Mike Robinson is in conversation with Brian Gerrish and David Scott on UK Column News, 23 March 2018:
"We`ve got to start adopting children faster..." says Mike Robinson... "So five new regional adoption agencies have been granted £3.4 million by the government as part of the government`s ambition to create a world leading adoption system with faster matchings of children who are placed in loving stable homes more quickly. So this additional funding is going to 17 councils to speed up the matching process between children awaiting adoption and adoptive families. And who`s involved? "
"The new Regional Adoption Agencies and the local authorities involved are:
Kent: made up of Kent, Bexley and Medway. Coast to Coast: Cumbria, Durham and Sunderland Lancashire: Blackpool and Lancashire.Ambitious for Adoption: Harrow, Bromley, Redbridge, City of London and Slough. Adoption for South East: Surrey, East Sussex, West Sussex, Brighton and Hove."
"And so apparently [they] will also provide more support for adoptive families going through the process and for those considering adoption as well as helping to improve the quality of services locally."
"Now this might sound to most people to be quite reasonable but we just bring people`s attention once again to this: Family court secrecy lets judges get away with mistakes, senior judge says. Sir James Munby who was in the press a couple of days ago expressing concerns once again of the secrecy in the family court system which seems to allow judges, he says, to get away with making, what he calls, mistakes."
"We have seen plenty of evidence to suggest that they`re not mistakes at all; in fact, judges accepting perjury in court, and so on; children being stolen from their homes and put into the adoption system. So he was speaking at an event last Tuesday and he said that judges were grotesquely overworked, that they were tired, and so more likely to make mistakes. But in a previous conversation James Munby had made the point, Brian; in many cases when parents are subject to these type of procedures; when the proceedings are completed; that they come out of court basically not understanding what has happened to them. So this process for parents who are having children taken away from them can be so brutal that they come out effectively traumatised."
Brian Gerish: "It is brutal Mike; there`s no question of it; and I`m not quite sure where James Munby is coming from on this, because as you say, tiredness eh? No. Incompetence? Possibly. But when of course a court refuses to take video evidence of the abuse of children then we`re into a very interesting situation and that`s happening up in the Midlands and of course we`ve got the case reported on yesterday where a man is trying to set up a business to film children being abused and he says: `Don`t worry because the ... clients are top politicians. There`s been a wall of silence over that Southern Crown Court case."
"So I think Sir James Munby needs to answer a lot more detailed questions. We can also ask what he actually discussed when he went into that East European Embassy a couple of years ago and had secret meetings over child adoption issues."
Mike Robinson: "Yes, David, it seems to me that what`s going on here is we`ve got a £13.4 million bung from the government to help develop an industry and we might use the word trafficking in a certain sense with regard to what`s going on here."
David Scott: "... Yes, why is the money needed? Where does the money go? It is an industry; ... it used to be a personal commitment to help another human being, to help a child; and the question I`ve asked via Twitter - I`ve asked my local authority because they`re always tweeting about how you campaign for adoption - the question that they don`t ask is: `how many of the children up for adoption are against the wishes of the parents, against the wishes of the child?` ... Well you`re not meant to answer that."
"BBC journalists are to visit schools to teach children how to identify fake news. The initiative has been designed to tackle false information that the corporation says `threatens fact-based public debate and trust in journalism`."
"Details of the scheme, which will involve up to 1,000 schools, will be outlined in the BBC’s annual plan on Wednesday. It will include BBC journalists such as Huw Edwards, Tina Daheley, Nikki Fox, Kamal Ahmed and Amol Rajan. The details come after Ofcom, the communications regulator, warned that children were being increasingly exposed to fake news, with nearly half of 12 to 15-year-olds finding it difficult to tell fact from fiction on social media...."
"Another area of focus believed to be in the plan involves maximising the BBC's global reach, with `BBC World Service undergoing its biggest expansion since the 1940s`."
"A BBC source said: `The BBC can and will do more for Britain at an important time. Our aim will be to bring the public together while challenging fake news and false facts. The world is changing fast and Britain's media sector is still the envy of the world. We need to enhance and protect that against new global challenges`."
Seidenberg: "I think parents need to be alert because we usually assume that if we’re sending our child to school, the educators will be able to take over and will have the training to be able to teach kids to read and learn other things. Middle-class parents already know that they have to supplement what goes on in the classroom: They know that it’s expected that they will work with the children at home to fill in things that are not being taught in the classroom. Lots of things are sort of being outsourced, but that model assumes that there’s a parent in the home who can help, who speaks the language, who’s available. And that’s not going to be true in many cases. It’s not going to be true if the parents are low-income and they’re working multiple jobs. It’s not going to be true if there isn’t an adult in the home who is a native speaker of the language. And it’s not going to be true because people from a lower-income background may not be as aware that the way kids are taught kind of assumes that they’re going do some of the heavy lifting." "So parents need to understand that the schools have shifted some of the burden for instruction onto them, and I think they should push back. I think they should say, ‘Hey, schools have the responsibility for teaching children basic kinds of skills, and parents are not professional teachers. Parents are not educators. And moreover, parents may not have the backgrounds, skills, or financial resources to fill in the gaps.’ So hold the schools to the obligation to teach children to read and not assume that the parents or caregivers are going to pick up the slack." https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/11/the-ignored-science-that-could-help-close-the-achievement-gap/506498/?utm_source=twb
Emma Hunter, aged 20, from Dundee, is a Digital Modern Apprentice working with the Year of Young People 2018 team...
"I’ve always taken an interest in current affairs, especially those surrounding my own generation. I attended the Scottish Young People’s Conference in 2016 and was lucky enough to ask the Scottish Education Secretary questions about mental health care for young people. This is an issue close to my own heart and I found the opportunity eye-opening, as it was a room of like-minded people who all wanted their voices heard...."
"I come from a background of adoption and also spent time in foster care. Unfortunately, when I was growing up I didn’t have access to a forum where I could give my thoughts and feelings about this subject. As well as this, I’ve spent time working with children in a foster family and they also felt like their voices were not being heard. A platform where people can share stories or simply read about other people is something that Year of Young People can offer."
"A boy was held in council care for so long that his own mother failed to recognise him, a judge revealed yesterday." "Social workers wrongly kept the child away from his birth family for eight years, Mr Justice Keehan said." "The boy, now 16, was ‘dramatically affected’ when he saw his mother on the street and she did not know who he was." "He was one of 19 youngsters ‘wrongly and abusively’ removed from their parents in Herefordshire without court approval." "They were left in limbo by social workers who did nothing to plan or guide their futures, according to the family court ruling published yesterday." "The 16-year-old’s mother demanded that her son be given back to her a year after he had been taken away, the judge disclosed." "But social workers merely ‘advised the mother to seek legal advice’."
On UK Column News, 12 March 2018, Brian Gerrish and Mike Robinson were joined by David Scott of Northern Exposure via video link.
"Of course," begins Brian Gerrish, "Over the week-end on Saturday, Edinburgh, they had the launch of the FreshStartFoundation. FreshStart [are] looking to conduct a public inquiry into child abuse in Scotland and ... this has become necessary because of the total lack of public confidence in the official government run child abuse inquiry. So we`ll just bring on screen the advert for that event... Here we are - The People`s Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. I must say, in my opinion, it was a great success but we`ve gor David Scott to speak to us directly about what took place."
"Yes, we also were very pleased ... We found that we finished the day better informed than we started it. The comments from the floor and the quality of the people who were coming along and getting involved was excellent and it was a really first class day and a very good start to the ... road show programme." "Yes, and David I have to say it`s always an emotional time when you are with people who have been through the system. They`re survivors, really remarkable to have endured what they have; but, of course, what comes forward from them very strongly is that they are still very much searching for justice; and they have little to no confidence in all of the organisations which the government would have us believe are protecting children. So whether that`s the local authority or it`s some of the major charities, like NSPCC or Barnardo`s or some of the other organisations that are publicly funded to assist, it`s really - I`ll say sad - but I think a much stronger word is needed - it`s very sad that we`ve got so many people who`ve been abused in the system as children and yet they have absolutely no confidence in the government, be it in Scotland, or down in Westminster, to actually take the necessary action..." David Scott: "One of many things I learned during the event was that there were people there who had been instrumental, who had themselves been harmed by sexual abuse, and they had been instrumental and devoted years to working with the government to build institutions and build a mechanism by which truth and justice and some form of remedy could be provided. And they`re telling me that these institutions, that they`ve helped build to address the problem, are themselves being subverted by government; are being essentially destroyed. So yes, we are seeing people who are looking for somewhere to go ... We hope we`ll be able to provide a point for these people to gather together and work together and make something happen." "We hope to provide a means of resisting further attacks because the use of language, the use of policy ... the use of attacks on families... the use of attacks on children, via policy, via changes in language, via ideas being introduced ... are not conducive to human thriving and to protection of children ... We hope to be able to address this as well and provide people with the language and the understanding to fight back." Brian Gerrish: "The other point I`d like to make is that as far as I was aware there was absolutely no attendance from so-called mainstream or indeed local press or media at that event, nor did I see attempted engagement by local authorities` child care social services themselves. So it appears when the survivors get together to speak out: what`s really happened and what they really think about the system, the system itself runs away. They don`t want to know; they don`t want to publish; they don`t want to broadcast that people are starting to meet in order to address this thing themselves. You could also say that`s very sad, but I have to say it`s more sinister than that. I think this is an orchestrated cover-up. There`s a blanking of reporting these type of events." Mike Robinson: "Right, so that was Saturday. The next one, David, is 17 March, next Saturday and John Wedger will be attending that. That`s in Stirling. Details are on screen at the moment [5.26] and we`ll put the details on the UK Column events page as well, on the UK Column website." "But David you were talking about policy a second ago and where`s the policy coming from? You have published this article on the UK Column yesterday. Curiouser and Curiouser: Paedophile Networks and the Children`s Rights Movement. This article is already starting to move on social media and so on. Just give us the background to this because it`s a massive story." "Yes. Peter Newell, he was reported in the mainstream media... Peter Newell, who was described as a children`s rights campaigner, had been convicted of multiple rape back in the sixties. This is a very old case. Like so many of these, it takes a long time to come forward. He was tried; he was convicted and he was sentenced to over eight years in prison; and that seemed to be the story." "It really wasn`t and people started to say: `Well look more closely at this man; he`s everywhere`. He indeed is." "Now we`ve looked - I suspect we`ve only got some of his links in this article - but we started off with a look at one of his charities which was campaigning to end smacking.and hence change the legal position of children. And that was called The Children are Unbeatable and this was linked to an enormous network of children`s charities in the UK. And so huge was this network, so well connected was this man, that the only way we could describe it was to actually list them... The article contains an enormous list of all these interconnected children`s charities; and they were all supporting, funding, paying his salary and of course this is a convicted paedophile. "
"But when we looked further, the links went much further than that; they went international. So he was linked to overseas and international charities and these tie up all across the globe. He`s in Africa; he`s in South America; he`s in Asia and then he is also in the UN. And it transpires that this is the man who wrote the [implementation] handbook for the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child. Now this is a huge three volume work; he wrote it together with his wife; it`s still the official line on everything to do with the rights of the child; it`s policy in the UN. It has been implemented in Scotland, England, Wales, all across the world and it was written by a paedophile." Mike Robinson: "In the article, towards the end, David, you draw parallels with Kinsey. And it does seem strange, when we look at serious policy regarding children, we have some pretty dodgy characters involved in formulating that policy." David Scott: "Yes the policy is coming in and the policy ... strikes people as strange; it strikes people as odd. They notice in schools; well we`re having these strange forms of education - you know sex ed and all the rest of it - and we feel uneasy about it. And some people are starting to... say these policies come in, the problems actually get much worse. We didn`t have a problem with teenage pregnancy but now we`ve got this new education programme ... all of a sudden we do. Then when you start following this back to the individuals that generate this policy - yes you`re quite right. Dodgy is being generous."
"Peter Newell: Coordinator of the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children, launched in 2001, and of the `Children are Unbeatable` Alliance in the United Kingdom. He chaired the Council of the Children`s Rights Alliance for England from 1992 to 2002. He was a member of the NGO Advisory Panel for the United Nations Secretary- General`s Study on Violence Against Children and also of the Independent Expert`s Editorial Board for the Study, 2004 - 2006. He has written various commentaries on children`s rights in the United Kingdom and also a detailed proposal for a children`s rights commissioner, published as Taking Children Seriously."
Mike Robinson then takes the discussion towards the Telford child sex abuse scandal: He says: "This situation seems to be running right across the UK. We`ve had Rotherham. We`ve got Telford. We`ve got other examples - Glasgow as well..." View more here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=771eTvV2H7Q
"Up to 1,000 children could have suffered in Britain’s worst known abuse scandal - where sex gangs targeted girls as young as 11." "The rape hell of vulnerable young girls in one town - Telford - went on for a shocking 40 years, the Sunday Mirror can reveal." "As many as 1,000 children could have suffered at the merciless hands of perverts and torturers in Telford since the 1980s." "Girls as young as 11 have been lured from their families to be drugged, beaten and raped in an epidemic that, say victims, is still ongoing." "THREE people were murdered and two others died in tragedies linked to the scandal." "Despite similar high-profile cases in Rochdale and Rotherham, authorities in Telford repeatedly failed to stamp out a network of abusers." Read more https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/britains-worst-ever-child-grooming-1216552http://invisibleserfscollar.com/
"A drugs counsellor and former user told the BBC the NHS was `creating drug addicts`." "The Royal College of GPs said doctors would not prescribe opioid painkillers as a `quick fix`." "Opioids such as morphine, tramadol and fentanyl are super-strength painkillers, which can be highly addictive and can kill if misused." "An investigation by BBC News has found: More than two million working age people in England are estimated to have taken a prescription painkiller that was not prescribed for them in 2016-17.
GPs in England prescribed 23.8 million opioid-based painkillers in 2017, the equivalent of 2,700 items every hour.
This was 10 million more prescriptions than in 2007. The prescribing rate of opioid painkillers in parts of northern England is four times higher than in London.""The latest figures show the number of people dying from opioid-related drug misuse has reached a record high in England and Wales. About 3,700 people died in 2016 because of drug misuse." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-43304375
This problem has reached epidemic proportions in the United States:
UK Column 7 March 2018 Mike Robinson: "We`re starting with the Sun and the Sun has this headline, Miracle in the Rubble: Incredible moment baby is rescued alive after being buried by bombed building in Syria and they have a warning `it contains footage some people may find distressing`." "Well it wouldn`t surprise me if they find it distressing because apparently these guys, just digging at random, find something and they just drag it out of a hole and then it gets a bit of a slap and then they run off with it. There`s no medical diagnosis; there`s no doctors there; if this is really a baby then they would have harmed the baby. But the Sun says: `This is a miracle, a miracle in the rubble.` Well later on in the video we come across this still and let`s just have a look. I don`t know. That could be a real baby .... but it looks very doll-like to me."
Mike Robinson then goes on to criticise the Sun for not questioning the way the White Helmets are approaching their work: "And if it is not a child, in fact, if this is a plastic doll which it looks like from that still, then why are you not asking about the veracity of this, and whether it is propaganda or not?"
"It is a disgrace. The British media has become a disgrace and so I want to remind everyone once again of Media on Trial coming up in Leeds on 27 May and the question that is being asked at that event is `Has the UK mainstream media, is it in breach of the Terrorism Act in this country as the result of effectively shilling for terrorists in Syria and other parts of the Middle East and in fact embedding themselves with terrorists when they do go to the Middle East to report?` So I would suggest as many people as possible get along to that because this is a serious question that needs to be answered."
"Serious question," Brian Gerrish concurs: "And of course we see the British government attempting to close down in ever more draconian ways on other media sources. So either we stand up for those sources or we`re going to lose them." =========== Brian Gerrish: "Well on matters policing let`s have a look at Mike Veale. Now we`re going to thank a gentleman who sent me an email. He did identify himself but he said what had happened to Mike Veale? I replied that UK Column had said that Mike Veale had gone on to be Chief Constable at Cleveland Police. But going to have a little look to see how he was getting on, I was astonished to find that we`d missed this little spat. This is end of January but here was Mike Veale`s appointment and my goodness that had stirred up some controversy."
"So there`s a headline here: Tees Mayor: New Cleveland Police Chief Constable Mike Veale `shouldn`t be taking charge`. So the mayor particularly outspoken. Of course the mayor is conservative. Well one of the local MPs, also very outspoken, Simon Clarke, also a conservative. Could I think Mike that they were getting a little bit sweaty at the thought that Mike Veale was a bit too close with knowing the truth about Ted Heath and the abuse of children?" "So let`s have a look at what the mayor said: `Mike Veale shouldn`t be taking charge and Barry Coppinger [Police Commissionerwho selected him] and Cleveland Police really need to seriously reconsider appointing him... I have absolutely no faith that our new Chief Constable will be able to provide the support that is required for our frontline police officers to fulfil their duty to protect the public`..." "That`s a remarkable statement Mike in view of the ... immense problems inside Cleveland Police with corruption and lies and bullying and a whole range of other things ." Mike Robinson: "But aside from that, Mike Veale absolutely stood up for his officers who were investigating Ted Heath and who were recipients of such disgraceful abuse while they were in Wiltshire Police. So he stood up for .... his policemen. Any suggestion that he wouldn`t do the same in Cleveland is nuts." Brian Gerrish: "Well I think he will do the same and I think he`s capable of doing the job. So we`ve got all the local conservatives sweating that a man who drilled into the very dark art of the Conservative Party could cause them some problems. So these people are not interested about good policing to protect people in the area. All they`re interested in is protecting the reputation of the Conservative Party. That has to be an oxymoron." "So let`s bring in that MP. Here he is, Simon Clarke. `I have real concerns about the appointment of Mike Veale as our new Chief Constable and think the Police and Crime Commissioner and the appointments panel face serious questions ... We all know Cleveland Police has a huge task on its hands to restore public confidence in its leadership. This news makes that task harder rather than easier... I will be raising all these questions with the new Chief Constable and the PCC and I am requesting a meeting`..." "So there`s another tory who is lashing into Mike Veale, the man brave enough to stand up and do his job, and that included investigating former conservative Prime Minister Ted Heath and child abuse..." "So where does this leave us? Well we`ve learnt more. Actually Chief Constable Mike Veale is being accused of a crime at the moment. Can you imagine what sort of crime this man may have committed? " "No." "It requires an investigation." "No." "A full one, ongoing." "OK," "It`s this. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is investigating Mr Veale over a claim he deliberately damaged a work phone." "There`s this constable who`s put his whole career on the line to do what is right for children being abused but he might have damaged a police phone. And this is being investigated. There was also a previous investigation that was dropped because ,of course, it was complete nonsense. So the GazetteLive introduces that adding to the text. `He was also referred to the watchdog over a since-dismissed claim he leaked information about Operation Conifer, the Sir Edward Heath paedophile investigation which he led while head of Wiltshire Police.` So this is a disgraceful police officer, damaged, or possibly damaged, a police phone and who`s carrying out the investigation ?" "Well it`s our old friend the Independent Office for Police Conduct and we`ve highlighted them because when they investigated the testimony of MET child abuse whistleblower John Wedger they found that there was `no evidence to support ex MET Det John Wedger`s statement` that when he talked about children who were abused, he was bullied, harassed and told to shut up." "So they can investigate a phone but they can`t investigate Mr [Wedger`s allegations]... This is what Mike Lockwood had to say about Mr Veale." "`The IOPC has however decided to independently investigate a second part of the referral relating to allegations that a mobile phone belonging to Wiltshire Police was deliberately damaged by Chief Constable Mike Veale ... This investigation is in its early stages` ..." "Is this man a muppet Mike or is he some form of silicon doll imported from China? I don`t know ..." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1T8gtKzWyk
"Education Secretary John Swinney has been asked to detail meetings between government officials and witnesses to a Holyrood committee regarding named person legislation." "The written request comes after Mr Swinney was asked to provide assurances in November over questions on whether `the Scottish Government sought to directly influence evidence to the committee`." "The Scottish Parliament's Education and Skills Committee has written to the Cabinet Secretary as some members are concerned his previous answers `did not fully address matters raised`." "Now, the committee has set out 16 points for Mr Swinney to address with a `detailed timeline` including dates that witnesses providing evidence were approached by Scottish Government officials, ministers or special advisers and the `rationale` behind the contact." "Further details requested are whether Scottish Government officials acted unilaterally regarding meetings with witnesses or if Mr Swinney or his advisers gave them instruction..." "Labour's education spokesman Iain Gray praised the committee's actions, saying it is `demanding answers on the suspicion that Scottish government exerted pressure on their witnesses prior to evidence on Named Person Bill`." https://www.aol.co.uk/news/2018/02/21/education-secretary-faces-questions-over-witness-contact-on-name/
