Nanny, like all dictators, needs to know what we are doing and thinking. There are several methods that she employs in order to monitor our activities:1 Direct surveillance, eg via CCTV
2 Database records, eg via official forms, DNA, finger printing etc
3 Council spies
4 Encouraging citizens to "grass" on their fellow citizens to the state
5 Using professionals to spy and gather records for the state
A recent example of the latter being the new requirements being levied by Nanny on schools to "improve children's well being".
How will schools improve children's well being?
Easy, teachers will be expected to monitor and record up to 31 detailed aspects of their pupils' lives at home and at school.
This brilliant idea comes from the febrile mind of the chum of Nanny, our old friend Ed Balls.
Nanny and Balls want to introduce "strong school level indicators" that measure how much the country's primaries and secondaries are contributing to pupils' well-being.
Schools and local authorities will be made to gather data about "on site health services" such as contraception clinics which hand out condoms and morning after pills.
They will also be expected to monitor healthy eating, look out for "signs of abuse or neglect" and record whether pupils walk or cycle to school.
Errrmmm...am I the only one who thinks that this sounds awfully like spying on the private lives of the pupils and their families?
It would seem that all employees of the state, ie all public sector employees, are to become tools of the state and will be required to monitor what the rest of us do. In other words, Nanny is turning the public sector into the enemy of the people.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families has issued draft guidance which says:
"Whereas schools have access to a rich set of hard data on pupil attainment and progress to inform their evaluation . . . there is a dearth of data available about other aspects of pupil well being.
The proposal aims to fill that gap in order to improve the quality of schools' evaluation of their contribution to well-being."
Balls said that schools will be "accountable for whether they are contributing to child well-being".
It's called spying!
The public sector, and those who work for it, will become the enemy of the people.
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Isn't that the norm in Stalinist or authoritarian states?
ReplyDeleteEvery street had a party watcher that reported to the central government in both the USSR and Saddam's Iraq.
They still have them in China and North Korea and many Islamic states....I just never expected it to happen in the UK.
As a child, it was always considered wrong to be a tell tale tit or grass......Now it is almost compulsory....Haven't times changed?
I feel the government's (Dictated by EuroNanny) ID card scheme will help the government to spy on us even more....Of course the next stage will be something like we do with our pets.....Microchipping at birth or perhaps to replace the ankle tags.
This country is rapidly becoming an Orwellion state and I for one, don't like it.
I just hope the next government moves away from this big brother fascination that the current government has, but I won't hold my breath.
The 'free' world, very much a misnomer in my view though some parts of it might be somewhat less intimately observed than others, seems to be intent on matching itself to the 'unfree' world it has so long criticised. Presumably this is to counter 'terrorism' using the principle of "If you can't beat them, join them."
ReplyDeletePerhaps we of a certain age have just been unlucky enough to have grown to adulthood in a short period relative freedom and creative technological progress. This period is coming to an end as Nanny catches up and starts to understand what she can do with the technology and seeks new ways to regain the powers of control she thinks she is losing.
In many ways one would have a clearer understanding of what was going on and how it was to be managed living under Robert Mugabe's regime principles.
Ah well. All 'civilisations' come to an end after a relatively short period of influence. Whether that is the result of outside activity or internal self destruction probably matters not - the results are always much the same.
I feel sorry for my children. If ever see grandchildren I would feel doubly sorry for them. The cries of the environmentalista seem always to be 'think of the grandchildren' and cut carbon emissions. I think 'Global Warming' is the least of the problems that generations will face 40 or 50 years from now.
Perhaps much sooner.
Grant
New Labour = New Nanny. More socialist thought police and social engineering.
ReplyDeleteDon't think Dave will be much better as it all emenates from the EU anyway.
If you Brits ever get Nanny put back in her place, I suggest you adopt a form of our Constitution (I'm an American), or atleast our Bill of Rights. Things aren't good at all over here, but we can keep our government some-what in check with our Second Amendment. :P ;)
ReplyDelete"Nanny is turning the public sector into the enemy of the people."
ReplyDeleteShe already has.
With this new sinister development children are, in effect, expected to grass on their parents - how else will the authorities get information about, for example, children's diet? Nanny is assuming more and more responsibilities that are the proper preserve of parents which is extremely worrying.
ReplyDeleteI now feel that there is enough evidence of the authoritarianism of an over-mighty local, central and European State to justify extreme action. One strategy would be to vote en masse at the general election for a party that will get us out of the EU. Pity that UKIP and the BNP don't have enough candidates - or do they? I think that only then can we begin to rein in the powers of Westminster and the town halls.
Its true and is happening!
ReplyDeleteOur son came home from school on Thursday and told us that their class had been asked to do an on-line survey. Many very personal questions were asked about their parents & homelife.
The interpretation of Balls' kiddie wrapping tentacles (Hmm, that should get the monitors working overtime) are extending far and wide very rapidly.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that the story related here
http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2008/07/its-off-to-fat-camp-for-you.html
comes from a US blog but relates to a place about 50 miles or less up the road from me.
The very end of the full piece [see the link at the bottom of the landing page] adds some notable perspective.
What a bizarre country we live in.
Grant
Anonymous at 2.52. We had a Bill of Rights in 1689 and some of it (the bit about the right to possess arms for example) was the basis for your Bill of Rights.
ReplyDeleteThis site gives a very good overview of how our common law protections have been eroded and new laws introduced which have encroached on our civil rights:
http://www.magnacartaplus.org/
Some very long held presumptions have been removed, mostly in the guise of tackling modern forms of crime, but the balance between security and liberty has been well and truly lost.
As an old beat pounder this saddens me greatly and I am not alone. Many old ex-coppers view the current situation with wry disbelief and are very uneasy at the changes.
The problem with any Bill of Rights introduced now is that it would be New Labour window dressing and so riddled with PC nonsense of the type spewed by them over the last 11 years that it would be repressive rather than liberating.
I've said it before, and I'll say again - the only way to stop Nanny doing things like this to your children is to Home Educate.
ReplyDeleteNo national curriculum, no interference,no government brainwashing of your child.
Farmers know that every few years a field needs to be given a rest from intensive farming.
ReplyDeleteIt’s asking too much of any nation to sustain 10 years of intensive government without a rest.
We need a period of about three years with no more laws, no more taxes, no more cameras, no more enforcement officers, no more government initiatives, no more snooping on families, ....
anonymous @ 8.20 - is it possible to find out where the online survey is? Can your son remember where the survey is or where it can be located? More importantly, if personal information is being gathered then you have a right under the data protection laws to find out exactly what information is being held about you. DON'T LET THIS REMAIN UNCHALLENGED! It's vitally important that this is dragged out into the open. I'm not so sure that what happened to your son is entirely legal. Parental permission should have been obtained first before personal information is released. FIGHT THIS!!!
ReplyDeleteAlan
ReplyDeletesee Satruday's article, we are already on the job:)
Ken
I take issue with 'will become' - the term should be 'have become'.
ReplyDelete