Observe My Unshakeable Moral Authority

'As the mother of a murdered child, I demand you give me what I want!'

Esther Ghey, the mother of the murdered teenager Brianna Ghey, and the Oscar-winning actor Kate Winslet are calling on Keir Starmer to legally ban smartphones in schools, warning current guidance against allowing phones has created a “postcode lottery”.

And we are all supposed to acquiesce , because who could deny a bereaved mother anything?

She said a ban would have “solved so many issues” for her daughter, who was “sucked away from society and into the online world where she was at risk of so many harms”.

She didn't have a daughter, though. She had a mentally challenged son, and she allowed him to think he could trsnsition into a girl. So if she cannot be honest about that, why should anyone trust her on this issue?

The government has resisted banning smartphones in schools, insisting headteachers are able to take their own actions. It issued guidance in 2024 that “schools should develop a mobile phone policy that prohibits the use of mobile phones … throughout the school day, including during lessons, the time between lessons, break times and lunchtime”. But subsequent research among 2,467 secondary schools in April by the children’s commissioner, Rachel de Souza, found that while 90% had some restrictions on phone use, only 3.5% banned phones from school grounds and only 7.9% required pupils to hand in their phones for the whole day.

So they were given the freedom to action thisas they saw fit, and because they haven't been as strict as these people would like, that freedom must be stripped from them and central government must step in. 

The new Phone Free Education campaign is calling for ministers to introduce a full legal ban including funding for schools to pay for a lockable pouch or similar alternative.

How about 'No'...? In fact, how about 'Fuck off!'? 

No! No More Pointless Laws And Legislative Bureacracy!

We’ve had too many of these! Are there no genuinely accidental deaths anymore?

Sspeaking after the conclusion of the inquest, Benedict's mother Helen Blythe said: 'Three and a half years ago, we lost our son. Benedict died in a place where he should have been safe - his school. 'Benedict's death was preventable and was caused by a cascade of failures -individual, institutional, and systemic.'

Actually, no. For once, there’s no one to blame except fate, cruel nature and happenstance. 

Factors which the jury found 'probably caused' Benedict's death include the delayed administration of his adrenaline, opportunities for cross-contamination or mix up of milk, and that his allergy plan was not shared with teaching staff.

On Wednesday, the foreperson of the jury at Peterborough Town Hall said: 'We deem the probable source of the allergen that caused the fatal anaphylaxis is the ingestion of cow's milk protein, most probably from his own receptacle during break time.'

So, did staff stanfd around with their thiumbs up their arses, doing nothing? Reader, of course not. 

The inquest heard Benedict's adrenaline auto-injector (AAI) was administered twice by a teaching assistant, before CPR and a defibrillator were attempted but he died later that day at Peterborough City Hospital.

They had the equipment, they had the training, and it still didn't help. And of course, the grieving parents want something to change.

'We demand change. We call on this government to protect our children with Benedict's Law, making it mandatory to have an allergy policy in every school, staff allergy training including understanding allergies, how to manage them and identify signs of a reaction, and respond quickly in an emergency, and spare adrenaline allergy pens in every school.

They had all that, and it still didn't work. So how about you campaign for a law that all children with such life-threatening allergies be raised well away from normal life instead? It'd make more sense.