Month: July 2010

So Moat topped himself.

Wasn’t this the guy that shouted out that he wasn’t a coward. Yet he shot unarmed people and finally has topped himself.

Isn’t that the cowards way out ?

With the imminent release of Philip Lawrence’s murderer after serving just 12 years in prison I question why we do not have the death penalty.

Gun and Knife legislation has not reduced the number of weapons being carried on our streets. It’s a sad fact that legislation only works on those that are already law-abiding citizens.

The criminal fraternity has already chosen to abandon the rules that bind the majority of us. The psychopaths are busy writing their own rules, making it up as they go along. Then there are the folks who perpetrate outrageous acts in a fit of rage. For all of these people legislation has no meaning. Similarly, the threat of a jail term is not high on their list of concerns.

So why should we have to bear the cost of supporting these people ?

They have opted out of society so shouldn’t they also forfeit the rights that are afforded to those of us that do abide by the rules.

In the case of murderers they have taken a life and in some cases many lives.

Their victims don’t get parole. Nor do the relatives of the victims. Their victims don’t get to continue their lives after serving a minimum jail term.

So why should the murderer ?

It is for these reasons that I believe that we should reintroduce the death penalty. I hear the naysayers, the do-gooders and their cries of rehabilitation, human rights and so forth.  Well I’m afraid it doesn’t wash. We have had many years of doing it their way and the situation across the country has gotten worse.

Perhaps the threat of the ultimate retribution might sink into the minds of  those out their who are carrying knives and guns. Maybe it won’t truly sink home until the first execution is completed but then, just maybe, we will get their attention.

And lets not follow the American model. Lets not sentence the villains to death then leave them on death row for years. Death should mean death and it should happen as soon as is practical.

Bring back the death penalty.

Congratulations to the Solar Impulse Team.  What a great achievement. (See article) Go visit their website here.

Too little too late.

That’s what I say regarding the governments proposal to put power back in the hands of the teachers and school heads.

I have long been disgusted with the state of our schools and their products, the pupils. I say this not as a casual observer but as a concerned parent then grandparent. Over the last 30 years I have observed the steady decline of  standards and felt a steady rise of frustration at my own inability to do anything about it.

It really began to sink home when for a brief time my wife and I had my granddaughter living with us. We tried to take on the responsibility for keeping her on the straight and narrow despite her best efforts and also those of her mother. She was disruptive at school, frequently getting involved in disputes with the teachers. Very rarely did her homework / coursework. Her attitude towards school and the teachers was pretty much dismissive. Something her mother did little to correct. The school did what they could but the rules didn’t allow them to do what they clearly wanted to do, which was eject her from school. At least one teacher there was working very hard to keep her in school and tried to engage her in the curriculum. I offer her up as an example of the type of pupil that the teachers have to deal with. Without the help of the parents they have no support.

My granddaughter has left school now and although she was always pretty street smart what little attention she gave to schooling did little to prepare her for  “real life”. As a consequence she is, I feel, struggling out there.

Since then a second granddaughter has passed through the school system. She was much better academically and pretty much kept her nose clean. But even she, quite proudly, showed me videos and photos that had been taken on her phone during class time. The teachers at her school quite obviously did not have control of their classrooms.

Most  recently granddaughter number three has been the focus of our attention. She has been the target of bullying which the school has failed to deal with. It’s not all their fault. It’s the bureaucracy that ties their hands preventing them from dealing directly with the ones causing the problem. However, the bullying seems to be subsiding and now we are seeing the pendulum swing the other way and she is becoming disruptive in school and  once again the mobile phone is providing the evidence.

Published on the ubiquitous Facebook was a video starring granddaughter number three. The camera person wasn’t even in her class but outside in the corridor. If this was class time why weren’t the little darlings in their own classes. My granddaughter was well aware of their presence as she was playing to the camera. Not satisfied with filming through the wired glass panel in the door they actually opened the door to the classroom. My granddaughter then removes her overall to prance around again for the camera, I assume they were supposed to be doing art or cookery or some such subject. Where was the teacher ?

Excuse my rambling on and back to the subject. It may seem that I’m suggesting that the teachers aren’t doing their job but that is not what I’m trying to show here. What I’m trying to show is that they have there hands full with kids who know that they cannot be touched, who know that their parents will take their side before considering what the staff have to put up with.

The new rules will mean that teachers and heads will be able to search pupils, and confiscate items which have no place in school or the classroom, even without their permission.

Great, the first step must be to ban mobile phones from the school premises. Kids do not need to be in contact with anyone outside of the school grounds during school time. They certainly don’t need to be able to send text messages or publish their “status” on Facebook during school time. All of the these things my granddaughter has been doing. If the kids can’t be trusted to control themselves then the discipline has to be handed down forcibly.

The new rules will mean that teachers and heads will be able to remove disruptive pupils. Great, just one problem though. Have you seen the size of some of the kids that they have to deal with. It happened when I was at school. One of the pupils in the fourth year punched a teacher. That was a rare event for over forty years ago. These days the kids know you can’t touch them and they only have to say its the teacher that was bullying them and we all know where the focus of attention will turn.

Fine the new rules state that any teacher so accused will remain anonymous and rightly so. But where is the support for teachers who are alone in a classroom with disruptive pupils. Do schools have security on site. I have first hand knowledge of a friend’s daughter who was attached by fellow pupils while under the protection of a teacher who had locked the classroom door. The pupils just broke in anyway.

Somewhere along the way we have lost sight of the standards that I and my generation grew up with. We are too politically correct, too bothered about people’s feelings and no longer bothered about what is right. Somewhere along the way we took the authority away from the schools and their staff and some how we gave the power to the pupils.

I think the new rules are something to nurture but I believe it is going to take a long time for the effects to make a real difference.

OK so the Pope is coming to the UK.

Why is it going to cost the British Tax Payer an estimated £12 million ? And apparently that doesn’t include the policing bill.

If he wants to come over to visit let the Vatican and the Catholic church pay. After all they can afford it even if they have to sell an artifact or two.

The papers are full of news about the swingeing cuts that we are having to make so that Britain can become solvent again. Well here is an expense that is not needed by the general populace.

So I say again, Let The Vatican Pay

Since I first posted this there have been many articles in the press and the latest shows that following on from a survey more than three quarters of  Britons believe that the tax payer should not foot the bill for this visit. See article ….. HERE