The number of primary school leavers struggling with literacy has risen by 30,000 over the past year, taking the total up to over 200,000. In the past 12 months 840 million days of in-person schooling have been lost. The Sunday Times has the story.
More than 200,000 pupils will move from primary school to secondary school this autumn without being able to read properly, according to unpublished Government figures.
The findings, which have sent a jolt through Downing Street, show the impact of lockdown on learning, with the number of children struggling with literacy rising by 30,000 over the past year.
Boris Johnson will use a key speech to launch a “four-year emergency” plan to help disadvantaged children catch up.
Senior Government sources said the problem was the prime minister’s top priority after the coronavirus vaccination programme and would remain a central focus until the next election.
A week ago Johnson met Sir Kevan Collins, who is leading a review of the impact of the coronavirus on schoolchildren. He is said to have “put a rocket up” No 10 about the scale of the crisis. …
At his Downing Street press conference on March 23rd, the prime minister said: “It’s the loss of learning for so many children and young people that’s the thing we’ve got to focus on now as a society.” He expressed concern about those “unable properly to read or write as a result of Covid”.
A recent report by the Children’s Commissioner drew attention to the damage done to education by the lockdown policy.
A report by the Children’s Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, found that about 840 million days of in-person schooling, equal to roughly 19 weeks a pupil, had been lost since the start of the pandemic until March 8th.
De Souza called last night for a “supercharged educational catch-up”. She said: “We asked children to make a huge sacrifice to help control the virus and now we need to give them something back.”
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Tuesday Morning Wokingham Road & Downshire Way
Bracknell
I didn’t know there were allegations against Edwards since 2008! And yet there he was, years after the Savile scandal, prime time slots, covering royal events and whatnot. The paedo-supporters at the Beeb happy to look the other way because they’re all cut from the same cloth and complicit. Marilyn Hawes surely says what we all think here;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CggX7rxU5DE&ab_channel=TalkTV
This is the thread I was on about demonstrating the contrast between the punishment people are being given for opposing government policy and paedophiles, but it’s the same judges who are doing the sentencing. I don’t think you can view threads unless you’ve a Twitter account though, and there’s 14 so I can’t post them all individually, so here’s just two examples;
”Almost every judge I’ve identified as being involved in the rapid prosecution and incarceration of individuals who participated in the Southport riots has a history of letting convicted pedophiles walk free with no jail time.
A short thread on “two-tier” justice:
JUDGE ANDREW MENARY
Sentenced William Nelson Morgan, 69, to 32 months in prison for refusing to move out of the way of police officers.
Menary previously let a pedophile who collected baby rape videos walk with no jail time because his lawyer said he had “good character.”
https://x.com/Slatzism/status/1822257150292263192
JUDGE STEVEN EVERETT
Sentenced Julie Sweeney, 53, to 15 months in prison for a Facebook post which read “blow the [Southport] mosque up.”
Everett has let multiple pedophiles walk free. He once called it “unconscionable” to send a man caught with child rape images to jail.”
https://x.com/Slatzism/status/1823779405342097571
Why did the judge redact the part of the victim’s statement which said she thinks these dangerous predators who abused her and others should be deported back to Pakistan when they’ve served their sentence? What’s controversial about that?
”The victim impact statement of a woman who was groomed and raped by a Pakistani gang as a young child was told by a judge to remove a request for her abusers to be deported from her victim impact statement.
However, GB News discovered that the speech was heavily censored by the judge, with multiple sections erased due to restrictions they imposed. “I’d like to request that after sentencing and upon Rudy and Showabe’s release, that they should be deported back to Pakistan as this is where they originated from and came here to exploit children,” the original uncensored conclusion of the statement read.
“If someone’s not born here and they’re here to exploit children, after the sentences they should be deported,” the woman told GB News. “There’s nothing to say that they’ll stop exploiting children. We can deport them and let their own country deal with them. The Foreign Office should absolutely give Pakistan full punishment if they refuse to accept grooming gang rapists. Those men need to be deported or Pakistan should have its visas restricted.”
https://www.thepublica.com/uk-victim-of-pakistani-grooming-gang-ordered-by-court-to-delete-her-request-to-have-her-rapists-deported/
“OK boys – the hard drug and immigration trafficking trades are drying up a bit, but if we abduct poor children in Asia or Eastern Europe, film them being raped, and then snuff them to cover our tracks, there are plenty of people of good character in Britain who will pay good money for the videos, and their legal system supports them.”
Well that’s about the size of it, isn’t it? I don’t like to dwell on the fact that the ones being reported in the news are just the ones being caught, but this is surely tip of the iceberg stuff and how many perverts are there out there right now collecting, buying, filming these crimes? This is an entire industry, after all. And obviously these are not victimless crimes, they’re not using AI generated imagery. Real children are being really abused and suffering at the hands of psychopaths because there’s a demand for this sick filth. But waving a St George’s flag and attending a protest, shouting words or writing something deemed ‘anti-immigration’ online is seen as a *crime*, let alone a worse ‘crime’ than being caught with these child abuse images? Utter madness.
What Marilyn was saying in the above link about chemical castration being ineffective as a ‘cure’ was interesting. I know it’s the same drug that they use as a ‘puberty blocker’ on these poor confused kids who are adamant they wish to ‘trans’. But Marylin maintains that the drugs only work on the physical aspect with a paedophile, they won’t get rid of the problem ‘upstairs’, and if somebody is hardwired that way they can still access this material and still find other ways to abuse a child, if their urges are that strong. So does this mean it’s true, that paedophiles can never really be rehabilitated? I know some actively seek help but I don’t know how successful that intervention ( presumably some form of therapy ) is.
“Hardwired” is a bad word to use for any complex human behaviour (and to tap into a paedophile culture as an abuser or an apologist is in itself complex, quite apart from the desire itself).
There is really no evidence for genetic programming of any particular human behaviour, though what causes bad choices that then become deep-seated habits and finally obsessions is a complex and obscure matter.
As soon as someone tells me that my doing bad things is “in my genes,” then I am absolved from taking responsibility… and indeed I can claim my peculiarity as a human right. People change when they want to, as many reformed addicts prove – the big problem is that I can persuade others, even myself, that I want to change when in my inaccessible self I don’t want to at all.
That leaves me, or maybe others, to keep me out of situations where I might harm myself or others. Trusting to my “good character” if I’ve proven it’s bad by my behaviour is not realistic.
Yes it then becomes one of those ”nature or nurture” questions, I think. By ”hardwired” I suppose I’m referring to if a child had an upbringing or traumatic experience happen to them in their formative years which might provide an explanation, or at least a clue, as to why they then go on to become a paedophile. A bit like: are psychopaths, serial killers etc, born this way, with something in their brain or psychology not working in the same way as the vast majority of the population ( such as being devoid of empathy and having no conscience ), or did something go wrong in their childhood development and so they acquired this aspect of their personality? This is all above my pay grade and pretty complex stuff and I must admit to not being well-read on any of the scientific literature and research that’s available. I don’t even know how much is due to physicality, such as actual deficits in certain parts of the brain or dysfunction in neurotransmitters, for instance, that would explain certain behaviours, and how much is caused by a person’s upbringing.
Surely if somebody became a paedophile as a direct result of something happening in their younger years then there must surely be hope of a successful rehabilitation? But obviously they must acknowledge that they have a serious problem and want to change, not just show remorse as a direct result of being caught after many years of leading a double life, which is obviously the case with Huw Edwards and many others. They aren’t sorry about the children their sick urges have helped abuse, because they are the ones creating a demand and enabling this entire industry in the first place. They’re only sorry that they got rumbled, their shameful secret is out, public persona shattered, along with the lives of their immediate family they’ve no doubt been fooling for many years.
I feel sorry most of all for any kids involved, for obvious reasons. I’m not sure how one even comes to terms with finding out your dad has been hiding the fact he’s a paedophile for your entire life. Don’t tell me people such as Edwards were able to emotionally separate his urges for his own kids when they were younger from the images of children being abused that he was viewing, because how many years has he even been doing this in secret? This recent case is just about the stuff he got caught with, not what has surely gone on for many years. I know that if I were his wife I’d now be terrified looking back and wondering if he’d touched the kids inappropriately, abused them or filmed them and got some sexual gratification out of it, because surely it would be too tempting and strong an urge to resist for any paedophile in a position of trust.
40 or so examples I pulled off Twitter a while back
http://www.mediafire.com SLASH file/rezrwyvrmpequtd/TwoTier.zip/file
A titchy bit more before I have to dash, as I’m on a roll. Look at this absolute p*ss-take;
”A dad, who didn’t take part in any violence, but did wave England’s flag, is in prison for two years, his children go without their father.
Huw Edwards walks free for what I’m sure most of us would view as far worse a crime.
And Labour dare tell us two tier justice doesn’t exist?”
https://x.com/darrengrimes_/status/1835990108673102239
Now contrast with this.
”Does the BBC have a problem with employees being nonces?
He avoided jail in 2022 as well…”
https://x.com/EssexPR/status/1836001734130348177
The jackboot is coming down hard on those who dare display opposition to government narratives and policies.
This is only going one way, so far as I can see – a violent revolution.
How many of the rioters who aren’t against uncontrolled immigration have had quick and lengthy sentences?
Exactly right. Even Stevie Wonder can see who they’re targeting ( and why ) and who they’re letting off the hook and going soft on. People attending protests and waving their country’s flag or posting stuff on FB should not be getting sent to jail, people who collect child sex abuse material, who are provably part of this sick and evil industry based on the suffering of vulnerable children definitely should be. In the above Twitter thread a man even raped his intoxicated niece but was let off because he ”showed remorse”! WTAF are these judges on??!
Another link between the BBC an extremely depraved individual;
”A prominent British crocodile expert has been jailed for 10 years and five months for raping, torturing and killing dozens of dogs.
Adam Britton, a zoologist based in Darwin, Australia, pleaded guilty to 56 charges of bestiality and animal cruelty at the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory (NT) in September last year.
He also pleaded guilty to four counts of accessing and transmitting child abuse material.
Britton, 52, whose sentencing suffered a series of delays, was on Thursday also banned for life from purchasing animals and having them on his property, Australian media reports.
His offending involved the torture and exploitation of 42 dogs, and the deaths of 39, in a shipping container on his property – which he used to film many of his crimes.
Chief Justice Michael Grant described Britton’s “grotesque” and “unspeakable” crimes against animals as he sentenced him.
The judge excused court officers during his sentencing remarks, as he warned the gallery that details of the offences could cause a “nervous shock or some other adverse psychological reactions”.
Britton was a senior researcher at Charles Darwin University and also worked on BBC and National Geographic productions.
He once hosted Sir David Attenborough while the veteran broadcaster filmed part of a docuseries on his property.”
https://news.sky.com/story/british-crocodile-expert-adam-britton-jailed-for-raping-torturing-and-killing-dozens-of-dogs-13193079
“GPs work an average of 26 hours a week, study finds”
Ah, lazy GPs on the golf-course! I suspect it’s more a question of decades of (a) training more women than men, relatively few of whom will commit to full-time in the long term, and (b) making it increasingly impossible to maintain a traditional independent GP practice, that is, instituting a model of doctors employed by largely commercial organisations or the NHS bureaucracy , and therefore with no incentive to work more than their contract requires.
WWIII was narrowly averted on Saturday when Biden told Starmer Ukraine would not be authorized to fire long-range missiles at Russia, according to Scott Ritter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ypk75F1jB0A, from 14m49s onwards.
ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles have to be programmed by US and UK forces, therefore Russia would regard their use by Ukraine against targets inside Russia as a US/NATO declaration of war against Russia.
Russia will automatically respond by launching an Avangard hypersonic missile with a 26 kiloton warhead (stronger than Hiroshima but non-nuclear) at Kiev, followed by ‘taking out’ sites in UK, Brussels, Germany and USA. This will all be instantaneous and immediate.
USA would presumably react with a nuclear launch …
At this stage I think I’d just sit in a deckchair out the back with my bottle of Linkwood 15yo and enjoy the fireworks.
Briefly.
Or, conceivably, the US would do a Suez and say, “Tough titties- you ignored our advice and now you’re even less of a commercial rival.” I don’t think NATO nations are obliged to step in if a member starts a war.
I certainly accept that Britain’s war rhetoric, in the absence of any kind of military parity, is designed on the basis that our Older Brother is bound to step in if we kick a big boy on the shins. But Older Brother may decide it’s better for Younger Brother to be beaten up than both of them.
The United States strategy of weakening Russia so that it can no longer invade its neighbours is working well, so much so that Russia has, itself, been invaded by one of its neighbours.
So any change in permissions is not required.
The first time anyone will know about a change in policy regarding use of specific European/U.S. weaponry inside Russia will be when it is used.
The U.S., U.K., France, China, India and Russia all have a Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle capability. Britain has had that capability since the 1980s.
Scott Ritter has been working for RT. He will now cease working for RT.
This is also not surprising:
‘Last month, the FBI raided the homes of Scott Ritter, a former United Nations weapons inspector and critic of American foreign policy…..
In late August, The New York Times reported that these searches were part of the U.S. Justice Department’s “broad criminal investigation into Americans who have worked with Russia’s state television networks.’
The United States strategy of weakening Russia so that it can no longer invade its neighbours is working well …
You do not question why the US should have a strategy of weakening Russia, instead of a strategy to foster good relations both with Russia and all other countries. You imply that Russia should not have the capability to invade a neighbouring country – which is certainly true unless there are dire reasons to do so – but you seemingly accept that USA, with its apparent non-stop history of world-wide invasions from Vietnam to Syria, should supply endless amounts of finance and military equipment to be used against Russia, even though this is at the cost of Ukrainian lives and the Ukrainian country, and now possibly the world.
Scott Ritter did magnificent work in the area of nuclear disarmament and it is a very sad fact that nobody is interested in pursuing this in today’s world. Scott discusses the topic of RT and free press immediately following the section I referenced in the video above. I am afraid I do not share your enthusiasm for either the US (or UK!) judicial system or media.
Putin believes that he is in a struggle for national survival due to adverse demographics within Russia.
Listen to him.
He has been indicted for war crimes
The U.S. was not supplying Ukraine with finance or weaponry before 2014. Ukraine had Soviet equipment.
I only indicate the U.S. strategy and its success. I make no comment on what I think of it. After all, as Putin knows well, the only principle in foreign policy is to have no principles.
Scott Ritter was a chemical weapons inspector….and a criminal.
I do not share your enthusiasm for criminals or those indicted for war crimes.
The U.S. was not supplying Ukraine with finance or weaponry before 2014 …
https://www.cato.org/commentary/sending-weapons-ukraine-could-have-unintended-consequences:
Since 2000, the US has provided double-digit millions of dollars in weapons and weapons training to Ukraine. According to data collected by the Security Assistance Monitor, prior to the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014, the two largest increases in this aid occurred in 2002 (where the total value was over $67 million) and 2008 (where the total value was over $80 million). For the former, this was Ukraine’s fifth year collaborating with NATO and the development of the NATO–Ukraine Action Plan, which called for greater security cooperation. In 2008, security assistance increased after the Russian war with Georgia. Finally, following Russia’s invasion of Crimea, security assistance from the US to Ukraine increased to over $90 million in 2014, over $182 million in 2015, and then has remained above $200 million every year since. Yet, many of these weapons have seemingly disappeared into an abyss.
According to the 2021 Global Organized Crime Index, Ukraine has one of the largest illegally trafficked arms markets in Europe, especially when it comes to small arms and ammunition. About 300,000 small arms and light weapons were reported lost or stolen between 2013 and 2015. Of these, only slightly more than 13% are recovered, while the vast amount remains in circulation in the black market. This says nothing of major weapons, such as radar systems and Javelin missiles also sent to the country.
…
Concerning criminals, is it not amazing that no US president since WWII has ever been indicted for all the war crimes he committed? (There are – I believe, off hand – no exceptions.)
Erm… even though less than one in five workers are in the public sector?
Although the author does not put an actual figure to it, the tone suggests that public sector workers make up nearly 20% of the UK’s workers and the author does not then pursue the point. I don’t doubt it’s true but that is crazy. Why does the public sector employ so many people? It should ‘downsize’ – for one thing that would reduce the future pension burden on the rest of us.
Also, one minor gripe: even though
lessfewer than one in five workers are in the public sector…Newsguard is ‘a rating operation being used to warn users, advertisers, educators and funders away from media outlets based on how it views the outlets’ “credibility and transparency.”’
Who rates Newsguard? Organisations and rich individuals who believe in free speech should set up a rating operation to rate Newsguard and fact-checkers, etc.
I have rated Newsguard and my findings are that it is BBC and establishment biased to a degree which wholly undermines its claims of impartiality.
In conclusion the determinations of Newsguard should be disregarded in full as they have no groundings in impartiality.
“Civil servants threaten to boycott the office for an entire year”
And it’s no wonder, since they face terrible dangers by commuting, like this one today
…
“A spokesman for Great Western Railways said: “We can confirm that the 08:54 Reading to Gatwick was terminated at Redhill after a couple of squirrels boarded the train at Gomshall without tickets.”
““We attempted to remove them at Redhill, but one refused to leave and was returned to Reading.”
“A source told the newspaper: “It was complete pandemonium. The squirrels got into the rear carriage and attacked people.
Train cancelled after squirrels board and ‘refuse to leave’ (msn.com)
“‘I want a society where paedophiles are going to prison, not just socially shamed’” – On TalkTV, Kemi Badenoch
SPEAKING OF THE REFORM PARTY, rather than the shower of Tory failures, the Pakistani Muslim Billionaire, whose measly half a million pound donation won him the Chairmanship (wasn’t this once called bribery in the old days?), has already rewritten the Reform Party constitution to enable him to replace Nigel as party leader in the future.
Bait & Switch.
Welcome to tax surcharges on top of rapid depreciation: https://www.gbnews.com/lifestyle/cars/drivers-car-tax-increase-dvla-electric If they actually use the original market price list value, they could be shooting themselves in the foot. Might further undermine the market for second hand purchases for many products. Maybe some list prices might fall by sleight of hand to be under the higher tax level,