”Maybe my children like running wild in the street. Had that occurred to you?”

Youngsters out late at night without a good reason could be rounded up and taken to a children’s centre as part of a new scheme.

Southend Council’s youth offending service would then contact parents to pick up their children, or have them returned home by officers.

A Southend Council Youth Offending Team Officer is shown, hard at work, to the right.

The council has received a £65,000 grant from the Government towards the Youth Crime Action Plan, and this is one of a number of measures set to be introduced.

Carol Compton, head of the youth offending service, said: “We recognise the need to focus on the concerns and priorities of the community. We want to send a strong measure to young people in the town that they must play by the rules.”

But instead, you’re sending a strong message to the chav community that their spawn can get a free ride home, courtesy of the taxpayer, if they stay out too late at night. Well done, thou good and faithful servant!

Police or council workers would take the youngsters to one of 12 Surestart centres in Southend, which have been built to provide advice and care facilities for parents and children.

No wonder Polly always raves about ‘SureStart’ – an underclass babysitting and late-night taxi service. And all paid for by the taxpayer! What’s not to like?

However, there have been concern raised by some councillors, who hope the policy would not be too heavy handed.

Ian Robertson, councillor responsible for public protection, said: “It obviously makes sense to keep youngsters who are causing trouble off the streets.

“But I have concerns there could be difficulties in operating this policy.

Youngsters who have a real reason for being in a certain place late at night could become mixed up with it through no fault of their own. As with all these policies, enforcement can sometimes be a problem and we would have to make sure we got things right.”

Well, I’m sure we could count on the public sector workers to make the right decisions when faced with this judgement call. What could possibly go wrong?

"We'll Tell You What Verdict To Pass....

...so make sure you pass the right one"

Hope it's a narrative one. Ought to make good reading....

Reducing The Database – One Person At A Time…

A bitter civil servant killed his former lover's son in a revenge attack, the Old Bailey heard today.
…
Michael ' s mother, Kathleen Kirby-Jones, returned home from work to find his blood-soaked body in a room which they used as an office.

After hearing footsteps at the house in Edmonton, Ms Kirby-Jones had to barricade herself in the room as the killer attempted to force the door open before fleeing.

The occupation of this sterling chap?

At the time Paul was a middle-ranking civil servant responsible for the child protection data base at the Department for Children, Schools and Families in Whitehall.

Ooops!

EU To British Voters: ‘You Don’t Matter’ (Part 563)

José Manuel Barroso said that in private conversations "the people who count in Britain" were thinking about joining. "I'm not going to break the confidentiality of certain conversations, but some British politicians have already told me, 'If we had the euro, we would have been better off'," he told French radio station RTL.

Someone needs to tell this gentleman that the ‘people who count’ aren’t actually the people he meets for sherry and tapas at a taxpayer-funded Euro building, whatever he may think…

Shocker!

We negotiate on your behalf with employers and the UK and European Governments to get you a fair deal at work.

That’s the stated aim of ‘Unite’, the biggest UK union.

The leader of Britain's biggest union demanded almost £100,000 compensation to move out of his grace-and-favour home, it was claimed yesterday.

Said money to come out of his members dues, naturally…

Tony Woodley, the £76,000-a-year joint general secretary of Unite, pays just £200 a month for the two-bedroom apartment near Elephant and Castle, in South London.

In other words, Unite members, you’re funding the personal London crashpad for your leader. Hope you feel his services are worth it!

According to the Sunday Mirror, Mr Woodley, whose family home in Merseyside is worth at least £350,000, refused to relocate despite being offered £20,000 to move out last June.
Last night critics said he was behaving like a City 'fat cat'.

I guess those critics never read ‘Animal Farm’ at school…

Student Hi-Jinks – Not For The Faint Hearted

A team of 10 firefighters using two fire engines and a support vehicle with a hydraulic platform spent an hour lowering the seasonal headgear, which had been fastened to a 60ft spire about the college entrance known for centuries as the Gate of Humility.

*admiration*

The college response was in stark contrast to a previous prank hailed as one of the greatest of all time. In 1958, students at Gonville and Caius winched an Austin Seven onto the roof of the nearby Senate House and residents of Cambridge awoke to see it perched at the apex of an inaccessible rooftop, looking as if it were driving across the skyline.

The then Dean of Caius, the late Rev Hugh Montefiore, guessed who was responsible and sent them a congratulatory case of champagne despite publicly maintaining that he knew nothing of the culprits.

Ah, those were the days. Before ludicrous health and safety laws, deans terrified of lawsuits, and students more interested in ensuring their premises’ toilet facilities were properly gender neutral.

A spokesman for the University of Cambridge said it was aware that three fire brigade vehicles were involved in the operation to remove the hat but declined to comment. No-one at Gonville and Caius College was available for comment.

A spokeswoman for Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue said the firefighters were paying a routine familiarisation visit to the college when they were asked to remove the hat and that the episode had provided a useful training exercise.

Good for the firemen for getting on with it and regarding it as ‘a teaching opportunity’. They’re one up on the university staff…

Empire Building The New Way…

…or why we are all up s**t creek without a paddle.

Labour's public sector spending has created a wave of 'Soviet' boroughs where around half the population depends on the state for work, figures revealed yesterday.

An analysis of council statistics showed that in ten areas more than 40 per cent of the workforce is employed in the public sector.

And it’s not just the cost of the wage packet for all these State serfs (though that is vast). Nor the fact that they are often engaged in work that doesn’t need to be done at all or is a detriment to progress (though that’s a valid concern).

The real bombshell is in the pensions for those staff.

All but two have Labour MPs - the others are Liberal Democrat.

Of course. But does anyone really think that the Tories would be any better? It’s likely they’d make small, cosmetic cuts, maybe in the worst or most obviously useless quangos, but real change? Unlikely.

The North East dominates the list, with Castle Morpeth's neighbouring borough of Wansbeck second with 47.5 per cent employed by the state and Durham third on 46.7 per cent.

The Government has based agencies and set up quangos such as One North East in the region to tackle unemployment caused by the decline of traditional industries such as coal mining.

By directly employing the unemployed in ‘make work’ or in more government intrusion and tickbox schemes to harass the private sector.

Still, I suppose it beats goin’ down t’pit….

Richard Dodds, a farmer and Tory councillor on Castle Morpeth borough and Northumberland councils, said: 'I produce wheat and cattle but there are a lot of people who produce absolutely nothing.

'Everything is about monitoring performances and going on courses. We've had an awful lot of white elephants and non-jobs created in the North East.'

A more perfect display of the difference between real work and government work it’d be hard to find…

Infantilising Our Society…

First the flip flops, now this:

Drinkers and festive revellers on the streets of Bolton are being given bubble-blowers to stop them causing trouble as they make their way home.

Isn’t that what laws are for? You know, ‘drunk and disorderly’? It used to mean something, once…

The light-hearted scheme has a serious message for drinkers who are being urged not to get involved in violence or make too much noise.

Then use the existing laws to lock up the ones getting ‘involved in violence’ or ‘making too much noise’. Don’t treat the adult population as clicker-trained dogs, to be bribed into good behaviour by the offering of a treat (paid for by the non-drunk and rowdy majority, of course).

Councillor Elaine Sherrington said the aim of Operation Sherry was to keep people as "as safe as possible".

The pens will be handed out by police community support officers and town centre ambassadors.

That’s nice for them.

And is this scheme named for the famous Spanish tipple? Or for the daft bint who came up with it, I wonder…?

The Be Safe Partnership, which includes police, the fire service and council, is running Operation Sherry for the third year.

Good grief! What is this costing the Bolton taxpayer in bubble solution, plus the attendance and employment of ‘town centre ambassadors’?

Ms Sherrington, from Bolton Council, said: "The run-up to the festive period should be full of fun, not problems with drunkenness or rowdy behaviour.

"The bubble pens are a great idea to keep things light-hearted and town centre revellers will have something fun to focus on as they leave pubs and clubs.

Who elected this woman to be Bolton’s nanny and circus ringmaster? Is this really the type of ‘elected representative’ the people of Bolton wanted?

If so, then I wish them joy of her.

"The act of blowing bubbles is normally associated with parties and entertainment, and the Be Safe partnership wants everyone to party safely."

I want people like you to stop pouring taxpayer’s money down the drain on the increasingly feral and out-of-control hordes produced in our finest educational establishments. Bet I don’t get my wish this year…

Hat-tip: Furry Conservative(in comments)

My Hat’s Off To One British Teenager

Take a bow, Seb Green:

A teenager who sparked a land and air rescue operation after stealing a boat has almost completed a sponsored walk around Britain to make amends.

Here’s one person for whom ‘making amends to society’ really means something.

And it needn’t be mandated by the State either…

So far the youngster has raised £14,000 for the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance and Starlight Children's Foundation, a charity which grants wishes for seriously and terminally ill children and provides hospital entertainment.

Mr Green's target is £20,000.

"It was a very stupid thing to do," he said.

"At the time I felt extremely guilty but as time has moved on the sense of guilt has faded because I am now planning to repay the community and some of the money it cost to rescue me.

"My attitude towards life has changed.

"I see life as a privilege and you only get out what you put in but you can achieve whatever you want."

I hope he makes his target. I think he will.

And with that attitude, he’ll go far…

A Cold Wind Is Gonna Blow….

Senior managers at Haringey council in North London are “preparing for the worst” today when ministers receive a three-week review of the authority’s performance in the case of Baby P.

Ed Balls, the Children’s Secretary, is expected to take action within hours.

‘Preparing for the worst’..? Some might say the ‘worst’ has already come – to a little baby boy and his siblings. Still, trust the social workers to identify who the real victims are…

Sources at the council say they believe that Sharon Shoesmith, head of children’s services, and several of her management colleagues will be replaced immediately for the failure to stop the brutal killing of the 17-month-old boy despite 60 appointments and meetings between her staff and other children’s services.

Lawyers at the council also face criticism in the report, compiled by Ofsted, the Healthcare Commission and the Inspectorate of Constabulary. The review has found that on two occasions the threat of harm to Baby P met the legal threshold for his removal from the home.

I wonder if that’s all it found…?

Ms Shoesmith has refused to accept any criticism of her staff, who overruled police when they sought to have the boy removed before his death.She said that a serious case review showed her that services had “worked effectively” and that she had no reason to apologise. She did apologise later. But there are concerns that a summary published last month did not represent fully the review’s findings.

The full serious case review has had only limited circulation. But one source who has read it said: “Sharon Shoesmith’s defence of her team was totally unjustified. If I had been her, I would have said, ‘I’m desperately, desperately sorry — mistakes were made’.”

Pack your bags and clear your desk, Shoesmith.

One down, thousands more to go…