The new urban agenda

The new urban agenda is like the old urban agenda only more `out there` and it is all derived from the United Nations Agenda 21 being implemented under various guises all over the world.

For example:

"The Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance was announced at the UN Climate Summit as part of a series of initiatives for cities, which also saw the release of a report on how cities can transform reductions in global emissions."

In the Draft New Urban Agenda [28 July 2016] we learn that "while the specific circumstances of cities, towns, and villages vary, ... the New Urban Agenda is universal in scope, participatory and people-centered, protects the planet, and has a long-term vision, setting out priorities and actions at the global, regional, national, sub-national, and local levels that governments and other relevant stakeholders in every country can adopt based on their needs."

From United Cities and Local Government it can be seen that towards this end they  want to create "a dynamic and active global action network of committed local leaders who work in partnership with one another and with other stakeholders to improve and implement the agenda of local governments over the next 10 years. [They] believe that this global action network only makes sense with a networked system of leadership, and [they] want [selected individuals] to be leaders of this network in their region and/or policy field."

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Rosa Koire explains what the urban agenda is really about.

Odonnell twins to be sent out of state to juvenile facility in Nebraska

by Health Impact News/MedicalKidnap.com Staff

"Laura Odonnell was shocked to see her 15 year old daughter Alexis arrived to court with a huge bruise on her face. Both twins show signs of being abused in state custody."

"The Odonnell twins just want to go home and be together as a family again, but on Friday July 29th Judge Elwood Brown has approved a request from the state to send the Michigan teens to a juvenile facility in Boys Town, Nebraska. When Alyssa, 17, learned that her sisters were going to be sent 19 hours away from home for the next 4 years, she stormed out of the courtroom, visibly upset. For that, a bailiff threatened her with a tazer."

"The Odonnell children were healthy before they were taken into state custody 2 years ago after allegedly trying marijuana. They were having a bit of difficulty adjusting to a new school, but the pot incident started a snowball of state intervention which keeps getting worse. Now, the twins are reportedly on a suicide watch, and are spending almost every hour of the day in isolation."

"They never had any psychiatric or mental health concerns before entering state custody, but now Abbie has anorexia and Alexis has bulimia. Abbie seems to be turning the trauma inward, but Alexis, always the bolder of the two, is very angry and has been having meltdowns. Little wonder. Every time there is hope of coming home and being together again, their hopes are dashed. Laura wonders how they are going to hold on."

http://medicalkidnap.com/2016/08/02/kidnapped-twins-in-michigan-physically-abused-being-shipped-out-of-state-to-destroy-family-ties/

Mother and five year old shot by Baltimore police

"Baltimore police fatally shot 23-year-old mother Korryn Gaines in her home after a standoff that lasted hours. A five-year-old was also shot in the incident."

"Three officers arrived at an apartment in Randallstown on Monday morning to serve both Gaines and a man who lived at the residence with arrest warrants."

"Gaines was wanted for failing to appear in court over a March incident where she was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and numerous other traffic charges, police chief Jim Johnson said."

"According to police, they acquired a key from the landlord after the two failed to open the door. Upon entering, they saw Gaines sitting on the floor with the child in her arms. She had a gun which she pointed at one of the officers."

"Tactical officers arrived and an hours-long negotiation began. At 3pm, Gaines reportedly pointed the gun at the police and said she would kill them if they didn’t leave."

"An officer then shot at her, and she shot back. Police fired again, killing her."

"Tragically in this circumstance the child that was also in the dwelling was struck by a round," Johnson said during a press conference. "We do not know at this moment in time if the round was fired by our weapons or the weapons possessed by Ms. Gaines."

"Authorities have said they don’t know if the officers involved were wearing body cameras. The department recently started a body camera program, but only some officers have received them..."

 

According to journalist Shaun King, "Gaines regularly documented police abuse in the city" and her Facebook videos "right before police killed her have been deleted."

https://www.rt.com/usa/354330-baltimore-police-korryn-gaines/

Another one muddies the waters

Calum Munro explains why information sharing is at the heart of the Named Person law and must be retained. According to him, it is needed in order to coordinate support for families and also for child protection.

He is soon put in his place by two commenters.

Eileen Prior

"If a child has additional support needs, then by definition (part of the CYP Act) they should have a lead professional whose role it is to co-ordinate the various services and inputs they need. (Of course the reality is that families up and down the country are seeing a reduction in the support they are able to access due to local authority cuts - but that is another topic altogether.) This blog conflates two issues - on one hand, that of providing a service for families who are asking for support and, on the other, the sharing of information between organisations and professionals without informed consent from the family or child. The Supreme Court ruling made it very clear that the latter is simply wrong and breaches the European Convention on Human Rights. In my view such sharing breaches trust and flies in the face of all the messages around partnership with families which are writ large across all other areas of policy. Of course information must be shared where there is risk of harm but that imperative exists within existing legislation - so the benefits of information sharing are still available where needed."

A fairly irate Parent who has been GIRFEC'd

"Thank you Eileen Prior for bringing some common sense. The CYP Act has some reasonable content but also has some rather crazy ideas. Mr Munro needs to ask for feedback about what is actually happening, and how cutting funding and increasing bureaucracy helps anyone. A lead professional is a useful role if there is a requirement for coordination. The named person is superfluous and confusing. Health visitors and guidance teachers already do their bit, they don't need extra 'powers'. What is Mr Munro's actual experience of the scheme? I have been in many GIRFEC meetings...as a parent. Not an easy experience. I gave up on the lead professional and the NP because I was better coordinating it myself. Says it all!! "

Read more http://thirdforcenews.org.uk/blogs/named-person-we-cant-lose-sight-of-the-benefits-of-information-sharing?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_content=Oktopost-twitter-profile&utm_campaign=Oktopost-2016-08+General+Campaign#QzhylhAzdv11Jhjo.99

In a previous post Calum Munro declared that home educators should not have been campaigning against the Named Person scheme. He could not have been any more wrong.

"By way of background to the legal challenge, home educating families in Scotland were among the first to point to the dangers of the data sharing free-for-all that was steamrollered into legislation in 2014 with virtually no scrutiny from MSPs, who were, frankly, either too thick to understand the far-reaching human rights implications or were complicit, despite being well warned by lawyers, grass roots groups and concerned constituents."

Read more https://leahurst66.wordpress.com/2016/07/31/the-named-person-ruling-like-brexit-with-a-deadline-and-no-plan/

 

When will Calum Munro show a little bit of humility?

See also http://alicemooreuk.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/calum-munro-adds-to-confusion.html

Goddard inquiry under pressure from lawyers representing those accused of exposing children to abuse

[Updated 15 June 2016]

"Twenty years after the Rotherham child abuse scandal, the first arrest was made on Thursday. In the wake of the Jay report, which revealed the rape and trafficking of 1,400 children between 1997 and 2013, the National Crime Agency (NCA) began an investigation in 2014. Last week it was announced that the investigation will take at least 8 years to complete. Two years in, and having already been ignored by the South Yorkshire Police for a decade, this protracted timeline adds insult to injury for beleaguered survivors."

"In January, Les Paul was convicted (for the third time) for abusing four boys whilst he was a care home manager in Lambeth in the 1980s. The Goddard historic child sex inquiry is currently investigating claims of high level systemic paedophile networks operating throughout Lambeth care homes in the 80’s and 90’s."

"A recent Newsnight investigation revealed that, in 1986, Lambeth discovered that one of its care home managers, Michael Carroll, had a previous conviction of child abuse which he hadn’t disclosed in his job application. Yet, the conviction, and his failure to disclose it, did not result in his dismissal. It gets worse, when Carroll asked if he could turn one of the care homes into a centre to provide therapy for victims of child abuse, Lambeth agreed. It wasn’t until Carroll was sacked for fiddling his expenses in 1991 that the press was made aware of his child sex convictions."

"In a report published on Thursday, Leicestershire County Council pledged its full support for the Goddard inquiry. The council is one of several organisations required by law to contribute to the inquiry’s first investigation which is looking into allegations against former Leicester Labour MP Grenville Janner."

"Some survivors have expressed misgivings about the pressure being brought to bear on Justice Goddard by lawyers representing the myriad of institutions accused of exposing children to abuse by powerful politicians. Nigel O’Mara was recently rejected by Justice Goddard to be a `core participant` in her inquiry into alleged abuses by Lord Janner and the late liberal MP Sir Cyril Smith."

"In 1992 Mr O’Mara co-founded a helpline for survivors of sexual abuse and claims to have received a number of calls from young men alleging they had been abused as children in care by Janner and Smith. He said the reports were sent to Kenneth Clarke, then home secretary, in 1992 and 1993 but that no response was forthcoming."

"David Enright, Mr O’Mara’s solicitor, told the press that the high court was `overflowing with lawyers and barristers representing every institution and organisation alleged to have failed to protect children from sexual abuse by these powerful politicians`. All of whom, he said, enjoyed full participation in the Goddard inquiry, including ongoing access and influence over it. `A key witness` (Mr O’Mara) will not`."

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/tess-finchlees/child-sex-abuse-stories-b_b_10459306.html

Britain`s child sex abuse cover-up

From 2015:

"In 1986, the director of Britain's premier domestic spy agency told Margaret Thatcher's cabinet secretary the risk of "embarrassment" from publicising a politician's suspected child abuse was greater than the `danger` he presented."

"CBS News partner network Sky News reported the new twist in Britain's long and still-unfolding child sexual abuse scandal on Thursday, saying then-MI5 director Sir Antony Duff had told Prime Minister Thatcher's staffer `the risks of political embarrassment to the government is rather greater than the security danger`."

"The name of the Member of Parliament Duff had been asked to investigate, over allegations he had a `penchant for small boys,` has not been revealed, but Sky reported Wednesday that four former senior politicians were named in previously unseen government documents on abuse. All four have been dead for years, but they were senior members of Thatcher's cabinet."

"Over the course of several years the sex abuse scandal has snowballed, revealing -- at best -- a pervasive lax attitude among British law enforcement, politicians and celebrity culture toward the abuse of children during the 1970s and 80s."

"The ongoing police investigation has already landed some big names from British culture -- some now well into their senior years -- in jail for abuses committed during the height of their popularity. Others have been posthumously revealed as serial abusers."

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/britain-children-sexual-abuse-cover-up-by-mi5-chief-alleged/

 

Contrast this approach with that of the BBC.

Uncovering child abuse cover-up in Nottinghamshire

Mickey Summers talks to Brian Gerrish about the campaign to uncover the truth about child abuse in Nottinghamshire.

Melanie Shaw is the Beechwood children`s home whistleblower who has been hounded, victimised and bullied ever since she blew the whistle by the very authorities who allowed the abuse to be committed in the first place. She is currently in prison.　

Note: It was Melanie Shaw`s testimony that was responsible for the instigation of operation Daybreak.

Abolition of maintenance grants

"There can be few more obvious examples of the gulf between the rhetoric of this Conservative government and its actions than the abolition of maintenance grants for the poorest students in higher education in England, which took effect for new students from Monday."

"Earlier this year, the former Prime Minister, David Cameron, spoke of his ambition to double the proportion of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds going into university. Yet at the very same time his government decided their own artificial deficit targets were more important than the life-chances of those same students."

"Make no mistake: this policy makes that task far harder. Not only that, but it entrenches inequality in our education system as a matter of policy. Worse still, it may not actually save money in the long run, and raises the risk that the government will change the repayment conditions for student loans further down the line."

"Scrapping grants makes expanding access harder: we know from various academic studies that students from poorer backgrounds are more debt-averse, and that particular groups – like student parents – all the more so. Even if students still decide to enter higher education, an increased debt burden will impact on their choices: research shows poorer students are more likely to live at home, or choose a different subject or a shorter course. Many such students also choose to work during term-time as a way of reducing their debt – but too many hours of work has an impact on attainment. All of these are pressures that will be felt less by wealthier students."

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/goodbye-student-grants-tories-are-making-sure-university-reserved-rich-1573678

An open letter to the Justice Minister, Republic of Ireland

Last Friday, referring to the Docherty case, David Scott said: "Things are moving at quite a pace now...We`re getting a lot of support and I want to thank people out there who are writing letters and asking questions...and providing us with information."

"The information is extremely interesting and has got a lot more interesting in the last 48 hours. We`ll see how it develops ...."

In the meantime, he wanted to highlight this car and this numberplate.

"This is ... an Edinburgh registered car, a 4 x 4 Amg Mercedes in silver ... It was behaving very suspiciously ... following the Dochertys around the very remote island of Achill on the West coast of Ireland and they thought it was very strange, so they noted down the numberplate. Now we don`t know what was going on here . We don`t know if it was anything nefarious. But if anyone knows ... who owned it in 2014, 2015, or who owns it now, please let us know."

http://www.ukcolumn.org/ukcolumn-news/uk-column-news-29th-july-2016

The subject of the Dochertys was mentioned again on Tuesday`s UK Column News [2 August 2016] where Brian Gerrish was accompanied by Justin Walker and via video link by Alex Thomson. He looked at the response from the BBC, Nicola Sturgeon and others to the Brain family case compared to that of the Dochertys.

"The BBC are muddying the waters in order to protect the abusers of children They`ve had an internal investigation. They`ve cleared themselves and now they`re working extremely hard to clear other people who`ve been accused of the abuse of children."

http://www.ukcolumn.org/the-docherty-files

"This remarkable couple - I`m going to bring them up on screen - Janice and Brian Docherty - literally in fear for their lives. They`re living in Ireland at the moment. They`ve had to leave Scotland because of the threats and intimidation; their children taken at gunpoint. Why? Simply because they reported a man who they believed was a paedophile. They haven`t abused their children, harmed them, neglected them. They are now living in fear and nobody will talk about this case in Scotland; but the First Minister will support the Brain case."

================

"And let`s have a look at a letter that has been written [to] the Irish Justice Minister, Frances Fitzgerald ... I`ll try and read out the key parts of this letter."

"Now Mr Colgan is her secretary. So it`s an open letter. The Justice Minister`s apparent endorsement of the lawless persecution of the Docherty family:"

It says: "Thank you for your email on behalf of Ms Fitzgerald..."

"1. Early in 2015 a judge in an Irish court dismissed allegations against Janice and Brian Docherty, and ordered all persecution of this law-abiding couple to cease forthwith. In addition, this same judge ruled that the notes from Police Scotland on which allegations against the Dochertys were based were without merit, and should not be used to renew actions against the family either immediately or at some future date. This judgement, which has not been superseded by any other, continues to be utterly disregarded. In direct defiance of the judge`s decision, the Docherty children were once more taken from their loving home and put into care on 17 December, 2015, while their parents continue to be hounded on the basis of notes which have been declared in an Irish court of law to be fraudulent and worthless."

"Bearing in mind Ms Fitzgerald`s remit, which is to uphold the rule of law in the Republic, why is she permitting the decision of an Irish court to be held in open derision. Why are those who are so clearly defying an Irish judge`s ruling not being charged with contempt of court?"

"2. The Docherts have petitioned for Habeas Corpus in respect of their children, under Article 40 of the Irish Constitution, and their petition has been granted by the High Court. Yet this petition is being ignored."

"Bearing in mind Ms Fitzgerald`s remit, which is to uphold the rule of law in the Republic, why is she not ensuring that this fundamental provision of Irish law, and the independent decision of the High Court in the Dochertys` favour, is respected ?"

"Please note: Ms Fitzgerald is not being asked to arrest members of the Garda, or to intervene in an individual case: she is simply being requested to uphold judgements which have already been lawfully made by those appointed to do so."

"As things stand, a reasonable person can only conclude that the Justice Minister is uninterested in fulfilling her primary duty, which is to ensure that the rule of law is impartially maintained."

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"Now... just a quick comment Justin."

"Where is the jury in all of this?"

"No jury because it`s a family court hearing . So we simply have a closed court; a star chamber, in fact... And now we can see where that leads us and as UK Column has been warning and warning for many years we are now ... literally in the state where government can say: `We`re going to take your children. You can complain if you like.`  But then all doors are simply shut in your face."

"Now the BBC of course does not want to talk about the Docherty case. So what are they getting really upset about.? Well, Lord Janner. So we`ve now got their article and it`s going to be followed by interviews with his daughter who says that basically the whole thing against her father is an outrage . It`s attacking a corpse I think she says. The BBC is literally starting to spin to protect the establishment."

"They will not report on Hollie Greig . They won`t report on the Dochertys . They won`t report on Melanie Shaw."

"And ITN is just as bad..." says Justin Walker. "Because they won`t go where the truth is."

"They certainly won`t go where the truth is... We`ve listed some of those cases there... And we have a BBC which is then exposed as having paedophiles in their organisation but they run an investigation ... to their entire satisfaction and then say : `Well, there isn`t a problem`. And the public is supposed to believe this; the same public that`s paying the £3.65 billion to run this operation."

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Finally, a quote from Alex Thomson: "It`s one of the ways we do things to the envy of tyrants all over the world."
 
http://www.ukcolumn.org/ukcolumn-news/uk-column-news-2nd-august-2016

Work has begun on the Named Person amendments

 

"The Deputy First Minister said work has begun on the necessary amendments so that it can be rolled out across Scotland `at the earliest possible date`."

"John Swinney said: `I have already spoken directly with senior figures from the public and third sectors including NHS, local authorities and Police Scotland to discuss our next steps`."

"We will continue these discussions, including with professional bodies, to use the expertise of those working directly with children and families as we move forward with our plans."

"Through our widely-supported approach to early intervention and getting it right for every child, developed over the last decade, and through the named person service specifically, we aim to place the needs of children at the heart of public services."

"As I have made clear, the Government remains absolutely committed to the named person service so we can get it right for every child and ensure families get the right support when they need it."

Read more at http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/scottish-government-press-ahead-named-8532136#2714gVSK0u8QsWq5.99

John Swinney is discussing next steps and making plans with senior figures and there`s only 38 days left to rewrite the legislation, the regulations and the guidance, so that they are compatible with Data Protection law and Article 8 of ECHR.

A decade in the making, and it`s going to be sorted in less than six weeks ? What about SHANARRI? What about SEEMIS? What about the data breaches and the shortage of health visitors and the overworked teachers? Is there something I can`t see?

Because one of us has sure lost the plot.