“The US president is in Oslo to receive an award that many thought premature. Misgivings have increased since he announced a troop surge in Afghanistan. Follow updates from his visit here throughout the day”. That’s from the Guardian’s News Blog by Mark Tran.
Misgivings! I ask you. I can think of a great many words to describe the decision to award the Nobel Peace prize on the basis merely of a candidate’s promises and many more to describe the incredible hypocrisy of Barack Obama accepting it just after having decided to send yet another wave of US troops to Afghanistan to kill even more Afghans but, the word misgivings would very certainly not be among them.
War creates peace, says Obama and that he has only just started on his labours in the world. Well, looks like we’ll be damn lucky if there are any of us left by the time he has finished – perhaps that is what he means by peace.
It’s just too good to share. 
Kyle, an American social worker explains how, by using Freakonomics you can get rich just by doing social work. Hat Tip to Antisocial Social Worker.
Gordon Brown is an intelligent and very well informed man who will know very well that there is a significant body of informed opinion that believes Osama bin Laden to be dead. Indeed, many believe him to have died in December 2001, just months after the Twin Towers atrocity. Even if he did not die then, given the poor state of his health, in particular kidney failure and need for regular dialysis it seems unlikely that he has been able to survive in hiding in the remote and desolate region of north west Pakistan. Even our own Daily Mail questions his continued existence. So why does Gordon Brown state as a fact that Osama is still on this planet and how does he have the gall to accuse Pakistan of having failed to capture this ghost when the might of the USA and Britain combined has failed to do so?
Presumably the answer is that Gordon knows very well that Osama is probably dead but thinks the British public so ignorant that they won’t realise this and considers that they need a bogey man figure to frighten them into supporting, continuing and possibly extending the colonial wars in the middle east.
Is OBL Gordon’s WMD?
STOP PRESS – Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani says Osama is not in Pakistan. So he, Gordon and I are all in total agreement: Osama is ON THE OTHER SIDE!
I really didn’t want to do another post about the pathetic disaster which is Cafcass but Radio 4 PM on Wednesday (listen within the next 5 days) did a piece about the “paper children” meaning those children Cafcass are responsible for representing but do not actually meet and talk with but nevertheless go to court hearings about. To do just what? – one might ask. One of Cafcass’s ten (and I thought they said they were reducing their numbers) members of the “Corporate Management Team“, Christine Banim stepped up to the plate to try to ascert that Cafcass is “safer than ever”. Presumably that is the view Cafcass holds in its own little panglossian world because virtually everybody else thinks it has never been worse and needs to be put out of its misery. Christine is an “Operational Director and Chair of Modernisation and Efficeincy Board” – yup, that is how she spells efficiency on the Cafcass web site. Check it now before somebody in Cafcass reads this and corrects the spelling.
Update – somebody read and did the editing – glad to have been a help!
Indeed not, Mischon de Reya are a different sort of law firm they do important social research – or do they?
The BBC reported that research carried out by law firm Mishcon de Reya among 2,000 divorcees and a similar number of children who had experienced divorce revealed that; “Two thirds (68%) admitted indiscriminately using their children as “bargaining tools” when they separated and “A staggering 20% of separated parents admitted that they had actively set out to make their partners experience ‘as unpleasant as possible’ regardless of the effect this had on their children’s feelings.”
Pink Tape wondered what sort of research could produce these results. Would 2 out of 10 divorcees reply “Yes” to the question “Did you set out to actively make your partner’s experience as unpleasant as possible regardless of your children’s feelings”? Seem unlikely; so Pink Tape asked Mishcon de Reya for a copy of the actual research report. She was refused. Hang on, what’s that – specialist family barrister refused a copy of a serious research report which it is claimed to show highly important new information about parents and children going through divorce – how can that be? Sean of MdR told Pink Tape; The press release is the best place to find the information following the research carried out.’ He added: ‘Unfortunately I’m unable to share the research as it contains information we may wish to release in the future.’
The press release is in fact quite revealing. In footnotes to the MdR “policy briefing paper” it is stated that the research in question was carried out by independent research house, OnePoll. On looking up OnePoll one discovers they are an online market research company and have been responsible for such ground breaking discoveries as:
“People who live in Bristol were yesterday (mon) named and shamed as the most unhygienic in Britain.” and “The average British family argues for the equivalent of nearly FOUR DAYS A YEAR – with mum sparking most of the bust-ups, according to new research.”
Those SUN headline style research results from OnePoll seems rather to put the MdR research into context. But it is worrying if, as Pink Tape reports, that Judges are taking this so far unpublished and un-reviewed research seriously – especially if you happen to be an argumentative couple from Bristol trying to get a divorce.
Shows you just how naive I am that when I heard there was to be a European Union president I did a little Googling to find out how to put my name forward. After all, I’ve years of experience of dealing with difficult people – both professionals and clients and I thought that might be useful in the job. Anyway, nothing venture nothing gain so why not put my name of the ballot paper if I could – I reasoned. Imagine my shock to learn that some guy got the job just because of who he knew. no election, no applications, no interviews, no equal ops – just; ‘Herman, old boy the job’s yours – congrats’.
Much the same goes for the House of Lords. 
I’ve long thought I would be very happy lolling on red leather benches just rising occasionally to make a few profound remarks. I just don’t understand why I’ve never been asked; perhaps the invite went astray in the post.
Baron Brick of Wall would sound really good don’t you think?
UPDATE: On the other hand I might find it just too nauseating to join the ranks of the great, self-satisfied and corrupt. If I did I would have to take part in hiding and justifying criminal behavior by other members of the club as the Chilcot Inquiry stooges are doing and as is so accurately dissected by Craig Murray.
I thought I’d mark the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child by gathering together some news of boundary setting sanctions being applied in a loving and character forming way to children today.
In Miami a six year old was tasered for waving a piece of glass around and a 12 year old girl was tasered for being drunk. In Jonesboro a school resource officer tasered an eleven year old boy (twice) to stop a fight between him and a girl. In Ozark a police officer tasered a ten year old girl who wouldn’t take a shower. A spokesman for Taser says that tasering can be safer than the alternatives such as “fists, kicks, baton strikes, bean bag guns, chemical agents, or canine response.” So, the two teens who died from Tasering in Michigan must have been just unfortunate exceptions.
See kids – the Taser is the kind and caring alternative. As Anorak says “Spare the Taser, spoil the child. If you don’t Taser them they grow up to be, well, coppers…”. And if you thought only American children benefit from the right to be tasered then check out the British policy .
Well, there was me thinking that NICE was just about making sure doctors prescribed the most cost-effective drugs to NHS patients only to discover via the ARCH Blog that they want family homes to be inspected to make sure that those containing children, (up to age 15) are fully kitted with home safety equipment including “smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, hot water temperature restrictors, safety gates (including stair gates) and oven, window and door guards and locks”. The Draft Guidance says it is aimed at “reducing unintentional injuries among children and young people living in disadvantaged circumstances”. and recommends identifying and prioritising households at highest risk. Suggested factors to c0nsider are “overcrowding, a low income and [rather obviously] a lack of appropriately installed safety equipment”. Consideration should be given to setting up a database to “share information on high-risk households with other statutory agencies. For example, social workers, GPs and health visitors could identify overcrowded dwellings and notify others via a database accessible to all statutory organisations”.
I cannot see why they need a database for this. The Benefits Agency database of those in receipt of Income Support is in effect a list of all family households who are so poverty stricken that they cannot afford both safety equipment and food on the miserable amount of welfare the state grudgingly permits them.
Good news – the Guidance is a draft out for consultation. Bad news – only “stakeholders” are invited to comment and they are the usual, and ever-multiplying arms of government, quangos, vol orgs and academics including Université Libre de Bruxelles (don’t ask). A search of the draft Guidance reveals that the terms “benefits agency”, “income support”, and “poverty” do not occur in the document. Nor, perhaps more worryingly, do the words “privacy” or “confidentiality” or even “data protection”. As ARCH neatly points out; “poverty trumps Article 8″.
Incidentally, anybody know what a hot water temperature restrictor fitted to a domestic bath actually looks like or whether you can get them from B&Q? Checking with RoSPA they say:
The HSE recommendation to prevent Legionella bacteria in water storage systems is to maintain hot water temperatures above 60°C. Scalding can occur above the temperature of 45°C. The DTI leaflet ‘Cool It’ recommends that bath water should not exceed 43°C. So its no good just lowering the temperature of your whole hot water system – that way you avoid being scalded but risk catching Legionnaire’s Disease.
Each year Head Teacher calls the children in from play to tell them what classes there will be during the year and about any changes to the school rules. This year HT will be emphasising numeracy. She has noticed that lots of the boys and girls have been getting their sums badly wrong. They have been putting lots of extra numbers into their sums and therefore their answers have been much too large. A new (temporary) teacher has joined the school, that is Teacher Legg. He will assist Teacher Kelly in helping the children to get their sums right. Teacher Kennedy will provide kindly remedial help to the very dim and let some of them off.
The Assembly is getting rather noisy because a lot of children around Big Dave are arguing with him and complaining and another lot seem to be moaning to Big Gordo about the new rules. “Quiet children, be quiet” calls out HT and the noise subsides to a dull mutter. HT then announces that school will break up early this year and that lots of the boys and girls will not be returning to school after the break. They will be replaced by a lot of new pupils. A deathly hush falls over the assembly when they hear this. HT then asks the assembled boys and girls to sing the school song as a farewell to the leavers:-
I’m for goodness and for profit and for living clean and saying daily prayer.
And now, my good friends, you can sleep nights, I’ll continue to stand tall.
You can trust me, for I promise, I shall keep a watchful eye upon ya’ll…
Ooh I love to dance a little sidestep, now they see me now they don’t-
I’ve come and gone and, ooh I love to sweep around the wide step,
cut a little swathe and lead the people on.
(ack -Larry L. King)
“Now, file out quietly and play nicely with each other”.
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