Ofstead Inspectors -

In the Walker Gallery in Liverpool there is a brilliant picture by the Victorian historical painter Frederick Yeames, it is called ; 'When did you last see your father?'   In it a small young boy of about six or seven, clad in brilliant blue cavalier garb, is standing on a stool in front of a table, the other side of which sits his interrogator, a kindly looking Puritan. Gathered round the table are other, more severe looking, sombre clad roundheads, while behind the little boy his mother and sisters cower under the guard of pikemen.  It is a great picture.

What a pity there is no Fredrick Yeames alive today. If there was he might well be tempted to update the picture. Now surely the scene would be set inside a school. The Puritan interrogator would now be an Ofstead inspector, the cowering girls in the background, would now be teachers terrified of the consequences of how an innocent answer to a question by the little boy might be interpreted by the Inspector. And the title of the picture?  Well I think I better leave that to your imagination.      

This not far fetched. This is modern Britain. Durham Free School faces closure after being branded an 'educational failure' because some pupils displayed 'discriminatory views.'  Allegedly the inspectors quizzed children as young as ten on how they would react if someone 'gay or Muslim' came  to the school and one ten year old girl was apparently asked to define what a lesbian was, an eleven year old girl was asked 'whether she knew any lesbians and whether any of her family had gay friends?'

I am sorry such questioning is not just disgusting but the mindset of the people who ask such question of little children must be twisted beyond belief. But that is the trouble isn't it. These inspectors are as sure of the righteousness of their calling and of their questioning as that roundhead officer in the picture was or -say - of a Gestapo officer questioning a young Jewish boy - yes I'm afraid I don't see much difference between a modern Ofstead 'right on' Inspector determined to root out any 'discriminatory' thoughts and Gestapo or KGB operators equally determined to root out  'anti social elements.'

Andrew Caplen -President of the Law society and Human Rights

Yesterday the Telegraph published a self serving letter from the President of the Law Society a position that equates to that of a  trade union boss.  In it he burbled on about his fears over the Conservative proposal to replace the Human Rights Act with a Bill of Rights. He wrote '....the Law Society has consistently questioned the necessity of a Bill of Rights and has stressed the importance of the Human Rights Act and the need to promote it not replace it'

He ended his letter with this supremely arrogant sentence;

"Human Rights belong to us; they are not within the gift of the government" 

Yes that's what he wrote - showing a complete contempt for the democratic process.  I said earlier that the position of President of the Law Society equated with that of a trade union boss perhaps what I should have added was a trade union boss from the 1960's/70's i.e. one who had a contempt for the general public and for the will of the people.

The Human Rights Act is a disaster for everyone but the lawyers who are milking it via Legal Aid for hundreds of millions of pounds. No wonder the Solicitors leader is so worried about it's abolition. Virtually any day of the week you open a newspaper and read of a judgement which seems to be without a iota of common sense. So on the day his letter was published there was an item about a foreign doctor wanted in America for child rape. The court ruled that his 'right to liberty and security' under the Human Rights Act was at threat if he was extradited. Wow - what a surprise. Yes if you go round raping children and get caught your 'right to liberty' is -one would have thought - at risk and so it should be.

Today I open my newspaper and find yet another moronic judge, Mr Justice Gilbart- has ruled that Mr Pickles policy, bought in to stop gipsies repeating the Dale Farm fiasco,had breached the Equality Act and -you've got - the Human Rights Act.

This country is a Democracy - something the legal profession and the Judiciary seem to have forgotten. In their arrogance and in their desire to line their own pockets at our expense they feel they should be above the will of the people. Exactly like the trade union bosses of yesteryear.  In his  determination to abolish the Human Rights Act David Cameron should have every thinking persons support - and when lawyers like Andrew Caplen,President of the Law Society squeal - just remember who is profiting from the Human Rights Act - his members.

Public expenditure - Clare Barnfather Director (Grade 6) Stakeholder and Engagement team ...

The row over public expenditure is bound to dominate the coming General Election and I am indebted to a letter in the Telegraph from a Mr Andrew Given who drew attention to the following recipient of an MBE in the New Year's Honours List:

Ms Clare Barnfather, Director (Grade 6), Stakeholder and Engagement Team and No.10 Relationship Manager-Marketing Department for Business Innovation and Skills (London) .

That such a complete and utter waste of rations is awarded an MBE is bad enough but what is worse is that she is operating under the very nose of David Cameron.  If No. 10 is still providing employment for such a nonentity then the mind boggles at how many other such time and money wasters are employed in the public sectors.