Teaching Ten Year Olds To Find Terrorists

tlh

Trouble is, they're getting thoroughly directive about home-schooling as well.

Ther has to be a way to fight them; but short of parents' gate-crashing the film parties and joining in the discussions (which means time off work) I don't know. Or what happens if the kids take absences on those days?

Steve.W

Alex you are correct here. However, in your final lines you say - “Back when I were a lad, I don't recall being encouraged to keep an eye on any Irish chaps we encountered”.

Well years ago during 'the troubles' several high ranking police officers did indeed suggest this, looking out for Irishmen acting suspiciously'. What was not defined was the behaviour to merit suspicion. Consequently in the addled minds of some of the public sounding Irish was good enough to warrant suspicion. Socially divisive? You bet!

This idea of using school children as lookouts is hideous. I also approved of the line you took in your Monday 8th June post – 'Guilty Until Proven Innocent: The New of British Justice'. The gathering of DNA this way is totally wrong. I now see there are reports of the UK police using waterboarding on suspects. And then there is Sir Ian Blair.

When David Blunkett was forced to resign (again) within months the BBC had him reading from his book, helping with the 'Today' programme etc. In other words the rehabilitation of this man had begun. Well here we go again with Sir Ian Blair. The BBC has run a programme on him too. But it would have been Blair who set up the ethos within the Met we now see. No mention of that on the programme so far!

Nicholas

This sort of thing is typical from a government which exchanges hysteria for reason. Think devil worship scares and Jersey childrens home brouhaha. It will no doubt result in horror stories of innocent parents and relatives bundled into police vans for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time but meanwhile the real threat will not diminish. In a situation of limited police resources but unlimited terrorist opportunity the quality of intelligence becomes paramount. This type of knee jerk nonsense could seriously undermine that, with our current crop of police (not the sharpest pencils in the box) ending up chasing their tails.

Bill Corr

Anyone remember how our clever armed police shot a Scot carrying a wrapped-up chair leg he was carrying home to repair under the firm impression that they were slaying a dangerous armed Irishman?

Telling the vibrant community of Blackburnistan that terrorists "could look like anyone" is a neat touch.

andy c

They d have to learn Yiddish first.

Isn't that what Settlers speak?

Goldstein

Oceania, Tis for thee...

The Bellman

The government bombards children with propaganda about AGW and the like, so this sort of guff ought to be no surprise. I don't recall any similar initiatives about the IRA, nuclear war or paedos (then called 'strangers') when I were a boy. The Tufty Club was the closest it got.

My book club contains a number of more (ahem) mature members whose children are in what used to be called the Fifth Form (I think it's called Year Zero these days). When directed to read *Day of the triffids* for English lit, a typical reaction was that they were bombarded with pappy environmentalist shit in science, geography and even history lessons, why should they put up with it in English lit as well?

This illustrates two points: first, that the current generation of English teachers are not only as ideologically-blinkered as you'd expect, but stupider and more historically ignorant than you'd believe; and (b) that some of our youngsters are commendably immune from Statist brainwashing.

The Bellman

tlh: Yes. I heard a talking head - I think from an education authority - on *Today* this morning say that, although there was 'no evidence that home-schooling was a cover for child abuse', it posed a risk to children because "WE don't know where they are" [my emphasis].

A breathtakingly wrong-headed assertion about both the dangers to children from their parents and the capacity of the State to assess that risk, into which he managed also to insinuate a viciously disgusting slur about home-schooling parents.