You know how Nanny keeps entreating us to exercise more, so that we don't become a nation of fat bastards?You would have thought therefore that Nanny would have been well supportive of Sam O'Shea (10 years old) who wanted to cycle to St Paul's Primary School in Portsmouth, wouldn't you?
Well my old muckers, you would be wrong.
St Paul's banned him from cycling, claiming:
1 They had nowhere to store bicycles, and
2 The roads were too dangerous to cycle on in the area.
Here's why the above reasons are complete bollocks:
1 Sam and his parents were on TV last night discussing the issue face to face with one of the governors and headmistress of the school (in front of the school gates), it was a rather testy discussion with the headmistress saying "you don't want to see it from our point of view". Sam pointed to a purpose built storage area for bikes that had been erected (can I say "erected"?) only recently; they do have storage facilities.
2 It's not the school's responsibility to dictate to parents what is safe/unsafe outwith the school gates. Sam's parents are the ones who must decide if the roads are safe for him to cycle to school.
St Paul's Primary School, well deserving Prats of The Week.
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"It's not the school's responsibility to dictate to parents what is safe/unsafe outside the school gates".
ReplyDeleteAh yes, but in Nanny's view her state-run schools are far better than parents at bringing up children.
I wonder if the reason why we see more people getting their kicks by taking part in extreme sports and other dangerous activities, is because Nanny has decided to wrap everyone up in cotton wool and because, in my opinion, people need a little excitement and risk in their lives, they are turning to these more dangerous activities.
ReplyDeleteI am not saying cycling to school is dangerous, because it is not but, Nanny's drive to eliminate risk in people's lives may be having the opposite effect to the one Nanny desires.
Very true Tonk. Studies show that people LEAST likely to engage in extreme sports are military, police, firefighters.....people whos jobs are risky....(at least in US) From what I learned from this site, your police seem to be an arm of social servies, rather than criminal apprehension.
ReplyDeleteBut to the point.....as kids (late 60's- early 70's) we'd take off on our bikes after breakfest and took off for places unknown. We just had to be home for dinner And at age 50 it have plenty of scars from wipeout on those bike rides. Lived to tell.
debbie
" ...with the headmistress saying "you don't want to see it from our point of view".
ReplyDeleteSam and his parents could equally say the same to this jobsworth of a headmistress. The fact that a storagefacility for bicycles did exist just shows that someone was lying, and that the real reason for the ban was health and sodding safety (as usual). Moreover, as you rightly pointed out, Ken, the decision whether Sam cycles to school or not, is for his parents to make, noone else. Admittedly, there was less traffic in the 1960s, but, from the age of about 12 until I was 15, I cycled to school 5 days a week, a journey of 8 miles each way, much of the journey along fairly busy roads, and it didn't do me any harm!
" Anonymous said...
From what I learned from this site, your police seem to be an arm of social servies, rather than criminal apprehension.
But to the point.....as kids (late 60's- early 70's) we'd take off on our bikes after breakfest and took off for places unknown. We just had to be home for dinner And at age 50 it have plenty of scars from wipeout on those bike rides. Lived to tell."
Quite agree with you, sadly, on both these points.
Saw this story myself today and blogged about it. If I was this lad's mum I would be LIVID.
ReplyDelete