The Government ‘Helping’ Businesses Again…

You can see them on the specials boards of new restaurants and on chalkboards propped outside bars and pubs. Foodie TikTokers are eating them by the dozen. Healthy, available for £1 and even good for the environment, oysters are experiencing a boom in popularity.

Great, right? Yes, indeed. But always remember Ronnie's nine most terrifying words in the English language... 

But the UK industry is being hampered by a row over the farming of different species, with producers saying they are struggling to expand to meet demand. Brexit has also affected the UK shellfish industry by restricting imports and exports. David Jarrad, chief executive of the Shellfish Association of Great Britain, said: “Government policy is trying to drive [the industry] into the ground … this coming year, it’s unlikely that farms will be able to restock.”

And why? 

...he warned that today’s oyster renaissance may be short-lived if policy doesn’t change, with the government’s priorities focused on rehabilitating native reefs while farmers are tied up in red tape.

Regulations can restrict farm expansion unless farmers use triploid Pacific oysters, which are sterile and unable to reproduce, if they pose a risk to protected marine sites. They also prohibit new oyster farms north of 52 degrees latitude – around Ipswich – to prevent Pacifics spreading in the wild where they don’t already live.

We are, apparently, attempting to prevent a delicious food source from proliferating around our waters. We truly don't deserve to survive.  

However, when Pacific oysters were introduced to UK waters in the 1960s, it was under the mistaken belief that they couldn’t reproduce due to cool temperatures. Warming waters caused by climate change have resulted in oyster larvae escaping farms through waterways and colonising coastal habitats. This has particularly been a problem in Devon and Cornwall, where 150,000 oysters were culled to control feral oyster reefs obstructing mud flats, creating problems for fish and bird species.

Yes, the government, the one that bleats constantly about the need for the public to have cheap, nutritious non-junk food available, wasted 150,000 perfectly edible oysters to protect non-edible fish, birds and shellfish.

Safeguarding Our Money...

HMRC has been accused of facilitating fraud by paying fictitious tax rebate claims submitted in the name of unwitting taxpayers by third-party agents. Taxpayers can apply for a rebate if they have paid too much tax. They can choose to appoint an agent to do this on their behalf, but some firms are harvesting details of individuals to make bogus claims.

But surely, if the taxpayer notices this and cries foul, HMRC will listen to them? Well, Reader, you're not going to believe this.... 

Jim Mackie, a former police officer and private investigator, says HMRC refused to investigate when his wife’s details were used by a tax refund firm to submit an invented rebate claim worth £5,000 in her name last year. HMRC sent the full payment to the Lancashire-based firm Waltonbridge, which purported to be the appointed agent for Mackie’s wife.

“The first we knew about it was when HMRC wrote and said that rebate cheques were being sent to the ‘agent’,” said Mackie. “The claim, sent in my wife’s name with a signature that was not hers, was for tax paid on interest received from PPI payments. She hasn’t claimed a PPI payment since 2012 and for that amount of tax to be due she’d have had to have received a fantastical £100,000.”

Waltonbridge passed on just over the half the money in the form of a cheque, deducting a 48% fee, but the Mackies do not intend to cash it. Instead they have reported the suspected fraud to HMRC which told them it was satisfied the claim was genuine.

Yes, you read that right. Agent says 'No, I never authorised this!' and HMRC says 'Yes you did, the agent can't be wrong'... 

“It relied solely on Waltonbridge’s word,” Mackie said. “These scammers are stealing hundreds of thousands of pounds a year from HMRC and HMRC is happy to sit back, let it happen, then blame us, the public, for making false complaints.”

Remember Ronnie's 'nine most terrifying words'? 

Shouldn’t This Be A Job For The Police?

A doctor accused of wrongly discharging a boy from hospital before he died from sepsis cannot be tracked down, health chiefs have admitted. Dylan Cope, nine, suffered a burst appendix which led to a sepsis infection spreading through his body - and a coroner later ruled that had he been kept in hospital to have his appendix removed, 'his death would have been avoided'.

But a mystery medic discharged him with an advice sheet for flu after failing to read the referral note from the doctor. An inquest ruled Dylan partly died from neglect and his parents have been trying to trace the doctor who assessed him.

Why? Shouldn't the police be doing this? Isn't it their job? 

Yet almost two years following the schoolboy's death, parents Corinne and Laurence Cope say they have been told the health board are unable to identify the clinician in question. They appealed to the Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran, south Wales. to hand out anonymised portraits of staff so his father - who had accompanied Dylan to hospital - could identify him, but have been told this is not an option.

Why not? It's almost like they don't want to find him, isn't it? 

Mrs Cope has now said: 'Losing Dylan is a life sentence of pain for us, and for all we know the person who was instrumental in reassuring Laurence is carrying on in his profession as usual.

'If they can't identify all staff involved, how can they ensure that this will not happen again 

'We are concerned for future patient's safety. If they don't identify people, then there is no accountability. Accountability is a key part of learning.'

There's never any accountability.  

Mr Cope said the doctor, who was in scrubs and a facemask, was in his 30s to 40s, slim to average build, tall and with a slight 'foreign' accent.

Probably of little help in a modern NHS hospital. 

First World Problems

Many Norwegians are feeling guilty, according to Elisabeth Oxfeldt. The professor of Scandinavian literature at Oslo University says wealthy Norwegians are increasingly contrasting their comfortable lives with those of people who are struggling, particularly overseas.

Oh my, the poor dears! 

“We’ve seen the emergence of a narrative of guilt about people’s privileged lives in a world where others are suffering,” she says. Thanks to its significant oil reserves, the largest in Europe after Russia’s, Norway is one of the world’s richest countries. The strength of its economy, as measured per member of its population, is almost twice that of the UK,, external and bigger even than that of the US. Norway even runs a budget surplus – its national income exceeds its expenditure. This is in marked contrast to most other nations, including the UK, which have to borrow money to cover their budget deficits.

And so, the bleak Scandinavian psyche must needs discover something to fret about, instead of revelling in their good fortune.

Prof Oxfeldt is an expert on how Scandinavian books, films and TV series reflect the wider culture of their time. She says she increasingly sees these mediums explore Norway’s wealth guilt.

“By looking at contemporary literature, films and TV series, I found that the contrast between the happy, fortunate or privileged self and the suffering ‘other’ brought about feelings of guilt, unease, discomfort or shame.

“Not everyone feels guilty, but many do,” adds Prof Oxfeldt, who has coined the phrase “Scan guilt”. Plots featured in recent Norwegian dramas include members of the “leisure class” who rely on services provided by migrant workers who reside in bedsits in their basements. Or women who realise that they have achieved gender equality in the workplace by relying on low-paid au pairs from poor countries to care for their children, says Prof Oxfeldt.

Hmm, doesn’t sound that different to the UK, really. Have they considered all getting columns in the ‘Guardian’ or ‘Independent’…?

Unsurprisingly, Norway has long been one of the happiest in the world, according to the World Happiness Report. It is currently in seventh place., external But on the other hand, reasons Børre Tosterud, an investor and retired hotelier, Norway’s “utter reliance on oil earnings” has resulted in an excessively large government budget, an inflated public sector, and a shortage of labour that holds back the private sector. “It’s not sustainable,” he insists.

It’s not? Oh, well, I guess that’s a warning our own government should be heeding, then. Anyone think they will?

It Certainly Tells Us All We Need To Know About Modern Conservationists

Heading out for a day in the hills, Falcon Frost pulls on heavy boots and slings a rifle onto his back. He is surrounded by the towering beauty of the Glenfalloch estate in the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, north of Glasgow. For ‘townies’, this is a magical place to escape the rat race and bag the six Munros – peaks above 3,000ft – including the queen of the Southern Highlands, Ben Lui, which lies within its 25,000 acres. For Mr Frost, a stalker and estate manager, this is also his place of work. Deer are culled on estates such as Glenfalloch and, for much of the past 28 years, it has been Mr Frost’s job to ensure that it is carried out.

Lately, though, he and others who earn their living in the countryside are starting to feel it is they who have a target on their backs. ‘There’s very little trust left and that’s the problem. We seem to be getting it from all angles,’ he said. ‘Some folk do feel this is an attack on our traditional way of life.’

And they are absolutely correct to feel that way, because it undoubtedly is exactly that. 

He is referring to a recent Scottish Government consultation on the most radical changes to deer management in living memory. It contains proposals that would rip up the previously collaborative approach to deer management and, instead, demand reductions in deer numbers. Failure by gamekeepers to carry out culls, ordered by regulator NatureScot, could lead to a fine of £40,000 and a jail term of up to three months – or both. NatureScot could also bill an estate owner if a third party has to do the cull.

It's not as if deer population is the most pressing environmental issue in Scotland, either... 

To seasoned observers such as Mr Frost, 48, this increasingly bitter standoff is symptomatic of concerted efforts by an urban-centric government to wrest control of the countryside from those who live and work there. And it’s all being done under the flag of environmentalism.

The worst things in the world are usually done by people wrapping themselves in a flag of righteous cause, Mt Frost... 

He added: ‘We had a visit from biodiversity minister Lorna Slater at Glenfalloch and we offered to take her out on the hill for a day and show her what deer management involves. But she hasn’t taken us up on that, unfortunately.’

Anone who refuses to take an opportunity to see first hand what effects their policy is having in the real world probably already knows. But doesn't feel able to defend it. 

The Greens minister, who is leading the consultation, has also twice rejected an invitation by Tory MSP and landowner Edward Mountain to a deer stalking ‘fact-finding’ event despite her strong advocacy of the culls.

‘It’s regrettable that she has declined this invitation twice, and perhaps it tells you everything you need to know about this Scottish Government.’

It certainly does. 

Lessons In Economic Reality In 'The Guardian'...

In 2014, I started a petition to end the unfair and sexist “luxury” tax on period products.

Oh, and how did that go? 

...in December 2020, Rishi Sunak, then chancellor, announced he was “proud” to finally end the 5% tax rate applied to period products.

Hurrah! Right? 

Due to a simple administrative error, period pants (a reusable and environmentally friendly menstrual product) were wrongly categorised by HMRC as clothing rather than menstrual products. As a result, period pants are still being taxed today at 20%.

Ah. The government screwing things up. Gosh. What a shock. Still, everything else is cheaper, right? 

It has been two and a half years since Sunak announced the end of the tampon tax (on all products except period pants). You would expect products to be cheaper as a result.

You might. I'm not sure I would... 

Yet a report by the not-for-profit advisory firm Tax Policy Associates found they are hardly any cheaper today than they were in 2020, even after adjusting for inflation. This is for a simple and extremely disappointing reason: retailers have kept prices the same and pocketed the reduction in tax as profits, amounting to an estimated £15m every year.

Wow! Who could have forseen that? Except, maybe, everyone..? 

It’s time to stop weaponising periods. The point of ending tax on sanitary products is to make them more accessible, not to make retailers richer.

As soon as you figure out how to do that, let us all know, eh? 

Giving The Lie To 'Starving Families'...

Thousands of struggling families are missing out on a total of £45million a year in food support available through the NHS Healthy Start scheme.

Wait, what?! 

The scheme, which involves using a pre-paid card at the till, gives money off certain healthy foods and products to low income families with children and pregnant women. However, research by Which? found take-up is such that many in need are missing out.

Then they aren't in need, are they? Or this is yet another failure of the NHS. Which is it? 

Which? urged the Government and supermarkets to step up efforts to promote Healthy Start...

Why? If it's not being taken up with the promoting they are already doing, scrap it instead! 

...and to extend the number of those eligible to receive the discounts.

That definition of insanity needs updating. We need to add "...and do it even harder" to "Keep doing what you're doing..." 

Did You Really Think It Would Stop At Bread?

Folic acid should be added to rice as well as flour to prevent hundreds of cases of 'tragic' birth defects every year, experts have said today.

And it's not just expanding the range. It's upping the dose too! 

Up to 800 cases could be avoided every year if the nutrient was also added to rice and doses were quadrupled, they claimed.

Why are they dragging their heels? Why aren't they rolling over for these 'experts' like they usually do? 

Ministers are thought to have stalled because they feared being accused of 'mass medication' and acting like a 'nanny state'.

Oh, I think that ship done sailed... 

Professor Dame Lesley Regan, a gynaecologist at Imperial College's St Mary's Hospital Campus, said there are scientific, medical, ethical and economic reasons for administering the 'correct dose' of folic acid for 'maximum protection'.

It's amazing how easy it is to ensure that these all combine to match your own personal 'ethics', isn't it?  

Professor Neena Modi, an expert in neonatal medicine at Imperial College London, said ... Women who avoid gluten or whose main source of carbohydrate is rice will be disadvantaged, Sir Nicholas warned. And mothers from ethnic minority backgrounds, 'who predominantly eat rice, not flour', are already up to two-and-a-half times more at risk of their baby having neural tube defects, Professor Modi said.

'We have a major issue with health disparities and the current proposals will widen these,' Professor Modi said.

How dare those people not get with the programme and take their medicine, eh, Neena? 

Others Should Face This Charge Too, Shouldn't They?

Boden, of Romford Way in Barrow Hill, Chesterfield, and Marsden, of no fixed address, deny murder, two counts of child cruelty, and two charges of causing or allowing the death of a child.

Every single social worker and health visitor who had any dealings with these creatures, in fact... 

Jurors were shown photographs of the couple's cluttered home in Old Whittington, near Chesterfield, Derbyshire, and blood-stained items found by police inside, including a vomit and faeces-stained cot mattress cover, duvet cover, Mickey Mouse baby grow and a 'Captain Cute' T-shirt.

Paramedics were called to the address at 2.33am on Christmas Day, finding Marsden 'upset and screaming' and the child without a pulse. Medics discovered Boden trying to resuscitate Finley on the kitchen floor but also 'noticed that his (Finley's) clothing was dirty, had dirty hands and fingernails, and he had new and raw scrapes and abrasions on his nose and linings of his nostrils,' said Ms Prior.

Ms Prior said: '(Medics) thought Finley had been dead longer than the parents were suggesting.' The address was later described by a doctor as 'extremely dirty, smelly and very cluttered', while a paramedic said it 'smelt of cannabis'.

And yet that's no bar to being allowed to look after a child, it seems. 

'His parents, we say, worked together to hide the injuries from the social worker, from the health visitor and the police for their own self-centred reasons.

'They didn't want social services to remove Finley if the appalling way they were treating Finley was discovered.'

Why on earth did they worry about such an unlikely occurrence? 

"That Advice We Gave You About Obesity? Well..."

Britain is engulfed in a child obesity crisis, with one in four 10- and 11-year-olds officially obese.

Yeah, yeah, we know... 

However, research led by the University of Oxford suggests that slimming attempts among all children are now outpacing rising weight gain levels in their respective age groups.

Oh! 

Writing in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, the experts said there was a marked increase in weight-loss attempts among children from 2011-12 onwards. This coincided with parents being given feedback on their child’s weight as part of the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP), which weighs and measures pupils when they are in reception and year 6.

Hurrah! Something works! Are you happy now, 'experts'..? 

They said they were concerned that the increase in weight-loss attempts “has not been matched by an increase in the provision of weight management services in England, creating a risk of unsupervised and potentially inappropriate weight-control behaviours.

*sighs* 

“Meanwhile, the rise in weight-loss attempts among children with a healthy weight raises concerns and suggests greater attention is needed to target weight control messages appropriately.”

Whatever the question of the day is, it seems the answer is always some version of 'gimmie more money/staff', have you noticed? 

That's Not How It's Done, Minister!

Over here in England, our ministers are much smarter. They get their offspring to do it!

It's Not 'A War On Motorists'...

Sadiq Khan could hike fares for London commuters by as much as 10 per cent from next year, it emerged today - as he was blasted for plans to expand the £12.50-a-day Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) and introduce pay-per-mile charges for motorists.

...it's the inevitable consequences of the Covid measures on all public finances.

TfL, which Mr Khan oversees, saw its revenues collapse by as much as 95 per cent during the pandemic, and another bailout is needed to cover next April after which the organisation is expected to become 'financially sustainable'.

But almost certainly won't, after the consequences of the inevitable surrender to the rail unions which is surely next on the cards. We know they'll surrender, because it's what everyone in authority seems to do when faced with opposition, these days. 

'It almost feels like the Mayor of London is launching a war against commuters,' Commons Leader Mark Spencer said.

I hate to sound like I'm defending the useless Mayor of London on anything, but if it's a war, your government ordered us all over the top into the range of the enemy's artillery, didn't it? 

My Heart Bleeds For Them, Harry...

...the review rightly emphasises that both children had the misfortune to be in the care of exceptionally cruel parents and step-parents.

And the double misfortune of being 'safeguarded' by hopeless incompetents. 

So, why are you urging us to take out an onion for them? You cannot deny they failed at their basic function: 

Social workers never saw Arthur on his own to hear from him what his life was like, and they didn’t get close to Star either...

Why not? And if they didn't, why did they ignore those who did their job for them..? 

Star and Arthur’s other relatives could see their deterioration and made reports, including sending photos and videos of bruising to the children that were, after investigation, regarded by professionals as malicious.

Regarded by them with no apparent attempt to verify that? But it's OK, 'new systems' are needed (not, apparantly, any enquiry into why the existing ones aren't working...)!

...while huge attention is given to the need to create such new systems, the psychological and emotional impact of doing child protection work does not get enough attention.

Wait, what? Do you perhaps mean the huilt and anxiety when you fail so hard at your job that the child is murdered?

No. No, Reader, he doesn't... 

A consistent finding in more than 40 years’ worth of child death inquiry reports is that what appeared to be straightforward tasks, such as sending a photograph to another professional, simply didn’t get done. This requires us to explain the unexplainable – and why, time and time again, well-intentioned professionals can’t explain even to themselves their inaction in the face of evidence of marks and injuries.

Well, would you believe it's because the poor dears are just so oberwhelmed? 

...careful attention must be given to the impact that the stress and anxiety that pervades the work has on professionals’ capacities to think, or not think clearly. 

I cannot fathom how someone could write this without a single twinge of shame. 

12 years of research, based on observing face-to-face encounters between social workers and families, shows that those who fill professionals with the most dread and anxiety are parents hostile to involvement. Faced with threats, intimidation or passive aggression in parents not answering the door, the intense anxiety professionals experience clouds their judgement and makes it extremely difficult to think about and tune in to the children, or to even recognise that they have failed to do so.

Perhaps, then, that term 'professionals' is the wrong one to use?

So what will help them, if all that expensive training won't? Is it more money, perchance? Of course it is.

The more compassion social workers are shown, the more money the government invests and time practitioners are given to think and understand how they are relating to children, the less likely it will be that these tragic deaths will occur in future.

Who should show them 'compassion', Harry? It's not going to be me, I can tell you that! 

Selecting Your Scapegoats...

In recent days and weeks more small lost lives have been added to this grim toll: Logan Mwangi, Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, Star Hobson, Kyrell Matthews and Hakeem Hussain. In each case, decisions were taken that led to missed opportunities to protect these children – but we don’t know why these decisions were made. That will be revealed in safeguarding reviews that are under way.

But Polly has an idea why... 

But we do know that lockdown put huge strains on families and made it harder for social workers to see what was going on.

Really? There were plenty of signs, they didn't miss them, they simply failed to do their job.  

But to fix this system, we have to decide what the problem that we’re fixing is – and make sure that the pandemic doesn’t mask the longer-term trends.

And what would those be? 

I spent three years researching the children’s social care system for my book and found a system that is so decimated by austerity, the relationship between communities and the authorities now so corrupted by distrust, that in some parts of the country it is no longer able to identify the children most at risk.

Ah, yes. They don't have enough resources. It couldn't possibly be anything else, could it? 

In the absence of the capacity to make sound judgments, systems have been put in place that reduce nuanced, human judgment to tick-box exercises that devious parents can see straight through and outmanoeuvre.

Do any of the parents in these cases strike you as the sort of cunning high-IQ manipulators who should be able to pull the wool over the eyes of dedicated trained professionals? Because it never seems so to me... 

A good social care system would take faster, more decisive action to protect children: take them away from abusive families and offer better support and services to help other families stay together safely.

I'd settle for one that could reasonably distinguish between those two subsets with any degree of accuracy... 

A Warning For Universities...

A 12-year-old who raped and abused a neglected nine-year-old schoolboy wasn't prosecuted due to a bungled investigation by his teachers, a report has shown.

Aren't the wokies always demanding universities do the same for rape allegations of (supposed) adults? 

The abuse happened while the unnamed boys were both students at Appletree School in Cumbria, a special school for children who have been abused or neglected.

Obviously, so they can be abused properly this time... 

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) heard how the victim was repeatedly sexually abused, 'maybe 100 times', by the 12-year-old and others while at the school.

Which others? More children? Or teachers? 

The damning findings are part of a report into abuse at residential schools published today.

Ooh, a government report, those are really worth paying attention t... 

An Ofsted inspection report from 2006 said that Appletree was 'an effective school which meets successfully the academic, personal and social needs of its pupils', adding that there was a 'consistent management of pupils' behaviour, for which there are high expectations'.

Oh. Maybe not. 

*Shrugs*

Fewer workers returning to the office and a shift to hybrid working have caused the owners of Pret A Manger to warn it could go bust.

Oh well, shame.  

The coffee shop chain said there were 'uncertainties' that may cast 'significant doubt' over its ability to continue trading in accounts filed earlier this month.

Among these was the 'unpredictability of consumer behaviour' as well as the possibility of new pandemic restrictions and the ability to keep paying its debts.

They've realised that the government can shut their business whenever it wants. Perhaps they shouldn't have slavishly allowed them to think that, then? 

Pret, which has nearly 470 branches, relies heavily on office workers and commuters.

As I've said before, if the customers' habits change, then the business must too. Or die.  

Isn't It There To Protect Us...?

Perhaps the most dangerous three words in the English language are 'Protect the NHS'.

So says Prof Karol Sikora. And he's spot on, isn't he, Reader?

A report from the National Audit Office (NAO) this week found that up to 740,000 potential cancer patients have been missed since the beginning of the first lockdown in March 2020. These are people who should have been referred urgently for investigation in hospital, for a disease where delays exponentially increase the risk of death. The NAO estimates that, since the pandemic began, between 35,000 and 60,000 fewer people than expected have started treatment for cancer. Untreated cancer kills. Timely diagnosis is absolutely crucial. In a few years, perhaps just four, the death toll from delays to cancer diagnoses could be higher than the total number of people who have died in Britain with Covid.

I can well believe it. 

I don't believe the Whitehall sloganeers realised how powerful their catchphrase would be.

I don't believe any of them cared one whit. 

The British revere their health service, and have such a deep-dyed reverence for doctors that many feared they would be seen as selfish, irresponsible or even unpatriotic if they rang their GP's surgery.

That applies particularly to the older generation — those 60 and over, who are the ones most at risk from cancer.

I'd say this was a plot to get rid of them, if I credited the people behind this with that sort of foresight. 

The two diseases are simply not comparable. I am frustrated and exasperated beyond belief that we have allowed cancer diagnosis to be so badly undermined by fanning fears of a far less deadly illness.

Why the past tense, Prof? They are still doing it! 

"These Underclass Scum Are Just Smarter Than Us Oh-Too-Caring Professionals!"

Predictably, the 'Guardian' wheels out a stooge (professor of social work, no less!) to try to deflect blame from the state's agents over the horrific Arthur Labinjo-Hughes case:

...it is very important that inquiries take the effects of poor resourcing and the wider impact of austerity into account when looking into how social workers interacted with Arthur.

All that's missing is a whine about 'Thatcher!'...

It wasn't resources they lacked, it was clearly common sence and a desire to put the child's needs first! 

Which brings us to a final hugely influential factor: the parents and their emotional impact. It is clear that they were frighteningly strategic in their abuse of Arthur and no doubt in concealing it. It has become commonplace for inquiries into such cases to conclude that social workers and others lack “professional curiosity” and miss the obvious because they are too “optimistic”; that the “rule of optimism” results in professionals naively and hopefully believing what parents tell them, and denying what is in front of them.

Because once again, that appears to have been the case here. The photo of a whopping great bruise that social workers 'didn't see' proves that! 

What did these fiendishly cunning Moriartys do, hypnotise them? 

But perhaps sensing that isn't likely to fly, he switches tack effortlessly: it's because they just care too much and can't cope, you horrible right-winger press!

My years of practice and research into child protection social work suggests that far from being optimistic, when faced with such aggressive and manipulative parents, social workers’ states of mind are often closer to helplessness. They are outmanoeuvred and overcome by the suffering and sadness in the atmosphere of such homes and in the children’s lives.

Then they aren't the right people for the job, and they shouldn't be in it. If I failed a task because I was 'overcome with hopelessness' I'd be sent for retraining or fired! 

Why doesn't that ever apply to these people? 

Covid, social distancing and the personal risks social workers routinely had to take to see children in their homes increased the complexity still further. The more that is taken into account – along with the emotional demands and funding deficits and systemic problems that mean social workers are faced with obstacles that make their job much more difficult than it needs to be – the more can be learned from Arthur’s tragic death.

We learned all we needed to learn from Baby P, Dylan Tiffin-Brown and Evelyn-Rose Muggleton, Victoria Climbie, Daniel Pelka, Ellie Butler... the list goes on and on and on. 

And it will continue to go on and on and on until social work is overhauled and this kind of incompetence is not tolerated and excused.

Mankind Trans Activists Cannot Bear Too Much Reality...

The PM's wife speaks:

In her sole public appearance at Tory conference, the prime minister’s wife, who works as an environmental campaigner, said it was a “fact of life” that LGBT+ people experienced hate crimes due to their gender identity and sexuality.

I think that word 'works' is probably not quite accurate there... 

The chair of the LGBT+ Conservatives group, Elena Bunbury, hit out at delegates to the conference whom she claimed had “brought into question” trans rights.

No-one's doing anything like that, though. Unless you feel that recognising biological facts is somehow doing th...

Oh, wait. Of course, you do: 

The issue was compounded further when the health secretary, Sajid Javid, last week insisted that “only women have a cervix”, a statement which was criticised for failing to acknowledge the existence of transgender people.

Well, tough! It's a fact. 

They still aren't women, and they will never possess a cervix unless it's on a jar by their bedside table, which frankly would never surprise me, some are clearly unhinged enough... 

Several Tory MPs have spoken out in support of Javid’s statement...

What a depressing state of affairs, that it's not all of them. Certainly not our PM, who's proven himself a rank coward on this matter, as on so many others. 

Johnson expressed her support for trans rights, telling a fringe event in Manchester on Tuesday: “Whether you are LGBT+ or an ally like me, we are all committed to equality and acceptance for everyone, whoever you are and whomever you love.”

I've no problem with acceptance. So long as you are OK that I'm accepting you for what you are, and not what you think you are.  

Introducing Johnson to the stage, Bunbury said: “Trans people are not dangerous, they’re not scary, and they’re certainly not a threat to women and children – although the other event titles [at the conference] might think they are.”

Unfortunately, some have proven themselves to be just that. But it appears that - even in the areas where they should be safest from predators - women remain at risk, and our government and judiciary doesn't care.

The Perils Of Multinational Chains...

Co-op boss Steve Murrells has worked in the retail sector for decades, so when he says shortages are 'at a worse level than any time I have seen', he has to be taken seriously.

But bare shelves at his supermarkets are not the only sign that something's up. McDonald's stopped serving milkshakes and bottled drinks this week after becoming the latest victim of a nationwide shortage of delivery drivers. Chicken chain Nando's shut 50 outlets last week after its suppliers struggled to deliver enough peri-peri wings. And at Marks & Spencer stores, signs were put up warning customers that some bakeries have run out of fresh pastries due to 'delivery issues'.

These aren't 'shortages' as we normally understand them. 

The country's not running out of flour and eggs, and there hasn't been an outbreak of bird flu that has wiped out the supply of chicken, or another foot and mouth disease outbreak that has loosed DEFRA kill squads on our dairy herds...

But restaurant and fast food chains insist on control of supply. If Mrs Miggins running the corner shop cafe finds she's short of flour at the local cash and carry, she can nip to Tesco. The manager at the local McDonald's branch can't pop into Sainsbury and buy up all their milk, because he's not allowed to - McDonald's milkshakes can only be made with milk supplied by their own delivery service.

The haulage industry is labouring under a shortfall of around 100,000 truckers. The problem is so acute that the Government is considering increasing the maximum allowable length of an HGV by 6.5 ft.

So, is this the dreaded effects of Brexit that the Remainers warned about? No. It's government interference accompanied by market forces.  

Take the length of the average trucker's working week. HGV drivers are restricted to driving ten hours a day (up from nine pre-Covid), but factor in waiting times and they can be out of the house for 12-15 hours a day. The impact this has on family life has driven many younger drivers out, with the result that 62 per cent of the workforce is over 45.

But doesn't it pay well? 

Meanwhile, driver pay has slipped to the point that they get little more than supermarket shelf-stackers, partly due to the Government blocking a loophole that allowed them to operate as limited companies.To make matters worse, the number of drivers entering the industry for the first time has been badly hit by the Driver And Vehicle Standards Agency cancelling 'at least' 30,000 HGV driving tests last year due to Covid.

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