Sunday 19 July 2009

Have You Informed On Your Neighbour Today, Comrade?

Members of the public are to be given the power to report anyone they suspect of posing a danger to children, under a new Government scheme.
Oh, just fantastic...
People who suspect an individual of being unsuitable to work or volunteer with children will be able to refer them to the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) through a form on its website. After receiving an allegation from a member of the public, the ISA will examine the available evidence and contact the person concerned to allow them to mount a defence.
Mount a defence? To what? They aren't being charged with a crime, they are being accused, on the basis of an anonymous tip off, of one of the worst things anyone could ever be accused of...
Depending on the seriousness of the allegations, they could be asked to make a written statement, be interviewed over the phone or talk face-to-face to an ISA representative.
I don't even know where to start...
A Home Office spokesman said that as the scheme had not yet been launched, it was difficult to say exactly how the interview process would operate, but that each allegation would be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

He added that if the safeguarding authority decided the allegations were unfounded, the accused person's information would be discarded.
OK, first, you have no idea how this is going to work? You are seriously proposing this as an option and you haven't even drafted out a protocol for it?

You're either making it up as you go along, or you know full well that it will have no chance whatsoever of seeing the light of day and it's just a cynical exercise to hoik in the 'pedophiles under the bed, oh my!' crowd..

Secondly, on the 'information will be discarded', yeah. Riiiighhht....

Even the curiously uninvolved sounding Liberty spokeswoman didn't go for that:
Anna Fairclough of the human rights group Liberty said that any accusations made by individuals rather than official bodies should be "treated with circumspection" by the ISA. "In principle there's probably nothing wrong with the ISA gathering information from all sorts of sources," she said, "but obviously if an allegation is made by a member of the public, the chances of it being malicious is perhaps higher."

She thought it "unlikely" that the ISA would discard the details of the wrongly accused, but that there was no problem with this as long as the information was not passed on.
I’m sorry...?

Was this person actually a member of Liberty, or did the reporter mistakenly talk to the cleaner, or something?

Oh, and another government sympathiser has come forward to support the Vetting and Barring Scheme that Phillip Pullman so bravely spoke out about last week:
However, the chief executive of children's charity Barnardo's, Martin Narey, defended the scheme.

"Before I joined Barnardo's I ran the prison service, so I know a little bit about sex offenders and the unique way they plan their crimes and groom children," he said. "What they might do while under supervision in a school is not the point – their appearance in the school gives them legitimacy, and the next time they might see a child on their own it's in the park or outside the school gates, by which time they're a trusted adult."
Oooh, good point Martin!

You know who else children regularly see at school? Other parents!

Let’s get them all checked out and on the register, shall we? Maybe the daft cow at Liberty might wake up and take notice if that was proposed.

And maybe not...

14 comments:

manwiddicombe said...

Does "posing a danger to children" include spending all of their money on useless government schemes before they've had a chance to earn it? If so there's a few names that could be reported .. .. ..

Anonymous said...

The PM, the cabinet and the rest of the Labour party certainly pose a danger to children...

Oldrightie said...

It is very likely that several members in senior positions within Labour are still connected to the horrors of Dunblane. Lord Mandleson is a well known habitue of dubious Brazilian places of very ill repute. May we report them and have a serious and impartial investigation? Of course not. This cess pool that is Labour doesn't do such enquiries, do they?

JuliaM said...

"Does "posing a danger to children" include spending all of their money on useless government schemes before they've had a chance to earn it?"

*shock* Oh, no! How could you think such a thing..? ;)

"This cess pool that is Labour doesn't do such enquiries, do they?"

I'm beginning to wonder just what this party is capable of.

Leg-iron said...

Anonymous accusations by anyone, which are all investigated with the presumption of guilt. It's straight from the history books - the Spanish Inquisition is back as the ISA.

I notice those who are talking about Pullman are making hints that there might be a reason he doesn't want the check. They're not yet accusing him directly but they're dropping hints in their speech, letting the public join the dots.

They won't accuse him outright because he could defend that. Instead, they'll try to gradually break his book sales.

They really have to go. All of them.

Pogo said...

So what's to stop a major "dob in your local MP / Chief Constable / Councellor / Head of Scoial Services / etc etc" campaign?

JuliaM said...

"I notice those who are talking about Pullman are making hints that there might be a reason he doesn't want the check."

Oh, yes. That's a favourite tactic with their kind...

"So what's to stop a major "dob in your local MP / Chief Constable / Councellor / Head of Scoial Services / etc etc" campaign?"

*grin*

Nothing that I can see...

blueknight said...

did they read this?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6469431.ece

Anonymous said...

BURN THEM!!!!!!!!

JuliaM said...

"did they read this? "

Interesting...

I'll bet they didn't. Or didn't think it would apply. They'd better think again.

Anonymous said...

Oh goody, a disgruntled neighbours charter. Picture this: The nieghbour's kids are misbehaving in the street. You tell them off. They tell their mum. Their mum gets all bolshy because her little darlings never misbehave. She reports you to the ISA.

WTF are these morons thinking? I hope one day that I am asked to respond to an accusation from this bunch of clowns...a simple two word answer will suffice.

Umbongo said...

I hope that pogo's suggestion isn't acted on too enthusiastically. After all, Martin Neary and Anna Fairclough might be reported to the ISA . . . .

JuliaM

"or did the reporter mistakenly talk to the cleaner, or something?"

No - I'm pretty sure that it must have been Anna: only a member in good standing of the political class could spout such verbal garbage. A cleaner (or anyone who actually works for a living) would have too much common sense.

Anonymous said...

"childrens' charity Barnados" ??

Well maybe once upon a time.

Right now they are the biggest fake charity of all, and probably the most dangerous.

I suggest a new moniker "Government stooges Barnados..."

Anonymous said...

It's worth noting that this James Duncan is the same prick that we Bournemouth Council Tax payers are currently subsidising to the tune of £200,000 per year to fund his weekly flights to work from his house in Scotland

The Council down here is an absolute joke. I'm sorry to disappoint the cynics but it's a Conservative council too, they proving just as fucking useless and wasteful with my money as the LibDems were.

I'm ashamed this story has happened in my home town.