Khyra Ishaq and Ed Balls

Hmmm, I have tried to avoid commenting on poor Khyra Ishaq. So many people have commented on the case and so much better than I could.

Of course, I say case because it's easier and more comfortable for me to say than to acknowledge that a young child died in dreadful circumstances at the hands of her mother and stepfather.

I think we're all guilty. Us, all of us, as human beings we are a community. We are all guilt-bearers. So many of us could have acted. Some few did, but their fault was to leave it to others to sort out. We should all be sorting these things out. We are all responsible.

Every man's or child's death diminishes all of us.

A young child's demise is always a tragedy.

Even more obvious to me is the tragedy was preventable, and caused by fear. I think that the people who dealt with Angela Gordon were frightened of her. They were afraid that she would sue them for harassment.

We have to decide what kind of people we are. If we have social workers who can intervene in a situation where they have a strong belief and a definite reason to believe that a child's life is in danger, then that is what they must do. But they must not knock on doors and hassle ordinary people trying to do the best job they can do.

We should hang our heads in shame that Khyra's death and her siblings' torture is now a game to be played between factions in Parliament.

Ed Balls is off again: 'Ed Balls, the then education secretary, wanted to force home-educating families to accept annual visits from local authority inspectors, a move that led to home-educators demonstrating to parliament. Balls, now shadow education secretary, said he strongly urged Gove to re-introduce the legislation on home education as "an urgent priority". "He will have our full support," he said.'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/jul/27/khyra-ishaq-home-education-safeguards-call

Sure that would suit your sub rosa plans, wouldn't it, Mr. Balls?

It would, however, remove the scapegoat that Birmingham SS used to justify doing little or nothing to help Khyra.

All despicable.

And Balls should be told straight that for all the Khyras who may or - as is overwhelmingly likely - WILL NOT be helped by a visit by an overworked and clueless local government person, many more children who were driven to distraction or near suicide by unsafe practices in schools WILL be forced back to those institutions of torture.

And that man will be guilty of advocating that the only escape those children, children who are suffering torture and degradation and isolation every school day, shall be denied to them.

He has been told all this. He doesn't care. It's a hobby horse. It's a dead hobby horse, flogged to death and lying in splinters on the floorboards. But he doesn't care. So long as he gets his way. So long as the game is played on both sides of the House.

Vile people.

Whatever evil did we do to deserve them?

Picking up the pieces

Gill of Sometimes it's peaceful has pointed out that Balls, Coaker and various denizens of Parliament actually don't care about our children, and I think that is true.

So, if these dreadful proposals come to pass, it won't matter to them because, even if their children were to be unhappy at school, Balls etc. would just find them a private one to suit.

I don't know whether Parliament has always looked like a children's playground with a bunch of bullies riding roughshod over truth and other people's lives, but I know this: I will never vote Labour again. Most of my dead family members would be astounded and probably quite hurt to hear me say that. But most of them would not understand that those amazing people who were from quite ordinary backgrounds and who struggled to right imbalances in this country (UK) were different to what we have now. Now it is all career politicians. They're like barristers, hired to pontificate on and force through policies that they haven't thought through and they never put themselves in anyone else's place. They haven't 'become' home educators who are battling to have jurisdiction over a precious, beloved child's life opposed by ignorant and pathetic wage slaves who cannot understand that we would rather be sawn into little pieces than hurt our children in any way.

It's like the story in the bible where the wise Solomon saw a baby placed in front of him, and he asked what was the problem. His attendant said that two women claimed to be the child's mother. Woman A shouted that she was and Woman B cried that no, it was her baby.

Solomon looked from one to the other. Then he said, "Let the child be cut in two and give one half to each."

Woman A looked smug and nodded. Woman B screamed, "No, no, please, oh, mighty lord. Give the child to her," and pointed desperately at the smug Woman A.

Solomon said, "The child belongs to Woman B. He is hers. Return him to her."

I see this government as Woman A, wanting to dance its puppets, wanting to know every inch of our children's lives. Wanting to have the time to indoctrinate them in whatever our bosses would have us all think.

We are their mothers and their fathers. Their grandparents. Their friends.

We know every twitch and glance from those beloved little faces. We care so much that we would cry, "Give them to her," if it would save those lives.

It is a pity that there is no Solomon. It is a pity that there are viruses infecting what could be such a great institution as Parliament. Perhaps, though, we have outgrown Parliament. Maybe we children are ready to govern ourselves and those for whom we are responsible.

The prophets said that the sheep and the goats would be separated. That we would see the difference in men (as in all people) made most clear and so now it happens. There are those who would gladly throw our children to the wolves and who have power and have no humility and no ability to hear truth (possibly because they do not respect it), and there are home educators who would rend ourselves to pieces and eat stinking mud rather than have our children's lives infringed upon.

So what will happen if destroyers like Balls and Badman have their way? What will happen? We will be left to pick up the pieces. We are responsible. They will attempt to destroy and we will salvage what is left.

Is that any way to run a country? Is that any way to be in the world? Are these people even remotely fit to govern another human being, never mind the millions they apparently can control at will in Britain?

We will be the ones to pick up the pieces when you've had your fun and games with our children's lives, Mr. Balls. You can laugh at the destruction you cause, but we will be left with the consequences.

And so will our children.

So they've announced it

Here we are, folks.

"Safeguarding the vulnerable – strengthening the powers of local authorities and others with regards to registration, inspection and intervention will mean effective systems are in place to protect those that most need it. The Bill will introduce a new home educators’ registration system and take new powers for Secretaries of State to intervene in youth offending teams that are failing and potentially putting young people and their communities at risk."

They've announced it. They have. The nerve, the unbelievable cheek of including us under 'safeguarding'. The Queen's Speech. I'm surprised her Majesty's lips didn't fall from her face and land in her lap. I am not a monarchist but you cannot say she wasn't told. You cannot say children did not write to her and tell her. So she is complicit too.

The gloves are off now.

We're away to the races. We're sure to win. Because we care more. Because it's our children. Because it is OUR country and we don't want this vile evil bunch shoving us full of a load of complete pablum that is designed to keep us quiet. IT WON'T.

We don't want you, BALLS. You can't keep anyone safe. Just the opposite.

We don't want you, BADMAN. Creating your own little tax haven and promoting your wickedness.

Do you hear me? I'm not shouting. I am stating. GO. NOW.

GO AWAY NOW.

You have wasted my time for years. Your day is over. Your extinction is here. NOW.

GO.

GO-BALLS. GO!

I used to believe in the system. NO MORE. I used to think they were honourable. NO MORE. I am sick of their slimy ugliness. So GO-BALLS!

See him run in his patterned underwear, eyes popping and bulging, screaming and shouting... See him run.

Run, Balls, run.

We're after you.

You will wish you never heard of home educators. By God, you will.

Consumers of education

As consumers of education, our children aren't very well served, are they?

Yes, we see that children are beaten up at school, and the assault is shown on mobile phones with a jeering crowd encouraging the attacker.

We see that education is a spent powerless little serpent with decayed teeth still trying to 'inject' knowledge into our young. A useless hopeless and victim filled vacuum that sucks in a load of skittish rot about qualifications and GCSEs and support and robustness. Buzz words to fill your head with fog. Fog to blind you to the truth. That as consumers of education our children are not served well by purveyors of the almighty boring National Cur-sickulum. That home educated children having often been outraged by the dreadful blight that is state schooling are visited again by the purveyors of the state system and assessed and monitored and planned to death. No way, Jose.

I say that it will be the way it was. My way. Or the highway. And you'll be doing the highland fling down the highway soon, Mr. and Mrs. LA.

Oh, and when you're on the dole, old soul, don't forget the hours you spent harassing, vilifying and bleeding away the time of the home educators who have put in the equivalent of Mount Olympus of their lives beating back your power-hungry-grabbing-muck-sucking-stupidity. Who have sunk all the richness of their massive, gigantic hearts nursing the last blue gasps of the last remaining true education in this country? Home educators - that's who. Hours and days and weeks of deep feeling, wise words, patient argument, logical inductions...

Listen to me, LAs. At THIS MINUTE, you have the power to intervene if children are abused. ANY children. ANY CHILD. You have it. You really have. Go read the laws. Go get someone to explain them if you don't understand. Ask home educators. Any child. Of any age, colour, creed, educational status, or moon sign. You have the power to intervene if, in your honest opinion, an education is not being provided by people who have decided to exercise their legal right to extend an education to their children in the home-based manner. You may be wrong about your assessment. But then we'll find that out in court.

Dear God, educate yourselves. EDUCATE YOURSELVES about your powers.

SO, because of the whining of brain-dead officials who haven't got an ounce of sense, the government dictates that home educators have to be monitored to do what we know is best for our children by an all-benign, all-loving Big brother government. Our fearless Balls going before us, banner in hand, shouting "I want equality for every child who matters. I want all children to be as dumb as each other. As bullied as each other. As degraded as each other. As coerced into holding their bladders and ignoring the signals from their rectums as each other. I want no parent unpunished. I want no poverty-stricken person who has problems not of their own making or of their own making having the audacity to raise children".

"We can raise your children much better than you can. We'll tell them what we want them to... er, what they should know. What's best for them to know. We have their best interests at heart. Every Child Matters".

And so the angel of death of the Labour Party goes rattling on his way. He'll be kissing the corpse of Britain for his bid at the top job when the Election frenzy grips.

Every Child Matters, oh, dear, yes. If it were true, then we wouldn't have to say it, would we? I mean, you don't go around reassuring other societal members that Every Breath Keeps You Alive. IT JUST DOES.

If you need to say something over and over ad nauseum, maybe there's something wrong with the something you are saying.

Every cog in the machine matters. Every kid has the right to have an opinion as long as it's the right opinion. Every child should be consulted, then ignored. Say anything, mean nothing and be as mean as you can to people you don't understand because your greed would never, ever let you put your children first.

Every Child matters. Well, my children's freedom matters to me. My grandchildren's right to have the choice of a decent proper home education matters to me. And they aren't even born yet.

It matters. It MATTERS. IT MATTERS.

Fine the breeder of a naughty dog

It's the turn of Mr. Balls to give me another good laugh today.

"Tomorrow, Schools Secretary Ed Balls will release guidelines urging teachers to use the full range of powers at their disposal. Under the guidelines parents can be handed £50 fines and even face court action if they fail to take responsibility for their children's bad behaviour in school."

From http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23675749-details/Action+to+curb+unruly+pupils+as+teachers+blame+parents/article.do

On the same principle, I could say that my dog misbehaved today while in my care so I'm going to sue the woman who bred him. She wasn't present, hasn't seen the dog, doesn't know how I handle the dear naughty mutt, but SHE is responsible because she bred it. Fine her. Heck, hang her.

How exactly do you take responsibility for your child's action when your child is in school? Doesn't the child take responsibility? I can't recall ever doing anything particularly heinous in school, but, if I had, I would've owned up and accepted my punishment. I certainly wouldn't have expected my MOTHER to cough up 50 quid for MY mistake.

If children misbehave in school, maybe it's because they don't want to be there at all.

Maybe they can't be there. Maybe it doesn't suit them at all. Maybe, just maybe, it's not good for them.

They don't want to be there. Perhaps, just perhaps, school isn't a place for children. It's a big business, is school, many thousands of people make their living out of it. But have we ever asked children if they want to go to school? If school fills their deepest needs, if it makes them happy?

Thought not.

My children aren't in school. Put me in gaol now.

But leave my children in the gaol we call school.

I used to think that children who misbehaved were really bad. Now I think that they're the ones we haven't tamed; the ones who haven't given up and begun to conform just to keep other people happy. That is the trick, isn't it? We don't care about their happiness. So long as they are contained in school-gaol.

And I bet the Treasury is having a great time counting those fines.