Peaceful protest and the Met

This is a quite incredible picture. Having seen footage of the van surrounded by young aggressive males rocking it and bashing the windscreen with a brick, it is testimony to the bottle, intelligence and persuasive powers of this group of girls. They appear to be from the same school. The body language is an odd mixture of defiance and humility allied to more than a bit of fear. 

Whenever people talk about what is or isn’t ‘cool’ think of this photo. These girls are cool in every sense of the word.

The picture is an antidote to the bile pouring forth from the Metropolitan Police. Having been embarrassed by their incapacity to protect Tory HQ a fortnight ago they reverted to their usual OTT tactics and alienating arrogance. Is Theresa May content to see young people ‘Kettled’ for over 6 hours in very cold conditions? Is Nick Clegg sanguine about the use of mounted police to charge into a trapped crowd of young people? What an indictment of our leaders and our government. 

“The schoolgirls who brought attacks on the police vehicle to an end by standing around it with linked hands in flower-power poses understood the power of images better than their elders.

For this picture tells a lot, very quickly. It tells us the menace of violence is real as anger grows among groups directly afflicted by the coalition's cuts. Yet it also reveals that most protesters are peaceful, idealistic, with a sense of history and of the gravity of their actions. Most of all it tells us how amazingly young many of them are.

Future historians may well write that the Conservative-Liberal coalition was doomed the day schoolchildren took to the streets to assert their right to a university education.”  Jonathon Jones, The Guardian

Controlling demonstrations is frequently uneventful and very peaceful because that is what the great majority of them are, peaceful and uneventful. Forces across the country handle them reasonably and calmly. Not the Met. The Met seem to regard themselves as above the law. The Met appear to regard any form of protest as an insult to their machismo. They are confrontational, aggressive and currently unfit for purpose. As the capital’s police force they are going to encounter more demonstrations and protests than any other force. They should train their officers and more particularly their commanders, to use minimum force, maximum civility and never ever forget that protest and demonstration are crucial planks in our democracy. And they should sack the many thugs masquerading as police officers who enjoy cracking skulls and intimidating people.

The reaction is gathering momentum. The following is a letter sent to The Guardian.

“As parents of sixth-form school students we are concerned at the tactics adopted by the police at the demonstration in London on Wednesday (School's out, 25 November). We support the right of our young people to protest peacefully about cuts to state support for higher education and, while recognising the challenges, have been dismayed to hear stories of police violence and the use of kettling to detain young people until well into the evening in freezing conditions. While the girls were eventually allowed to go home, many of the young men were detained until close to 10pm. No wonder fires were lit. Our sons and daughters have described individual protesters being floored by batons and beaten by police for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

We are disappointed that the improvements in policing since Ian Tomlinson's death appear to have been abruptly reversed as a response to the misjudgment last time round. Our young people recognise that some police were friendly and helpful. That other members of our police force should be free to exercise what looks like random violence is shameful to us all. Students are debating among themselves about how they can best be heard. When the next demonstration comes around, we will be there protesting alongside our young people. We hope the police will have reconsidered their tactics by then.

Ginny Clee, Graeme Cookson, Ross Cooper, Ros Davies, Simon Edwards, Phil Grey, Janette Keller, Sarah Saunders

And so it grows!

Onanistic Bankers and Osborne

“We are all in this together” chant our millionaire leaders. Most of the analysis to date suggests that women and the poor will suffer the most. So what happened to all the pre-election promises about tackling the greedy bankers? Today’s Guardian editorial tells it straight.

“Here is what a climbdown looks like. Just over a year ago George Osborne went on GMTV and pre-emptively slammed banks that planned to pay "inexcusable" bonuses. "Let's end the big cash bonuses," he said. "If there's spare cash at the bank it should be lent out to small businesses, medium businesses, to help people keep their jobs."

Scroll forward to this week and the former shadow chancellor is now in No 11, with the power to put his promises into his action. So what does he do? Backtrack. This week it was revealed that Mr Osborne is writing to his counterparts across Europe in an attempt to win support for a common set of rules on bank bonuses. Struggling ministers often opt to kick troublesome policy issues into Brussels' patch, where the grass can grow very long indeed; and it is a fair bet that there will be no action on bonuses before this year's handouts are made in the City – or, for that matter, before next April, when Mr Osborne begins his programme of the sharpest public spending cuts in postwar history. So much for all being in it together.”

“….In many industries, bonuses are a matter of a few hundred quid at the end of a year for a job well done. Not in finance. In July the Financial Services Authority revealed that at least 2,800 bankers in the UK received total remuneration of over £1m in 2009, from a sample of just 13 institutions. Around 1,200 of those were employed by UK banks.”

For how much longer will Vince Cable bite his tongue, swallow his principles and continue to mouth phrases which must taste like the bottom of a budgies cage? At some point, whether it be tuition fees,benefits or Bankers bonuses, the Lib Dems will have to assert themselves. Otherwise they are doomed. 

Camden School for Girls Letter to staff

More than 200 sixth-formers from Camden School for Girls who went on the protest march today explained their reasons in a letter to their teachers.

"We are writing to explain why we are walking out of school today.

Firstly, we would like to stress that our action is not a negative reflection on the education we receive here at Camden School for Girls. We appreciate the high quality of teaching and provision, which is a reflection of the effort put in by all members of the school community.

We are doing this not to skip lessons, but as a demonstration of our solidarity in the face of the harsh and unrealistic cuts proposed by the government, and indeed as an expression of just how much our education is valued through this sacrifice. This solidarity can be seen in the numbers who have walked out today, including the entirety of the senior prefect team. We regret the loss of valuable contact time that will occur as a result of our walkout, and we hope that teachers will use it to the best of their ability for other duties.

Walking out of school is by no means an easy decision, and we have not taken it lightly. Sometimes, it can be effective to protest by less radical means, such as through mass letter-writing campaigns and out-of-hours pickets. But the nature of the government's harsh ideological attack on students and the poor is such that we do not believe there is any other option open to us in getting our voices heard.

So today we join thousands of students up and down the country in saying no to the government's proposed legislation on university funding.

As proud products of state education, we know how important it is that education remains equally accessible to all, and does not descend into a free market where one's chances of getting into a good university are based not on ability, but on ability to pay. We feel we must defend this principle in the name of our founder, Frances Mary Buss, who recognised the unfairness for girls in a system where secondary education was only an option for those who could afford it.

Many of us have had second thoughts in the past about whether to attend university due to the prospect of debts incurred as a result of tuition fees. Now it is likely that such fees will be tripled in many cases, transforming such qualms into an incredibly serious factor in taking the decision on whether to apply. Some of us are unlikely to apply at all if the government go ahead with raising the cap to £9,000.

We know how much the teaching body too values our education and our hopes to do the best we can in life. But now both of these principles are under threat from the government. We hope you understand our belief that if we do not act now, and act decisively, our futures, and those of all future Camdeners, could be under threat.

Above all, we urge you to contact the Department for Education and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to express your concern that the government has driven us to this last-resort form of protest."

Thanks to the Guardian online 

Are you listening Gove, Cameron and especially you Clegg?

Poor Teachers

For all of you who are concerned about the future of our country please watch this. 

http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

It is a link to an inspirational thinker, educator and genuine force of nature. It is provocative, it is very funny and it is an antidote to the bean counters who have held sway over far too many deeply thick, self-serving Education Ministers. It is rallying call to all who value free thinking and the real purpose of eduction. 

Sample: a teacher approaches a small child in a primary school drawing a picture. "What are you drawing" the child is asked. "I am drawing a picture of God," replies the child. "But no-one knows what God looks like" says the teacher. "They will in a minute" says the child.

Warning to square peg people - you may not like it. 

A system that reduces a bright engaged 7 year old to tears because he is taking his SATs and doesn't want to let anyone down is a shitty system. A system that encourages primary schools to devote 75% of their time to practicing exam technique is an abomination. A system that reduces teacher creativity to figuring out how to swing the figures to climb the league table is barking daft. A system that actively undermines our future potential is economic suicide.

And then Ofsted came down from their mountain top today to declare too many lessons dull. What a surprise! Fancy that! Place teachers in a straightjacket and then complain that they struggle. But whose fault is it? 

In a teaching career lasting 36 years there were 19 Education Ministers. Each wanting to make their mark. Desperate to 'innovate.' The worst by some considerable distance was the slug-like smug bastard Baker who brought us the 1988 Act (which then had to be massively amended by Dearing  because it was so ill-thought out). Each 'Initiative' takes no account of what has gone before - what worked, what didn't, what just needed a tweak and what needed binning. 

Do they get Ofstedded? Do they hell. 

They are on the stepping stone to political power and god help anyone in their path…..or not, in some notable cases, who fell by the wayside.

Remember Ken Robinson - think about his ideas - it does not have to be so bloody awful. 

Referees Strike in Scotland

Referees Strike in Scotland

Just heard a one-sided discussion on Radio 5 about the proposed strike coming up next weekend from so-called experts which was quite disgraceful. The fact that 30+ top referees in Scotland should meet and feel angry and unsupported enough to take this step should give pause for thought. Death threats? Always been there. Abuse? Goes with the territory. Managers claiming you are a disgrace? Blaming you for their teams poor performance? Its the way of the world.

No it damn well isn't. It is the way of Big Football which cannot see further than the next massive payout. Supine FA's failing to support their referees over many years and copious incidents escalating to ref's families getting death threats or their employers getting abusive calls. It is serious. Very serious. It would really bring it home to football authorities if all referees were to support this strike - at every level of the game. 

Why anyone should ever want to be a referee in the current climate is beyond belief. At all levels of football there are plenty of supremely stupid numpties who make refereeing a very difficult job. And that includes Alan 'Gobby' Green. Every time he and his short-sighted colleagues rip into a referee, they do not appreciate the corrosive effect their caustic comments have on the wider game. The diminishing Saturday leagues, the declining Sunday leagues and struggling junior leagues. All having difficulty getting referees. 

Anyone who has watched local football over the years will be familiar with the farcical situation arising when a referee does not show up. One of the non-players usually has a go by standing in the centre-circle (or even off the pitch) and sooner rather than later,  mayhem breaks out.

So Five lIve Sport. Get it into your incredibly one-dimensional heads - no referee = no game. 

It doe not have to be like this. Look to Rugby Union for a solution before it is too late. 

This is a copy of an email sent to 'fivelivesport get in touch'

House of Frauds ride again

When in a hole - stop digging. A basic rule for most people - but not governments.

The House of Lords avoided the close scrutiny which MPs went through (thanks to a determined journalist, and no thanks to the MPs themselves) but every so often there emerges a whiff of corruption. 

Recently Baroness Udin and two colleagues were suspended for serious expenses frauds. Not kicked out - merely suspended. Not jailed - suspended. The coalition government go on about reform quite a lot. However their announcement of 54 new peers does little to reassure that they mean what they say.

As the Guardian online reported, "By what logic does a government which is cutting the size of the House of Commons do what this one did this week? Under the parliamentary voting system and constituencies bill, the number of MPs in the elected house will be reduced by 50, from 650 to 600. Yet this same government yesterday increased the number of members of the unelected House of Lords by 54 to nearly 750. " 

"More importantly, the new appointments, many of them involving rich donors to all three parties, give a sugar rush to the old politics that the coalition says it wishes to destroy. "

Note that last bit ,'many of them involving rich donors to all three parties.' So no change there then. 'Cash for Lordships' is alive and well. Inspector Knacker could not find sufficient evidence to prosecute the Blair team. Fancy that! A bunch of characters slipperier than a bag of eels writhing in WD40 could not be nailed down. So it must be legal. Stinks to high heaven - but it is legal.

Tweaking the size of constituencies and reducing the number of MPs has some merit. However it is pissing in the wind when the scale of real reform is considered. 

A second chamber made up of wealthy donors buying status, party hacks, ageing celebs and a handful of the great and the good is not fit for purpose. Adding more of the same is no answer.

Rendition

Just so you know. The following comes from Liberty's website.

"The Guardian newspaper revealed on 6 December and 12 September 2005 that airports in Biggin Hill, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Brize Norton, Farnborough, Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton, RAF Mildenhall, Northolt, and Stansted have allowed CIA or CIA-chartered jets to land temporarily. These aircraft had flown into the UK approximately 210 times since 2001.

· Liberty alerted the then Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in November 2005 to its fears that the UK is in breach of domestic and international law by allowing CIA “extraordinary rendition” flights to land and re-fuel in Britain.

· On 30 November 2005, Liberty called on the Police Chief Constables of Bedfordshire, Dorset, Essex, Hampshire, the Metropolitan Police, the Ministry of Defence Police, Suffolk, Sussex, Thames Valley, and West Midlands to conduct an investigation into whether the airports in their regions were being used to transport suspects to countries known to practice torture. In response to Liberty’s request to the police, Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Michael Todd confirmed on 19 December 2005 that he would look into “extraordinary rendition” flights on behalf of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO.)

· On 26 May 2006, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights concluded that the Government was not doing enough to investigate whether UK airports are being used by secret CIA flights involved in the practice of extraordinary rendition.

· On 7 June 2006 the Council of Europe released preliminary findings concluding that CIA flights carrying terror suspects likely to face torture have been given access to UK airspace and airports.

On 21 February 2008, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband admitted that two US extraordinary rendition flights refuelled on Diego Garcia in 2002."

So that leaves 208 Rendition flights unaccounted for then?