. Gwilym Robertsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will set up an inquiry into the effect on mental health and general health of extended listening to loud pop music; and if he will make a statement.
§ 86. Mr. Kenneth Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will set up an inquiry into the effects on the health of young people of extended listening to pop music.
§ Mr. CrossmanThe answer is, No, Sir.
§ Mr. RobertsIs my right hon. Friend aware that there is great concern about continuous pop music not only among lay people but also among youth officers and others—concern not only about the short-term physical and mental effects but also about possible long-term mental factors associated with it? There is concern that in continuous pop music there may be a new and much more deadly opium for the masses.
§ Mr. CrossmanI remind my hon. Friend that when Karl Marx coined the phrase he coined it metaphorically and not clinically.
§ Mr. LewisDoes the Minister agree that in this dull and dreary life which the Government have organised for us, pop music can only be good for the health and for the morale of our young people and that it is better for them to indulge in pop than to indulge in drugs, disorders, sit-ins and the rest?
§ Mr. CrossmanI must take the question seriously. There is no evidence whatever that this music has any serious medical effect.
§ Mr. MurrayWould it not be better if my right hon. Friend considered an investigation of the kind suggested into some of the speeches in this place?
§ Sir Knox CunninghamWill the right hon. Gentleman remember that he was young once and that youth likes noise and pop?