Breaking up the NHS

In March 2017 it was reported that "Virgin Care, part of Sir Richard Branson’s business empire, [was] suing the National Health Service after the healthcare group lost out on a contract to provide children’s services in Surrey. "

"The three-year, £82m deal covering health visitors, school nurses and speech and occupational therapy for children was awarded to a consortium formed by in-house NHS providers and a social enterprise."

https://www.ft.com/content/297e7714-089f-11e7-97d1-5e720a26771b

Review of student grants in Scotland

From Adventures In Evidence

"The review has proved itself to be rather fonder of making superlative comparative claims about the funding position in Scotland than in presenting the evidence needed to support them..."


"Whatever explains it, the result is the same: a mild air of triumphalism which obscures hard-to-defend elements of the system, in this particular case, that some of the most financial vulnerable and disadvantaged students in Scotland are given even less grant and more debt than others..."

"Thus, to repeat, we give those coming into HE from the lowest income households only £1,875, or even just £875, in non-repayable grants and ask them to borrow the rest of what they need to live on. We could easily give them more grant, but we prefer to use that money to keep the children of the professional classes out of any debt whatsoever for fees (and often, therefore, any debt at all). And we use UK comparisons to reassure ourselves – apparently – that that’s OK. `Best`, even."

https://adventuresinevidence.com/2017/12/03/student-support-review-7-more-trouble-with-comparisons/

Should privacy trump accountability ?

Published on 9 Dec 2017

A debate hosted by The Transparency Project on 5 December 2017 in Bristol.

`The Family Court Debate - should privacy trump accountability?`

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=328LhinUKJE

Fracking sites are a risk to babies` health

"Babies born less than two miles from a fracking site are at risk of health problems that could hamper them later in life, new research has found."

"Mothers who lived within 1km (0.6 miles) of a fracking site saw a 25 per cent increase in the likelihood that their child would be born at low birth weight, be born prematurely or have other congenital issues, the study found. "

"Being born at low birth weight (less than 5.5lbs) has been linked to a number of future health risks, including higher risks of asthma and ADHD, as well as poorer education attainment and future professional success."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/babies-negative-health-impacts-fracking-sites-born-shale-gas-a8107786.html

Caged children cause twitter storm

Max Clifford dies before giving evidence

"Convicted elite pedophile Max Clifford has been found dead after he was preparing to turn evidence against a massive pedophilia network, according to police. Clifford, who was serving 8 years for historic child sex offenses, was found unconscious and `foaming at the mouth` in his prison cell before he was rushed to the hospital where he later died of a `cardiac arrest.`..."

"According to detectives in Scotland yard, the investigation ... into his death was shut down `from above` before it had even started. One officer said the death looks `suspicious,` saying: `There was nothing to suggest it was a suicide - no note, no sign of unusual behavior before the death. The 'foaming at the mouth' symptoms don't seem like it was natural causes either. Typically, we'd look at this as a suspicious death, possibly a murder. But the orders came from above that he was a 'witness' and to just mark it down that he 'died of a heart attack'."

Read more at: http://www.neonnettle.com/news/3353-police-max-clifford-was-murdered-before-he-could-expose-elite-pedophile-ring
© Neon Nettle

Empty legislation ?

"Our politicians have gorged themselves on bringing forward empty and self-indulgent legislation that hints at a pernicious obsession with social control. In doing this, they seek to convey a sense of getting things done; doing the day job, when all that they achieve is to detach themselves further from the everyday reality of people’s lives. John Swinney, the education secretary, is still trying to peddle his ridiculous and illiberal "named person" legislation, which has been universally exposed as another scam aimed at blacklisting Scotland’s most hard-pressed families."

"Similarly, the proposed ban on smacking is further proof of Holyrood’s obsession with the way ordinary people manage their families. They would rather seek to criminalise than offer anything resembling a radical idea. This insincere collection of political confidence-tricksters is less concerned with the welfare of Scotland’s children than they are with disguising their wholesale betrayal of our poorest communities while blaming it all on the Tories."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/03/scotland-sink-blame-it-on-brexit

`It blacklists Scotland`s most hard-pressed families` is a consequence.

The motivation behind the legislation is to feed `Big Data.`

For example: Nesta: `Making the most of data in schools`
"Across sectors and across industries, data is fundamentally changing the way organisations and individuals operate, from shopping to relationships, from transport to advertising, from finance to politics. While the public sector has in some cases been slow off the mark, it is now catching up quickly; the UK is now world-leading in areas like opening up government data. "
https://www.nesta.org.uk/sites/default/files/making_the_most_of_data_in_schools.pdf

Many Grenfell families still not rehoused

"Jeremy Corbyn has accused the Prime Minister of `failing` Grenfell Tower survivors, most of whom remain homeless six months on from the blaze."

"Labour rounded on the Government for the slow progress in rehousing displaced families despite early pledges to have everyone out of hotels within three weeks."

"In a letter to Theresa May, shadow housing minister John Healey sets out five areas where he claims Grenfell survivors and tower residents more widely continue to be let down."

"He backed calls made in a petition for the Grenfell Tower public inquiry to be overseen by a diverse panel of experts, rather than just one judge."

"Safety concerns in other high-rise blocks were still not being properly addressed, he said, after a nationwide audit found hundreds wrapped in flammable cladding."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/grenfell-tower-fire-victims-jeremy-corbyn-john-healey-a8102711.html

Plant based meals to be introduced into schools

"Plant-based eating could be sweeping through a most unlikely school system. In a recent interview with publication L’Obs, French Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot stated that French schools should implement a 100% plant-based menu at least once a week."

"He revealed that he intends to introduce the policy shortly, as he considers meat-free eating a `matter of education`."

"French publication Club Sandwich reports that some schools in the South West of France have already tested plant-based menus, which opens `the possibility of choosing a menu without meat every day`. According to the publication, these movements follow a pledge taken by the city of Paris to reduce meat in restaurants by 20%."

"The idea of meat-free eating in schools is a promising one. As information on the negative effects of meat and dairy continues to grow, more organizations are leaning toward veganism as a solution. This year, a US children’s hospital removed hotdogs from its menu due to health risks associated with meat consumption."

https://www.livekindly.co/france-vegan-school-lunches/

The push for more vaccinations

Dr Graham Downing on UK Column News discusses the World Health Organisation `s article Why is vaccination important for addressing antibiotic resistance ? Dr Downing believes this is a very one-sided view and that vaccinations may reduce immunity.

He also talks about the flu vaccine: If these vaccines are so successful why are the outbreaks going up in schools ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78ZOlKfo0C0

Saving the world`s Children

"Since the 1980s, Britain has been at the cutting edge of experiments with child protection laws – it was one of the first countries to introduce public-private partnerships in child protection, and today its child protection system is heavily commercialised. Britain has also been a leading proponent of `forced adoption` which is the adoption of children to non-related third parties even when they have parents or other family willing, indeed begging, to raise them. Britain is also the first country to propose a law against unloving parents – a Bill, popularly called `Cinderella’s Law`, was introduced in the British Parliament about two years ago that would make parents criminally liable for such things as ignoring a child, making it feel unloved and comparison with siblings."

"Many questionable theories of medical diagnosis of abuse, such as Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy, where children falling ill repeatedly for no apparent reason, are diagnosed as `abused` by their parents, or `Non-Accidental Injury`, where parents are blamed for unexplained injuries or deaths of their infants, have either originated in Britain or found wider acceptance there than in any other developed country. In this essay, the well-known English journalist Christopher Booker surveys the dark consequences of these experiments with child protection. India, as a country that is in the process of implementing a Western-inspired child protection programme, has much to learn about the dangers of this system."

"A version of this article was originally published on 2 December 2017 by the Sunday Guardian under the heading Corrupt practices disguised as child-welfare campaigns ... part of [the] weekly series called Global Child Rights and Wrongs."

Read Christopher Booker`s article here: http://saveyourchildren.in/governments-removing-children-from-families-on-inadequate-and-fraudulent-grounds-by-christopher-booker/

Named Person needs an `authoritative draft` of code of practice

"A Holyrood committee has warned it will not be able to recommend parliamentary approval for key named person legislation until ministers provide details of crucial guidance for professionals. The Education Committee has called for the Scottish Government to provide `an authoritative draft` of the code of practice accompanying the Children and Young People (Information Sharing) (Scotland) Bill, before it recommends the Bill is passed at its first stage..."

"[T]he committee was only provided with a draft and illustrative code, compiled without the necessary consultation - a move Education Secretary John Swinney admitted had `created some confusion and uncertainty amongst stakeholders`."

"Labour education spokesman Iain Gray said: `With yet more questions to be answered, a clear failure to address the committee’s concerns and no tangible progress in building public trust, there have to be questions now as to whether this policy is savable at all.` Conservative education spokeswoman Liz Smith said: `The best way out of this mess is for the Scottish Government to ditch the bill and completely rethink how we should be supporting our most vulnerable children`..."

Read more at: https://www.scotsman.com/news/named-person-scheme-stalls-as-committee-calls-for-more-details-1-4626674