Wait A Minute, I Thought You Wanted This?

This use of intrusive technology makes a mockery of our right to privacy – and feeling monitored can cause us to change what we do, where we go and who we go with.

And some of these surveillance tools discriminate against people and cause the police to unjustifiably target certain groups and communities.

Are we talking about CCTV? Algorithm-led targeting?

Police body worn video cameras can record in private spaces and could be used alongside technologies like facial recognition to identify and track people in real time.

But...but I thought you wanted these to ensure the police didn't 'step out of line'?

What happened? Did you realise they would also show how your 'clients' behave towards the police...?

H/T: SpecialDibble via Twitter

This’ll Be Good… *Popcorn*

A motion calling for all schools in the county to have individual traffic management plans will be discussed at an Essex County Council meeting on Tuesday, after angry scenes between parents and residents.

And I expect the teachers and their unions will scream blue murder and declare that they didn’t join the profession to be parking wardens.

They didn’t join it to be fast food stoppers or uniform compliance officer either, and they have gleefully dived in, so here’s your pad of tickets, here’s a whistle to blow when an irate parent takes a swing at you…

Laindon Park councillor Mark Ellis and Wickford Crouch councillor Nigel Le Gresley believe Essex County Council should reinstate its school travel planning team, which was disbanded in 2012.

Mr Ellis said: “It is something we have in common across the whole borough and every school suffers from problems.

“We want a system where every councillor will be involved with each school and have a specific traffic management and travel policy which brings everything together.

“At the moment, all the various groups have different ideas to tackle the same problem.

“My background is in construction, where on every site you need a specific traffic management policy, but with schools at present there is nothing like that.”

And there shouldn’t be.

Inconsiderate parking is an issue for your parking wardens or – in very serious cases of highway obstruction – the police.

Get them involved, dish out parking tickets, and eventually, even the thickest parents are going to get the message.

There's No 'Pussy Pass' From The Laws Of Thermodynamics...

Edith Fuller, 45, from Glenbuck Road, Surbiton, doused 58-year-old Mark Essex’s Guildford flat in petrol and set it on fire on March 19, 2012, a coroner’s court heard today.

Miss Fuller, who suffered with depression and had taken an overdose before, may have set fire to herself by accident after the petrol fumes ignited, Woking Coroners' Court heard.

Errrr....well, yes! Clearly, she wasn't the target, as her lover's testimony shows:

"She was up to something. She had a bit of a grin on her face and a menacing look."

She was clearly intent on something other than self-immolation:

After he tried to escape the flat, she pulled him back inside and then set fire to petrol in the kitchen, he told the inquest.

And yet all the coroner seems concerned with is... her death.

Coroner Martin Fleming concluded: "She intentionally started the fire although it is unclear whether there was an intention to take her own life."

Seems pretty clear that her intentions were to take life, even if it wasn't hers...

Attempted Shakedown FAIL!

A primary school teacher whose religious observance forbids her eating non-halal meat says she felt distraught after tucking into what she believed was a fish pie ready meal – only to discover that it contained unblessed meat.

Think yourself lucky, love! Some people* complain when it doesn't!

Muslim Runa Begum bought the meal, which she says was labelled as a fish pie from Tesco Express in Romford Road, only to discover that it was a non-halal meat lasagne.

Oh, no, not straight away! No, no, it's worse than that..

Ms Begum, of Manor Park, said: “I brought it to work for my lunch break.

“When I opened the meal it looked white like a fish pie with the cheese and lasagne plates on top. It wasn’t until I put a bite in my mouth that I thought it tasted like meat and realised it was a meat lasagne.

I have never, ever, seen a fish pie that wasn't topped by mashed potato or pastry, rather than pasta...

But still, this is a Muslim, so cue the OUTRAGE!

“As a Muslim I only eat halal meat, which is my personal choice, and I felt sick to the stomach that I had eaten other meat without my knowledge.

“I felt distraught and angry that they were not be more vigilant with the packaging with what is going on in the media about the horse meat scandal.”

So you thought you'd whinge and shriek about it in the press. That's helpful. Were you hoping to pressure Tesco into a compo claim?

Because if so, you're on a hiding to nothing:

But after investigating her complaint Tesco says their fish pie and lasagne products are made in different factories and that they are confident the products could not have been swapped around before reaching the store.

Tesco can hardly go round checking that some joker hasn't swapped the sleeves on every ready meal, can they?

*H/T: APILN

Lazy, Incompetent, Box-Ticking Public Sector, Part I

A primary school has banned children from playing football at break-time during Euro 2012 to stop fights breaking out.

Pupils have been told kickabouts and all other ball games are off limits at playtime during the tournament. Instead, staff at Hall Road Primary in Orchard Park hope pupils will skip and play with outdoor chess sets.

Fantastic! And the reason?

Deputy head teacher Kristina Frary said the ban was needed to prevent injuries and allow staff to get on with teaching.

But only for the duration of Euro 12? I guess injuries don’t happen other times, and teachers couldn’t give a fig for teaching outside of this one gap?

She said: "Passions are running high, especially with the Euro 2012 football tournament. Potentially, that's why children are wound-up.

"We have had a sequence of fall-outs and they were all centred around football. "It was only a small number of incidents – maybe half a dozen – but we have decided to have a break."

Oh, I know! It’s just so tiring, isn’t it, doing what you are paid to do! Why not see if you can make your job just that bit easier, eh?

What’s that, the kids? Oh, who cares about them? Or the parents. They’ll just have to lump it, right? It’s not like they are customers, or anything…

Mrs Frary said as well as playground spats, pupils were being overzealous in their tackles after watching their footballing heroes in action in Poland and the Ukraine.

Because such tackles are only ever employed in Euro 12 games, and never on any home or away games in the normal football season…

She said: "Children are really into their games and, just like the professionals, they will sometimes misinterpret tackles and perhaps reply in a way that would get them the red card if it happened during a real game.

"It was causing problems. Come the end of break-time, children were still upset and it was spilling into their lessons.

"Teachers ended up spending valuable lesson time sorting out problems."

Translation: ‘Teachers find it very stressful to handle playground disputes, when we’d rather just knock out a few by-rote copies of assignments on the office photocopier to give the kiddies so we can read ‘Heat’ in the breakroom and gossip about ‘Big Brother’.’

Head teacher Caroline Holliday said the ban has been imposed to show children the consequences of bad behaviour.

Rubbish! If that was really true, it’d be a ban on just the children displaying unacceptable behaviour, wouldn’t it?

Although it’s accepted that the more modern interpretation is that collective punishment applies because it’s easier for the hard-of-thinking and the want-to-be-non-judgemental…

Any dissenters? Apart from the commenters, that is?

Orchard Park ward councillor Julie Conner said she was disappointed to hear about the football ban, but would not condemn the school.

She said: "It is sad the school has had to take this step. Children enjoy letting off steam on the playing fields during lunch and break-time.

"It is especially sad that they can't do this during Euro 2012. With the arrival of the Olympic Torch in Hull this week too, the city has become very sports orientated."

Ms Conner said she had not heard about the ban until she was contacted by the Mail. She said: "Clearly, there must have been several situations at the school that has resulted in this."

In other words, ‘teachers know best!’. Even when it’s manifestly obvious that they don’t.

Why Do We Call Them 'Teachers' When They Can't Learn Anything Themselves?

Two teachers who branded their pupils 'thick and inbred' on Facebook have been arrested on suspicion of harassing a former colleague.

Former head Debbie Johnson, 48, and teacher Nyanza Roberts, 25, were forced to quit their jobs at Westcott Primary School in Hull after their online outbursts were discovered.

Now they're facing criminal charges over claims they sent a threatening letter to a classroom assistant at the school.

Yes, it's them again. I guess going 'old style' didn't prove the magic bullet they'd hoped.

Particularly since the assistant claims the letter was hand-delivered...

”Neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours…”

Malik Al-Abdeh is one of hundreds of British Syrians who have watched the state killings of protesters in their homeland with horror over the past year.

Six weeks ago his cousin joined the list of 8,000 fatalities, helping the opposition fightback amid the ranks of the Free Syrian Army.

The trauma has not been helped by increasingly fraught relations in his own road in Acton , west London – where he lives opposite the father-in-law of the Syrian dictator.

Splendid! Aren’t we lucky?

We don’t have to just watch foreign tribal conflicts on our 50” screen TVs now, they happen right outside our door!

The Independent revealed in November that Dr Akhras's house had been attacked by opposition protesters, and Mr Al-Abdeh said relations in the neighbourhood are prickly because of his family links.

"There has been a lot of animosity toward the Akhras family," he said. "A woman from Homs saw Asma's mother walking down the street as she was driving, so she wound down the window and swore at her."

And no doubt with a chic foreign accent, quite unlike our home-grown abuse-yelling chavs. Oh, how deliciously vibrant and diverse!

Oh, Yes, More Leniency, That’s What Today’s Youth Need!

Schools should be banned from expelling or suspending pupils for ‘minor’ offences such as flouting uniform rules, the Children’s Commissioner has claimed.

Dr Maggie Atkinson also insisted that no child under seven should ever be excluded.

The other kids and their teachers should just put up with it then?

The sanction should be an ‘absolute last resort’ reserved for ‘exceptional circumstances’ such as assaults, drug-dealing and threats with a weapon, she said.

Ummm, not to bring a note of sanity into your little fantasy world here, but all those things are actually crimes that should be dealt with by the police, not by a suspension from school…

Another recommendation in the report is for all children to be handed the right to appeal against a decision to expel them, instead of allowing only parents to challenge it.

Great, yeah! Empower them some more!

That’ll not have repercussions further down the line, will it?*

Luckily, the grown ups aren’t having any of this:

Chris McGovern, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, said: ‘We should be strengthening the hand of teachers – not attempting to undermine their authority.’

Well, quite!

Current guidance against excluding pupils for ‘minor infringements’ has been removed from revised advice issued for consultation by the Coalition just before Christmas.

Dr Atkinson urged the Government to reinstate the clause and crack down harder on breaches of the guidance, saying that some heads appeared to be using exclusion ‘on a whim’.

I think you’ve met your match though. I can’t see Gove rolling over for this nonsense:

Education Secretary Michael Gove must formally respond to the proposals. A spokesman for his department insisted its policy was the ‘right one’, adding: ‘Unless there is good behaviour in schools, teachers cannot teach and students cannot learn.’

Perhaps the Children’s Commissioner might like to reconsider her title – as things stand, it should be ‘The Delinquent Children’s Commissioner’.

She certainly doesn’t seem to be as concerned with any other childrens’ rights, does she?

*H/T: Dizzy Thinks via Twitter

Answered Your Own Question There, Doreen?

The Lawrence family last night demanded that the Metropolitan Police explain why it never showed them the files or revealed their existence. Doreen Lawrence said: "Had we known even a scintilla of this in the last 18 years, we would have been shouting it from the rafters."

Errr, yes. Precisely. I guess that's why they didn't show you?

And yes, these were only allegations:

Davidson never faced criminal charges and was allowed to retire on ill health grounds to run a bar on the Spanish island of Menorca after prosecutors decided there was a lack of corroborating evidence.

I wonder what the Lawrence family would have had to say had someone pressed for unproven allegations about her son’s activities to be published?

Is This What They Mean By 'Taking Ethics To The Next Level'..?

A legal battle to halt a Tesco superstore being built has been quashed, leaving a rival store with a bill for £10,000.

Ouch! And which store is this?

Tesco was given permission to build in Station Road on the border of Manningree and Lawford last July.

But rival chain the Co-operative Society, which is based in Riverside Avenue East in the town, lodged an application for a judicial review with the High Court, stating the permission was “unlawful” and “irrational”.

Ooooh! Surely not the sainted, oh-so-ethical and right-on Co-op..?

Co-op bosses said legal action would be taken if a list of demands were not met including that the application go back before the planning committee.

Fighting talk! I wonder if they submitted them on company stationery or just clipped letters out of the newspaper and glued them onto a sheet of A4 in the time-honoured tradition of all screen blackmailers?

Ultimately futile, though:

… the council argued the accusations were unfounded and opted not to hold round-table talks with both parties.

A judge has now refused the judicial review application on all of the ten points put forward.

Hah! Take that!

Carlo Guglielmi, Tendring’s planning boss, said: “I am so pleased with the decision. We have maintained all along that the application has gone through the democratic process.

”It is quite pitiful. The Co-op had three years to come up with objections, but waited until the last minute to do this, It was clutching at straws.

“We will be seeking costs. This is public money we are talking about.”

They've already been told to pay costs to Tesco....

The judge ordered the Co-op to pay £10,000 costs for Tesco, and advised Tendring Council to apply to the High Court for its costs.

So, are the Co-op licking their wounds and regretting that they ever tried to strong-arm the council? Reader, they are not:

However, the Co-op has vowed the fight will go on.

Roger Grosvenor, group general manager for trading for the East of England Co-operative Society, said: “While we were disappointed by the initial decision our application seeking leave to appeal was declined, we have instructed our legal advisors to ask for a review of the situation and put forward a renewal application.

“We believe the decision made and the processes used by Tendring Council were flawed and will continue seeking to overturn the decision.”

Let's remind ourselves of the 'values' of the Co-operative Society, shall we?

Like any business, we want to be a commercial success. However, even more important to us is the way that we do business, and the way that we use our profits. We believe that we should offer our customers both value and values. Which makes us a bit different.

Our members are our owners; they tell us what is important to them and we listen and act on it. It’s part of our model: as a consumer co-operative, we run our business for the benefit of our members. That means our members are involved in democratic decision-making...

Well, for a company that prides itself on ethics and democracy, I wonder what your shareholders will have to say about you gleefully flushing all that money down the toilet....

A Word Of Advice, Marilyn Hampton…

…make sure lamb’s off the menu!

Headteacher Marilyn Hampton said she hoped the food grown in the allotments could be used for school dinners and they could also start a swap shop where parents and residents could swap other vegetables for produce grown in the garden.

She said: “The children are really excited about it. This really is one of the first times I have seen a school community really come together to work on a project. It is something all the classes in the school will work on.

“The children will have lots of jobs, from feeding the animals to watering the plants.

“It’s all about them taking responsibility for something and knowing it is theirs and they have worked hard for it.”

And being prepared to duck the inevitable flack from the loonies among the parents…

How To Ensure You Become (In)Famous...

So, it seems that some silly girls (and their idiot teacher) are waking up this morning to a new term to Google. That term being 'The Streisand Effect'.

I wonder how long it'll be before some of the #Occupy lunatics over here try to emulate their attempt to get YouTube to run interference for them?

FaceBook And Teachers – Like Matter And AntiMatter

This time, though, it’s a 180 change from the usual complaints.

Furious parents are demanding an apology following complaints a teacher posted insulting comments on Facebook.

Whoops!

Three teachers from Westcott Primary School, as well as head teacher Debbie Johnson, appear to have been involved in a conversation during which teacher Nyanza Roberts referred to people in east Hull as "thick" and "inbred".

And here are the aggrieved parents:

“Do we look thick and inbred to you? Well, do we?”

Now an investigation has been launched after a series of complaints to the Mail by parents.

The school governors are heading the inquiry into the inappropriate remarks and have the authority to make the decision over what action to take.

Oh, I would love to be a fly on that wall…

Much hilarity is to be found in this article, actually:

Emma Bywood, 30, of east Hull, who has two children at the school, said: "My son came home on Monday and I had to explain to him what inbred meant."

LOL!

Beckie White, 33, of east Hull, has a nine-year-old daughter, Nina, who attends the school.

She said: "I know it's Facebook and it's out of school hours.

"But they have a responsibility. They know these things might be seen by people and, of course, parents will be hacked off. There should at least be an apology."

But wait, you say, if the right settings are applied, how will people see these things?

Well, it helps when someone prints them out!

The part of the conversation that has concerned parents took place on Facebook on a Saturday afternoon and included eight short posts over a 90-minute period.

According to parents, copies of the chat were later attached to fences in streets surrounding the school in protest about what was said.

And now they can be seen even by those who don’t have FaceBook! Or even a computer…

The document sets out a conversation, apparently started by teacher Stuart Clark, in which he states he is "fed up of bumping into children in town".

During the conversation, "Nyanza Roberts" replies: "by town, do you mean top end of holderness road?

"That's bout as far anyone in east Hull goes.

"No wonder everyone is thick....inbreeding must damage brain development."

"Debbie Johnson" then says: "You're really on one today mrs... !! Xx."

"Nyanza Roberts" replies: "Haha, I'm actually in a good mood.

"If anyone reading this is offended, then get a grip."

Another teacher "Jane Johnson" then says: "Massive queue of Westcott year 5/6 kids in poundland! x"

Oh, dear….

The Mail visited the school twice yesterday and asked to speak to Miss Johnson.

But a receptionist said she was not willing to comment.

However, in a statement released through Hull City Council, Miss Johnson said: "Whilst we are taking these comments seriously, they have been taken out of context.

"The full detail of the conversation was banter about rugby from both sides of the city."

You’re not helping your own case there, you do know that? Even Hull parents aren't thick enough to swallow that one.

H/T - Angry People In Local Newspapers

The Company That Prefers To Lose Money

Kerry Johnston and Gareth Foster, of Lowdham, went to Wheelgate Adventure Park in Farnsfield to see the animal attractions.

The couple, who keep chickens, were shocked to be told at the gate they could not go in.

The park says on its website that no all-adult groups are allowed but Miss Johnston, 32, a software tester, said she was angry when the receptionist said they couldn't go in.

They had no children with them. That’s the sole reason?

Is this some kind of joke?

She said: "I couldn't believe it. It just seems ridiculous to me. The car park was almost empty because we went in the first week of September when the kids were all back at school.

"So they were turning away profit when they weren't busy, its just illogical."

Well, the whole ‘paedo panic’ is illogical, so when you start from there, you’re unlikely to wind up anywhere sensible, frankly.

And it is their business, so if they want to turn away trade, that’s up to them...

Last year the couple visited Wheelgate's sister park in Devon and had no problem getting in.

So does Devon not have a problem with unaccompanied adults?

Stranger and stranger…

Mr Foster, 30, a software programmer, said the policy seemed bizarre.

He said: "After we were refused entry, we thought 'what if we couldn't have children?'

"It would be very upsetting for a couple to be turned away if they were unable to have kids. I just think it's very discriminatory."

Nice try at playing the Victimhood Poker game, but I think you’re trumped.

Miss Johnston added: "I can understand that they might have a fear of lone paedophiles in a park full of children, but we are a couple who just have an interest in animals and it's wrong to tell us we can't enjoy something just because we don't have children yet."

She said she had complained to the park in writing but had not received a response.

Frankly, it sounds a lot like a company I would go out of my way to not give any further custom!

Sandy Gyorvari, manager of Wheelgate Park, said: "As a company policy we do not allow any all-adult or all-child groups into the park. We share this policy with other parks such as Gulliver's Kingdom in Matlock Bath.

"The three parks in our group in Mansfield, Melton Mowbray and Devon are all about families interacting, that is our target audience as all our rides are geared at children."

But what about your other one in Devon?

Oh, she has an answer for that.

"The Devon park has a different policy because it has a camp site attached, but at our park we rarely get people complaining because most people come with children.

"Our entry restrictions are clearly sign posted on our website and brochures in an attempt to avoid this confusion.

"We are sorry Miss Johnston and Mr Foster were disappointed but we will continue to stick to our company policy."

And you’ll continue to lose money.

That’s up to you, of course. But if you go under, don’t be surprised to find no-one shedding any tears.

No, Of Course It’s Not Enough, It Never Is…

Supermarket Morrisons has apologised after a Muslim family bought a tuna salad which contained ham.

Whoops! Oh, well, a mislabelling error. No need to make a fuss, right? Just throw it away, and no harm done...

The mum-of-two in the family, who did not want to be identified, complained to Morrisons about the mis-labelled food.

She said: "My children and I have never eaten ham before so we didn't know what it looked like.

What, you wander around Morrisons with your eyes shut, then? I guess it doesn't matter what labels they put on the food, eh?

Well, this is nothing if not a public-service blog, so here you are:

Not tuna. I repeat, NOT TUNA...

”But we realised straight away that it was not tuna in the salad and my children were very distraught.”

Oh, here we go...

She also said she was unhappy with the response she received from Morrisons.

She said: "I received a £15 gift voucher as an apology but this is not enough.”

What would satisfy you, Mrs unidentified mum? £25 voucher? £100 voucher? Complete submission to haraam rules and the immediate removal of all pig-derived products?

I mean, it's not like the prospect of eating mislabelled stuff is entitled to worry anyone else, is it?

Maybe You Can Prosecute Yourselves Under The Dangerous Dogs Act..?

Two dogs were put down after a fight broke out at an RSPCA dog show.

Dozens of families who had turned out for the annual open day at the charity’s centre, in Enfield Road, Altham were left “very distressed” when a dog awaiting rehoming lunged at a show goer’s dog during a show parade.

Whoops!

Branch manager Ken Harrison described the event as a “tragic incident”. Mr Harrison declined to state the breed of the dogs…

Oh, really? Why?

… but eye-witnesses said Megan, the dog which was attacked, was a King Charles spaniel-type and Dillon, the attacker, was a rotweiller type.

In other words, a cross-breed. Presumably, no history known?

If so, why was it allowed to socialise at a public event? And why was it not under control?

Mr Harrison said: “It was very distressing for everyone involved and our heart goes out to everybody involved.

“All the dogs in our care are assessed on an ongoing basis and prior to this incident Dillon, the centre dog, had not shown any cause for concern regarding his behaviour.”

I’d say I hope the owner of the other dog sues you, but you’d just waste more public money defending yourselves….

Get The Popcorn!

An ‘alternative’ private school is facing a £100,000 compensation bill after ignoring a whistle-blowing teacher’s complaint that her daughter had been assaulted.

Oh, boy! This’ll be good!

Jo Sawfoot, 42, worked at the fashionable Steiner school – where exams are considered harmful and pupils learn through gardening and playing with wooden blocks.

Her six-year-old daughter was also a pupil at the school.

It seems her daughter was less than a little angel, and some teachers only paid lip service to the school’s ‘hands off’ policy.

Miss Sawfoot claimed she was regarded as an ‘irritant’ at the school, giving her no option other than to resign and educate her child elsewhere.

And then claim a huge payout..

In May 2009 she complained that Miss Letts had grabbed her daughter by the arm after the child had refused to move. The child was left in pain by the ‘assault’, but the school failed to investigate – even though its policy stated that teachers should use physical restraint only as a last resort.

Maybe this was a last resort? Short of giving the little sweetie a shove?

And the next month, when school administrator Sandie Tolhurst reported the incident to social services, she claimed the girl was restrained for biting Miss Letts – whereas Miss Sawfoot claimed her daughter bit the teacher because she was being held.

Oh, well, that’s OK then?!

Employment Judge John Warren criticised the school for its ‘failure to investigate her grievance, and misrepresentations to social services’.

In other words ‘It’s payday!’

Speaking after the judgment, Miss Sawfoot said: ‘I am still passionately committed to the Steiner movement.

‘But my grievance was swept under the carpet by the school. Instead, I was subjected to a hostile working environment. They labelled me a bad parent and then a bad teacher.’

Sweetie, your little horror bit an adult in a position of authority.

Do you really think that makes you a good mother..?

Wow, Ignorance Really Is Bliss!

According to Charlie Taylor, the Government's new behaviour tsar, the “clear” advice (just 52 pages long in comparison to previous, more weighty tomes) should put a stop to teachers living in fear of litigation if they touch a child.

The simplified advice explains teachers can use ‘reasonable force’ to break up fights, stop children attacking classmates or teachers, and to remove disruptive kids from lessons, if necessary.

And what could be more welcome? A return to proper discipline?

But is a more aggressive approach the way to empower our teaching staff?

Well, certainly the ‘let’s be soft on disruptive kids’ approach isn’t working, and we’ve tried it long enough to know, surely?

Child and educational psychologist Teresa Bliss, who has spent 20 years running units for children with behavioural difficulties, thinks taking too harsh a line does more harm than good.

*sigh* Well, yes. She would, wouldn’t she?

“When a school continually punishes those who get into fights, with detentions and exclusion, it’s like plugging in a volcano – the kids erupt.

“Instead of harsh punishments, your response must address the underlying issues that lead to the conflict, or give a young person strategies for dealing with the cause.

Otherwise that child will become more and more angry, and things will never get better.”

Whereas if you don’t punish them or exclude them, everything will be just fine?

I guess Teresa doesn’t spend a lot of time in modern classrooms…

“Reading through the guidance it looks as though our schools are a war zone,” she says.

Yup, she definitely doesn’t.

Although the numbers may sound dramatic, Bliss points out that if 1,000 students are being suspended each day, as a percentage of the 8,923,400 being educated in England and Wales, that’s less than 0.001% of all students.

“The danger is this new guidance gives teachers who are not good classroom managers – and who are confrontational with pupils – carte blanche to continue with that behaviour,” she highlights.

‘Classroom managers’. My, that’s a telling phrase, isn’t it?

And fancy being ‘confrontational with pupils’…

Next, they’ll be expecting to be able to get away with telling them to sit down and shut up! Quelle horreur!

“Being able to restrain kids if they’re lashing out is perfectly sensible,” says Lee Jackson, who began his career as a youth worker, and now gives advice to teachers on how best to motivate young people.

“But I think the idea of searches, like in an airport, is ridiculous.

“We shouldn’t go down that road. You’re presuming everyone is guilty.”

But if its acceptable in an airport, where terrorist incidents are rare, why is in somehow not acceptable at a school, where assaults and other crimes are routine?

In Jackson’s view, the best way to encourage good classroom behaviour is a combination of strong teaching and earning kids’ respect.

“I tell teachers that in ‘Generation Y’ you have to have a good relationship with pupils before they’ll listen to you.

“That’s why it never works having a string of supply teachers. The kids don’t have time to form a relationship with them.”

Teachers aren’t supposed to be everyone’s mate!

I thought we’d got away from that flawed policy?

Nowhere Does It Say How This Would Be Achieved….

…so just another pointless soundbite?

Men with a record of domestic violence would be prevented from using the internet to meet unsuspecting women under plans being considered by the Home Secretary, Theresa May.

Oh, for…

The Home Office said yesterday that the Police National Database could be used to keep watch on contacts made by men with violent pasts.

How? Never mind anything else, just how is this supposed to be done? With all those cuts to the police that are going to have to be made?

The announcement is in response to a campaign led by the former Labour cabinet secretary, Hazel Blears, after the murder of Clare Wood, 36, in Salford, Lancashire, in 2009. Ms Wood met her killer, George Appleton, through Facebook. He had used a series of aliases on dating websites and had a long history of sexual violence.

So, if he used a series of aliases, just how are the PND details supposed to be of any use whatsoever?

Is everyone insane? Surely, the ConDems aren’t bound by any nonsense thought up by the former government, are they?

Have They Really Thought This Through?

Police will exercise their dogs at a primary school which has been repeatedly targeted by burglars and vandals.

Officers came up with the novel idea after St Helen’s School, Westcliff, was hit on three consecutive weekends.

PC Lisa Wiggins, who is investigating the incidents, said: “On each occasion access was gained via the un-overlooked rear of the school.

“So I have now made arrangements for police dogs to be exercised within the school grounds at weekends. This should make criminals think twice before returning.”

Let's hope they keep better control of them than this officer, then:

The Sainsbury's worker was visiting step-daughter Laura Cottingham, with wife Georgia, at her Windsor Drive home in Leek.

He said he saw the police dog handler coming towards him at around 10.30am with the Alsatian on a long lead, but felt no danger.

But the dog bit Mr Fennell at least once and he was forced pull the dog's teeth out of his leg with the help of the handler.

A long lead, eh? Well, as we've already seen, it's going to be hard for the police to say that the dog wasn't under control, so that should triple the damages!

Even their normal supporters aren't too impressed:

Thirty-two year-old Laura, pictured, who runs the Haregate Community Centre in Leek, said: "I don't think the dog was under control, it was on a really long leash and it didn't stop biting when the handler got to it.

"Normally you'd expect the handler to have a control word so the dog could be stopped.

"I work with the police at the community centre to improve the reputation of the force on the estate, but I can't defend this at all."

As far as the police are concerned, it's not the fault of anyone but the enticing target innocent member of the public:

Inspector Chris Dawson, head of the force's dog unit, said police had been called to Windsor Drive for a separate matter.

He said: "Police were called following the report of an assault at an address. The male offender had fled the scene.

"A police dog, under close control on a lead, was tracking the offender's trail along Windsor Drive.

"The dog's handler shouted to a male member of the public, unconnected to the assault, to stay where he was while the dog passed by. The man however moved and was subsequently bitten on his right leg by the dog."

If there's one thing primary school children can be relied upon for, it's running around.

So if they decide to do this on weekdays as well, this could be interesting...