Tut, tut, Mr Balls

Oh dear, poor Ed Balls.

It seems he made a mistake - he broke the law. That's the LAW, Mr Balls, the law of the land that applies to everyone, whether they're humble home educators or MPs (or former MPs since we haven't had the election yet).

According to the Telegraph he was fined for using a mobile phone while driving - with his three children in the car!

The Telegraph quotes him as saying: "I 100 per cent support the law on mobile phones - it's there to protect the safety of all drivers, passengers and pedestrians.''

So, if he supports it (good to hear) and knows that it's there to protect people's safety (including passengers' - that means his own children in this instance) why exactly did he break it? ''Although our car has hands-free, I took my phone off the cradle because I did not want to wake the kids,'' he told the Telegraph.

Ah, now I understand. He risked injuring or killing his children (that is why the law is there about not using mobile phones, isn't it? It's there to protect the safety of passengers, didn't he say?) because he didn't want to wake them up. That's a clear choice, isn't it?

The Daily Mail has a bit more to say about it all, including condemnation from road safety groups.

They quote him as saying "It was a fair cop. It was late at night, I had no points on my licence. The police pulled me straight over. I immediately accepted the fine and the three points."

That's OK then. It was late at night, the time when children are expected to sleep; parents usually know this sort of thing. Did he not think about this before setting off, that maybe his children would fall asleep? If he didn't want to use the hands-free set he could have switched off the phone.

This is the man who has been in charge of the Department for Children, Schools and Families - that's the department that's supposed to have an interest in looking after children, keeping them safe, even.

"The police pulled me straight over." Hey, that's their job - if they see somebody breaking the law, they stop them.

"I immediately accepted the fine and the three points." Well, what other options were there? Are we supposed to applaud? Yeah, he broke the law, but that's all right because he accepted he'd done it and just took the punishment? That makes it OK, does it?

The Mail also quotes him as saying "it was a stupid thing to do, but that happens from time to time". I'm not sure how to take that, to be honest. Is he saying that he does stupid things from time to time or that he uses his phone while driving from time to time? If it's the latter, should he really have more than three points on his licence? If it's the former, well ....

I can almost feel Gordon Brown's irritation. The Daily Mail again: "Gordon Brown said Mr Balls would apologise, adding: ‘These things happen and I hope he's going to apologise, as he will.’"

So let's summarise here.

Ed Balls was the minister in charge of the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF).

He was in charge of the DCSF when the Children, Schools and Families Bill was going through parliament.

He was in charge when Schedule 1 of that Bill (which proposed draconian measures around home education) was dropped in the wash-up.

It was Ed Balls who wrote to Michael Gove saying that opposition to the proposed registration scheme for home educators was "profoundly misguided and will put children at risk in the future."

In the same letter Mr Balls said "However, without our reforms the small minority of children at risk will remain so. By opposing these provisions you have removed a potentially valuable tool for local authorities in their work to safeguard all children."

He also said that he would "be campaigning to ensure that this Government is returned and that these measures do make it on the statute book in the first session of the new Parliament."

Safeguarding children, hmmm? That means keeping them safe, taking steps to make sure they don't get injured.

This is the same man who broke the law by using his mobile phone while driving with his three children in the car.

Would I trust him to take measures that would keep my children safe? I'll have to think about that.

Of course, if ever those proposed registration measures do become law I suppose people who fail to register could always say in defence that "these things happen".


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/election/article-1268808/General-Election-2010-Ed-Balls-fined-driving-mobile.html?ito=feeds-newsxml#ixzz0mI8PuNIG

Bizarre!

I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds it a little bizarre that three former MPs who are accused of fiddling their expenses are going to get legal aid! It's been reported pretty widely, such as here.

Legal aid is paid for by the taxpayer.

MPs' expenses are paid for by the taxpayer.

MPs are paid a salary that most of us would envy - ooh, hang on, that's paid for with our taxes too, isn't it?

Most peculiar - it's an Alice in Wonderland moment, isn't it?!

Joyful Celebrations

Wow, Spring has sprung, the daffodils are blooming, birds are building nests and the Government had to drop the Home Education parts out of its Children, Schools and Families Bill in order to get it through "the Wash-up".

I'm amazed that the earth is still on its axis, given that so many English home educators have been jumping up and down for joy.

Never underestimate a parent and how much he/she will do for his/her child.

Never, ever underestimate a parent who has a child with an additional need or disability.

Never, ever, ever underestimate a parent who educates his/her child at home.

So, given that the majority of home educators (if not all) are incredibly committed to their children's education and make sacrifices in order to educate them at home and that many have children with additional needs or disabilities - well, the Department for Children, Schools and Families plus Ed Balls and Delyth Morgan really should have known these parents wouldn't just lie down and go "OK - we don't mind you slandering us, infringing our civil liberties and making unreasonable demands".

Well done, everybody.

Of course, they will be back - the DCSF staff are still there and Ed Balls has already laid out his intentions to do this all over again in his letter to Michael Gove which you can find here.

At the top of his page there is an invitation to "Get in touch with Ed".

Surely there should be a button to "Get in touch with reality"?