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Back
to the future
'Forward
not Back' is quite wrong: we must go back - back to clean
hospitals with more medical staff and fewer managers; back
to education with proven standards.
Back
to police on the street and solving crime; back to increased
employment in industry, back to ministers who stand up for
this country and back to democratic government. Then, perhaps,
we can move forward. Letter from
S, M. Butler, Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex - Daily Mail, March
23, 2005
Getting
off lightly
My
friend's son, now aged 21, has been guilty of criminal conduct
- drug taking, burglary, robbery, carrying a knife, suspected
wounding and attacking a police officer - since he was 12.
He has had 20 charges brought against him.
My
friend is devastated, brought close to brakdown by his behaviour.
He was brought up in a loving home and her other child has
given no cause for concern. Despite my friend's attendance
whenever she was called on, her son was expelled from three
schools in succession. She spent hours helping him with
homework and trying to talk to him, to no avail.
She
has now complete contempt for the justice system. The youth
courts, she says are a joke. She's seen for herself serial
offenders released time and again, some-times on technicalities.
Her son walked free many times but eventually served a short
spell in Feltham Young Offenders Institution. Predictably,
he's now serving a year in adult prison.
When
she read about Hazel Blears's new gimmick of making those
serving community service wear distinctive clothing, she
didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Her son was sentenced
several times to community service but never worked more
than a few hours.
The
last time he was given a choice and chose carpentry. For
several weeks there was no supervision available so the
boys just turned up for a few hours and then didn't bother.
Nothing was done.
My
friend tells me there are thousands of boys like her son
and will be more. Letter
- Name and Address supplied - Daily Mail, May 18, 2005
Discipline?
We can only learn it from our parents
I
was one of the original London Teddy Boys. When we first
appeared, the police and the media accused us of every sort
of mayhem and mischief, though the reality was very different.
We were, in fact, just a bunch of pasty-faced youths who
wore Edwardian-style fashions and hung about on street corners
trying to look harder than we were. We lived in the shadow
of fathers and uncles who had fought a world war. Many of
us, in turn, went on to do National Service.
After
grammar school, I became a long-serving officer in the London
Fire Brigade, the father of three, stepfather of four, and
I have an exemplary record. My poor, but devoted, parents
made sure I had a first-class education and disciplined
lifestyle.
These
days, it's the turn of the 'feral' youths in 'hoodies' and
baseball caps to take the stick. But if they lack the discipline,
respect and values of my 'yob' generation, it's because
they are the products of substandard, anything goes parenting.
That, in turn, is the fault of lazy, self-serving politicians
and a society obsessed with materialism.
The
young, with their half-formed minds, have too much to say
and too great an influence. Society has become lazy and
apathetic in its attitude towards directing teenagers to
civilised behaviour. We have betrayed our greatest asset
- our young - and we must live with it.
Respect?
My generation had it in spades. Teddy Boys or not, we knew
our parents had earned it the hard way through war, courage
and sacrifice. We can't start another world war to gain
the respect of the young, but wee can fight a system that's
destroying the credibility of parenting, marriage and the
cornerstone of civilised society - discipline.
We
should stop whining about the old days and shying away from
harsh decisions. The young weren't around in the old days
- they know no different. But we were, and it's time we
knocked a few parental and political heads together and
stopped betraying all those magnificent people who gave
their todays for our tomorrows. John
Barker, Angmering, W. Sussex - Daily Mail, May 26, 2005.
Who's
keeping the peace?
What
has become of keeping the Queen's peace? Policemen once
swore to uphold and maintain that peace when they were appointed
constables. A breach of the Queen's peace was - and, I believe,
still is - a criminal offence. Why have none of the louts
and yobs who have made life hell for so many of her people
not been prosecuted for having, at the very least, breached
the Queen's peace. Letter from
David Bourne, Winchelsea, E. Sussex, Daily Mail, May 26,
2005.
Cowboy
Britain
Watching
a Western on TV, I realised nothing much has changed. Half-a-dozen
gun en wandered into town and caused mayhem because the
mild-mannered sheriff saw no need to get tough. After a
few killings, the sheriff, in despair, yelled: "Why?".
A gunman replied: "Because there's no law here to stop
me, so I can." Doesn't that just sum up our country
today, Sheriff Blair? J.
Davies, Colwyn Bay, Denbighshire - Daily Mail, May 26, 2005
French
lesson
In
the Seventies, I went as an exchange teacher to a comprehensive
school in the south of France. There I was told that if
a child had more than three unexplained absences in a school
term, their parents ceased to qualify for child allowance
in respect of that child in the following term. There was
very little truancy.Letter from
John Higham, Wigton, Cumbria - Daily Mail, September 28,
2005
License
to drink
Would
it help to control the problem of binge-drinking if at 18
a person was issued with a licence to drink. This could
be taken away following conviction for a drinking-related
offence rather as a driving licence is. Bar staff could
have the right to ask to see such a licence before serving
the customer.
Clubs could also be required to see a customer's licence
and refuse admittance to those unable to produce one.
Those
caught drinking without a licence could be dealt with further.
Motorists convcted of driving with excess alcohol could
lose both licences. Letter from
Germaine Hanbury, London E17 - Daily Mail, November 17,
2005
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Some
make Carnival costumes. Some restore antique furniture.
And some do nothing at all because there are no probation
staff to supervise them. So criminals sentenced to community
work enjoy a life of leisurely ease. Former Home Secretary
Charles Clarke claimed such sentences are 'frightening'.
Really? Was he worried one of the poor dears might prick
himself with an embroidery needle?
BEYOND
SATIRE - Comment - Daily Mail, May 26, 2006
Discipline
in decline
Millions
of pounds were poured into the Ridings School, a 'superman'
head teacher appointed, but still the standards of behaviour
and of teaching failed to improve. I'm now coming close
to the end of my teaching career, and none of this comes
as any surprise to me.
In
this country we give children too many 'rights'. We treat
them like tin gods, never criticising them or their parents.
The culture of targets, and in particular, the objective
of driving standards of teaching up, has had an extremely
damaging effect. Teachers routinely 'help' children with
their examination coursework in order to meet their own
targets for performance-related pay. The result of all this
is that children no longer have much motivation to do well
in exams.
Instead
they treat good exam results as theirs by right. Some pupils
and parents try to ensure their children get good exam results
by sitting with them after school and virtually doing their
coursework for them. The involvement of parents in schools
has been disastrous. Not all parents are supportive of good
school discipline.
The
result is increasingly demanding and discourteous children,
disillusioned teachers and an education system which, were
it not for the conspiracy of silence, the public would recognise
to be in meltdown.
Discipline
in schools is fundamental. The current collapse of discipline
is at the root of the increasingly feral society in which
we live.
Letter
to the Editor, Daily Mail, November 5, 2007 .....- Name
and address supplied
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David
Cameron's first port of call as the new Tory leader - an inspirational
inner city project turning 'bad boys' into model pupils.
Welcome
to the Academy of RESPECT
Just
say NO to sex, drugs & boozing, Tories tell teens
Collapse
of the classrooms as hooligans win power struggle
Feral
gangs who rule our streets
How
we'll tame yob families
The Howard
law for giving Britain back its self-respect
by
Graeme Wilson, Political Correspondent, Daily Mail - August 9,
2004
Webmaster's
comments are in red. Read Michael
Howard's full speech.
Michael
Howard will put law and order at the heart of the next General
Election campaign with a clarion call for a return to the traditional
values of respect and personal respobsibility.(
And about time too!)
In
his most important speech on crime since becoming Tory leader,
he will attack the destructive impact of Britain's burgeoning
compensation and 'rights' culture. Mr Howard will demand a transformation
in discipline - starting in the classroom - while stressing the
pivotal role fathers play in bringing up their children, even
after divorce or separation.
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Police
are already estranged from the law-abiding public they are
supposed to protect. Establishment of a 'British FBI' ,
whose channels of accountability are unclear, is unlikely
to improve matters.
I
know there's a serious threat from terrorism, but too many
of the measures proposed to combat it - such as identity
cards - seem to be more about surrendering our personal
liberties to an ever-more intrusive state than about stopping
Bin Laden. As I wrote here last week, we are sleep-walking
into totalitarianism.
Simon
Heffer, Daily Mail, November 27, 2004
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His
message is a direct challenge to Labour's belief that the causes
of crime are fuelled by poverty and inequality. Mr Howard will
offer an alternative theory, by blaming the inexorable erosion
of respect and personal responsibility as core factors in the
breakdown of law and order. "As a society we are in danger
of being overrun by values which eat away at people's respect
for themselves, each other, their homes and their neighbourhood,"
he will tell his audience in Middlesbrough tomorrow. "Most
damaging of all has been the dramatic decline in personal responsibility.
Many people now believe that they are no longer wholly responsible
for their actions. It's someone else's fault - the environment,
society, the government." (Personal
responsibility requires standards to be raised, in education,
in relationships and in social behaviour. Standards are raised
by ensuring that competition is fostered and encouraged. What
would the Olympics be if every competitor got a gold or silver
medal,)
The
speech is designed to put down a clear marker on an issue where
the Tories believe Tony Blair is increasingly vulnerable. Their
private polling has shown that the public is deeply disillusioned
with Labour's failure to get to grips with the thuggery that blights
much of Britain. One Tory official said: "The feedback we
are getting is that Blair may be able to talk the talk, but people
aren't seeing any change on the ground."
There
is also growing scepticism about the plethora of anti-social behaviour
initiatives ministers have launched in recent years. Mr Howard
will argue that our only hope of turning back the tide of yobbery
is to ensure school pupils are taught to respect others and take
responsibility for their actions. "Discipline in school is
also essential if children are to learn respect for authority
at an early age," he said.
Yet
violence in the class-room is rising fast - up ninefold since
1997. And it is often teachers - not pupils - who find themselves
on the wrong side of the law. "Disruptive and violent pupils
don't just ruin their own education - they ruin that of every
other child in the class."
The
Tory leader will also return to the role of fathers - and the
importance of men having access to their children after relationships
break up. "Children, especially boys, benefit hugely from
a male influence in their lives," he will say. "Of course
this isn't always possible because a large number of men simply
abandon their responsibilities. But there are many fathers in
Britain today who do want to play their part, yet cannot get access
to their children."
Mr
Howard has promised that a future Tory government would ensure
the courts presume both parents have equal rights in bringing
up children. Following the launch of Tory policies on traditionally
Labour areas such as health and education, Mr Howard is eager
to show he is offering solutions on an issue on which his party
has previously prospered.
Parents
and local communities will be given the power to block mobile
phone masts under a new Tory plan. Phone companies would be forced
to obtain planning permission for every mast they erect and councils
would be told to take potential health risks into account, particularly
if a proposed mast was near a school, hospital or homes. At present,
firms do not need planning permission for masts under 49 feet.
The proposals, to be unveiled this week, come amid growing fears
about the impact of masts on health. There are particular worries
about the 35,000 3G - or third generation - masts which transmit
at a higher frequency. Earlier this year a Commons committee demanded
stricter rules on masts.
A police
'taxi service' for tear-away brothers who won't go to school
by
Anil Dawar and David Wilkes - Daily Mail, August 3, 2004
Police
have been 'chauffeuring' three truants to school to stop them
terrorising a neighbourhood. The brothers Jamie, Aaron and Zak
Chinery, have been placed under a court order to attend school
after weeks of complaints about their behaviour from householders.
But
if they defy their mother Denise at school time, she hands responsibility
over to police who get the boys moving and, if necessary, drive
them to their classes. Last night the practice was ridiculed by
a local Conservative councillor, who said police should be catching
criminals rather than providing a taxi service for tearaways.
Mrs Chinery, a secretary who is separated from the boys' father
said: "The police have been brilliant. The boys wouldn't
go to school and I couldn't cope with them. I was suicidal. When
I need help I call the police and they come and take them to school
in a car. The boys are not angels but they are not as bad as everyone
round here makes out."
Jamie,
15, Aaron, 14, and Zak, 12, were missing around three quarters
of their lessons and infuriating neighbours by hanging around
spitting, swearing and shouting. A month ago they were made the
subject of an Acceptable Behaviour Contract, the last step before
an Anti-Social Behaviour Order. The agree-ment was drawn up by
police and signed by the boys.
They
were also subject to a court-enforced Education Supervision Order
under which their 41-year-old mother must wake them up for school.
The boys are then meant to make the 15-minute walk to the Taylor
School about a mile from their home in Braintree, Essex. Police
visit the house every morning to ensure this is done. On at least
three occasions, they have driven them to school in a marked car.
Nigel
Edey, Conservative member for Braintree East on Essex County Council,
said: "My immediate reaction was that surely the police have
better things to do than act as taxi drivers."
One
resident, who asked not to be named, said Aaron had not been to
school for two years before the orders were made. "They would
hang around with a group of about a dozen friends causing a general
nuisance," he said. "It's been much quieter these last
few weeks, but whether it'll last is anyone's guess."
A
police spokesman said: "Officers have escorted members of
a family to school to ensure they keep to the terms and conditions
of their Acceptable Behaviour Contract. There has been an iimprovement
in their behaviour and in the quality of life for local residents
since this began."
Don't
spare the rod
Banning
the cane 'ruined discipline'
Lax parents also to blame,
says teachers' leader
by Laura Clark, Education Reporter, Daily
Mail - July 28, 2004
A teachers' leader yesterday
blamed the decline of discipline on the end of corporal punishment
in schools. Barry Matthews declared that standards of behaviour
were higher when teachers kept unruly children in line with the
can or a clip round the ear, He warned that today's staff find
it increasingly difficult to impose sanctions on pupils for fear
of landing in trouble.
Mr Matthews, chairman of the
Professional Association of teachers, told the union's annual
conference that children in the 1940's and 1950's faced stricter
discipline than youngsters nowadays who, he said, have an 'extreme
degree of freedom'.
Parents are contributing to the
problem by allowing children to stay out late, drink too much
and watch TV for hours, Mr Matthews said. They make matters worse
by complaining and calling in lawyers when teachers try to punish
their children. Mr Matthews said disciplinary boundaries have
been further eroded by 'lenient' governors and local authorities
who overrule heads' attempts to tackle trouble-makers. The 65-year-old
university lecturer said: "As a child, I knew that there
were certain actions that could reap unfavourable rewards. If
the local bobby caught me doing something wrong, I would most
likely have got a clip round the ear. I would not have considered
it sensible to run home and tell my parents - my reward might
have been that I would have got another clip round the ear."
He told the conference in Bournemouth:
"I have had many discussions with teachers and parents who
find it difficult to impose discipline on a child because they
are concerned with breaking the law and finding themselves in
trouble. I do no think it is helpful when a teacher or school
applies a form of discipline only to have it overruled by a board
of governors or a local authority."
Mr Matthews also
called on Tony Blair to drop his target for 50% of young people
to go to university. He said: "I remember being told that
if a business is to be a success, for every ten manual workers
there needs to be one manager. In my calculation that requires
only 10% or possibly 20% of school leavers to be directed towards
university degrees and 80% to 90% to be encouraged to train for
vocational work."
Later, Mr Matthews said: "I
am not suggesting we should return to the cane or the clip round
the ear, but I do believe the erosion of boundaries has given
children an extreme degree of freedom." He warned that the
problem of poor parenting spanned society and even middle-class
families were often too lax with their children. He said: "I
was expected to be in at a certain time of night. My parents were
adamant about that. Yet I see children getting involved in all
sorts of activities at times when I suggest the child would be
better off at home."
One of his 'great
sadnesses' was the increasing availability of alcohol, with even
young children indulging in late-night drinking sessions.
Drinking
a bigger crisis than drugs, say school heads
by
Laura Clark, Education Correspondent, Daily Mail - August 3, 2004
Children
as young as 11 are coming to school drunk or hungover as alcohol
becomes a bigger problem than drugs, a survey of head teachers
has found. Pupils arriving on Monday mornings with severe hang-overs
from weekend bingeing. Some turn up to lessons inebriated on lager
or alcopops consumed on the way or during break times, then disrupt
learning for others.
The
poll comes at a time of unprecedented concern over Britain's binge-drinking
culture. Cases of violent crime soared through the million mark
last year, fuelled by heavy drinking. Seven in ten heads believe
the problem has increasingly spilled over into schools over the
last five years. The increase is most marked among 14 to 16 year-olds
but drinking among 11 to 13 year-olds is also causing concern.
In
one case, children were buying alcohol at the school gates from
older youths. In others they are given it by their parents. A
survey of 120 secondary school heads for the BBC's Six O'clock
News found that those who believed alcohol was a bigger problem
for their school than drugs made up the largest group, at 42%.
That was far more than the number who saw drugs as the bigger
worry. Just 15% said neither was a problem. Pupils aged 11 had
been caught drinking in 14% of schools surveyed.
While
the BBC was filming at one school, a 15-year-old girl was found
drunk in a lesson. Staff smelt alcohol on her breath after she
behaved oddly in lessons at Bridgemary Community School in Gosport,
Hampshire, and her mother was called to take her home. The girl
had been drinking the night before.
Headmistress
Cheryl Heron said she was concerned by the drinking of a 'significant
minority' at the school. She told the programme: "It has
quite a devastating effect. They come to school with a hangover,
they've got a headache, they want to sleep, they can't concentrate.
It sometimes leads to different behaviour which then has a knock-on-effect
on the rest of the group."
Mrs
Heron told how older youths had been driving on to school grounds
after lessons to sell alcohol from a van. "We eventually
caught them and they now no longer come on to the school site,
but they do park elsewhere," she said.
The
survey also uncovered a girl in Scotland who was an alcoholic
at the age of 13. A separate survey last year by the respected
Schools Health Education Unit found that one in five children
are drinking alcohol once a week at the age of ten. It found that
19% of boys and 14% of girls aged 14 and 15 drank more than 11
units a week, equivalent to five and a half pints of beer or two
bottles of wine.
One
of the world's top experts on alcohol issues, Professor Robin
Room, director of the highly respected Centre for Social Research
on Alcohol and Drugs at Stockholm University, declared on August
18, 2004 that the British Government plans for 24-hour drinking
was doomed to failure. Read
the story here.
This
letter from a teacher pleads for the hands of school Heads
and teachers to be untied in order to protect the rights of the
innocent, which are being sacrificed by current Human Rights legislation.
All
day pubs will bring us 24 hours of hell say the police.
Boozing
Britain : Another Cover-up
Urban
savages - Judge
lashes Labour's 24-hr drink plan, sentencing yobs who brought
terror to a town
I
know the depths of misery alcohol can lead to. I'm appalled at
the prospect of 24-hour drinking
How
Downing Street 'sexed down' its dossier on alcohol
Police
warning on 24-hour pubs 'was covered up'
Current
and prospective Parliamentary candidates of all Parties running
for election could share a platform at public forums in every
constituency. They would be presented with the results of
polls on this issue expressed by the majority of voters in that
constituency.
The candidates could be asked if their own views and that of their
Party manifesto corresponded with the polls, and if not, how they
intended to represent the will of the majority of local voters.
Local and National Press, Radio and TV coverage would be arranged
and the results published on this web site.
Here
is another powerful strategy for using your vote effectively in
the forthcoming General Election. Send your sitting and prospective
MPs a letter defining your requirements if they want your vote.
This example deals with the proposed
EU Constitutional Treaty.
Your
letters would end: "If you do not answer
this letter, I shall take it that you intend to follow the Government
line. I shall act accordingly in the forthcoming General Election."
Here's
one that will force Tony Blair to resign:
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Dear
Despite
his absolute and unequivocal assurances over the past year
of the serious risk to our security of Saddam Hussein's 'weapons
of mass destruction', Prime Minister Blair has admitted, that
the threat was non-existent. For that critical error of judgement
and for his gross incompetence in handling this very important
issue, I ask you to take immediate steps to ensure that Tony
Blair does the honourable thing and resign without delay..
I
would therefore be much obliged if you would propose and help
mobilise a Parliamentary vote of 'No Confidence' in Mr Blair
which, despite Labour's huge majority, would leave the PM
with no option but to resign.
If
I get no reply to this letter, I shall assume you will continue
to support Mr Blair as our Prime Minister. In such circumstances
I shall not vote for you in the forthcoming General Election.
Signed:
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Or
why not create a questionnaire that you send to all the candidates
in your constituency, getting them to give yes/no answers to questions
of your choice, and ending it with the same paragraph(above).
Download
a printable example of the questionnaire.
It
is high time for the people of this United Kingdom to stop allowing
themselves to be manipulated by politicians. We need our representatives
in Parliament to genuinely reflect the view of the majority in
their own constituency, even if this means going against their
personal and/or their party's policy. While they may argue their
case, hoping to change the minds of the majority in their constituency,
they should ultimately be obliged to reflect the majority view
of those who elect them.
It
will be argued by politicians of all parties that most voters
don't have the knowledge necessary to express an opinion on important
subjects at issue, and that our vote is a form of delegated democracy.
We should argue that it is their duty to ensure that we voters
do have ready access to such information as is necessary to form
an intelligent opinion. That, after all, is one main purpose of
Opposition Parties in our Parliamentary Democracy.
Most
important of all, such proceedings would rekindle in voters their
latent interest and obligation to cast their vote, knowing that
the candidate of their choice would be more likely to act in accordance
with their wishes. A much higher turnout in elections would be
the result.
Contact
your local Party Chairman. Gain his support for setting up public
forums in your constituency on these, as well as any other relevant
topics, well before the next General Election expected in 2005.
You should then, depending on the integrity of the candidate of
your choice, feel fairly certain that your view on any subject
being debated in Parliament will more accurately be reflected
by your representative in that assembly.
