Big Sister

Once it was the case that if you needed an engineer or a pilot, a chap with a Scottish accent was at the top of the short list. Trustworthy, you see. It is not often that the Scots among us become noticable for their 'issues'. Over the past few years however they have had a few 'issues' that have worried a few of us Anglophiles and we wonder just what is going on up there in the draughty highlands.

When recently they started to make noises about 'Independence' from the United Kingdoms - which the history buffs amongst you may recall was a reverse take-over with the Scottish King coming south to sit on the English throne - one could see some merit in the idea, frankly. The English could look forward to ceasing all the taxpayer subsidies for north of the border, and the Scots could look forward to unshackling themselves from the Muslim invasion down south. After all there would be few middle eastern types likely to move to Mull or Inverness. And Kirkudbright would not be a best named place for a mosque.

But what actually eventuated in the intervening few years is an unexpected rise in Untrustworthiness as the Feminists took-over.

William Wallace would be turning in his grave, had he any arms to turn himself with.  He'd do a scottish reel, he would. But now it is we in the Tavern who are reeling at the news brought by a chap with a genuine Scottish cleft stick.

Tom Peterkin sat himself down in the all-present-and-correct-for-now UK room for a Yard of Ale and told us.... about the 'Named Person' scheme that the feminists who now rule Scotland have introduced. 

This scheme 'allocates' an 'adult, approved by the State' to watch over YOUR children and 'report' upon how they are doing under your care. 

Revealed: what can happen when a Named Person reports on your children

The Named Person scheme is to be rolled out across Scotland in August but one father’s experience of the pilot rings alarm bells for its many opponents

The handwritten note on an official form read: “Mr Smith feels it is impossible to stop his youngest son from sucking his thumb as he needs it for comfort. Did not appear to take advice on board fully.”

The words, written by the two-year-old thumbsucker’s Named Person, sent a shiver down the spine of Andrew Smith [not his real name], a father-of-two young boys and a respected academic at one of Scotland’s leading universities.

 http://www.scotsman.com/news/revealed-what-can-happen-when-a-named-person-reports-on-your-children-1-4089077

Contained within a 60-page document that had been compiled about his family, the note referred to a blister which had appeared on the toddler’s thumb as a result of the childhood habit. It also suggested Smith contact his GP if the blister became “hot to touch or very red”.

Smith, whose name has been withheld to protect the identities of his children, grew more alarmed as he leafed through the document, the vast majority of which had been redacted.

The surviving extracts appeared to indicate that the minutiae of his family life had been recorded in painstaking detail for almost two years, under a Named Person scheme which has been introduced in his part of the country ahead of its final roll-out across all of Scotland in August. A separate note made by the Named Person charged with keeping an eye on the academic’s two little boys was concerned with nappy rash.

“Suggests infrequent changes of soiled nappy though difficult to assess this,” the Named Person – a health visitor – jotted down.

For Smith, the contentious scheme was redolent of a Big Brother-style snoopers’ charter. Also of concern was the tone of the notes.

No. Not Big Brother. Let's get this right.

It is Big Sister. The Scottish Leader is a female. A Feminist. 

“I felt shocked and vulnerable,” he told Scotland on Sunday. “Then I felt angry and powerless when I saw these notes made of very trivial things and constant surveillance of small things that are part of everyday parenting – a total lack of respect and confidence in the parents. You have no control over this. I maintain that the hearsay put in there is false.

“But they won’t let me correct it. I have provided them with independent accounts that show that some of those statements are false, but they refuse to enter them. So the impression is that they are trying to build a case against me.”

Another entry described the effects of a runny nose on his youngest as “crusts on his face from nasal discharge” and reported that someone, whose name had been redacted, was concerned that the child’s face “appeared to have been left for a long time without cleaning”.

Reference was made to the youngest child having a “depressed mood”, which was now “no longer a problem”.

Smith’s shock was compounded by the fact that work on this dossier, known as a Family Record, had started without his knowledge. He had only discovered its existence by accident long after the details of his home life had begun to be recorded. Furthermore, it was only after an eight-month battle with his local health board that he managed to obtain a redacted version of the document, which began to be compiled after an acrimonious break-up with his wife which led to a protracted legal row over access to their two children.

Eventually their dispute was settled out of court and his two sons stay with him most of the time while his estranged wife has access on certain days of the week. To his relief the Family Record has finally been closed.

Nevertheless, there was a bitter aftertaste as he talked about his Named Person experience at the end of a week that saw the hugely controversial scheme become one of the hot issues on the Scottish election campaign trail.

It would appear that voters are waking up to the fact that the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 comes into force in four months time. 

From 1 August all children in Scotland will be allocated a Named Person to look out for their welfare. 

All 'In the Best Interests of the Children' of course. 

Now where have we heard that before. Ahh yes, that well known child specialist Mr Hitler. It has been updated and re-packaged by another Nazi, the feminazi, Nicola Sturgeon.

The Named Person will act as a single point of contact with the ability to share information with social and other services if there is cause for concern about the way a child is behaving or being brought up.

In preparation for the law’s introduction, many parts of the country, including Smith’s area, have already established a Named Person scheme under the Scottish Government’s Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) guidelines. 

Under GIRFEC, a Named Person is told to think about a child’s needs using a “well-being wheel” comprising seven “well-being” indicators known as SHANARRI, standing for safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected and responsible. Smith’s experience has prompted him to speak against it at meetings organised by those campaigning against the legislation.

“I find it sinister. I find it very creepy. I find it chilling,” he said. 

“They just hoover up all of this hearsay and then collate it into huge documents and on to databases. Under the new legislation all sorts of people have access to these databases. All they need is four or five reasons for intervention and they can hoover up information from any database and there is no control over whether this is true or not.”

The Named Person scheme has been denounced as a State Guardian system by its detractors, who claim those who act as Named Persons, including health visitors and headteachers, undermine the role of parents.

But many support it. The question is whether it is, as Smith contends, a gross intrusion into family life or a necessary and welcome initiative that will do what it was designed to do – protect children from harm.

Is having a Named Person making notes about thumb-sucking, nappy rash and emotional wellbeing a sensible precaution when families face difficult circumstances – or is it an insidious invasion of privacy?

Tragic cases like that of 11-week-old Caleb Ness, the Edinburgh baby killed by his father despite the involvement of social work and health staff, have convinced the Scottish Government that action has to be taken. Indeed, the Named Person approach has the support of many organisations within civic Scotland, including children’s charities and teaching unions, who believe it will help struggling families and prevent tragedies.

Opponents claim it is impractical. In general, health visitors will act as Named Persons for pre-school children, with head teachers taking up the mantle as they get older. But how, for example, is a head supposed to keep an eye on hundreds of pupils? And how will blame be apportioned when things go wrong?

There is also a legal challenge being taken by the NO2NP – Say No to the Named Person Scheme – campaign in the Supreme Court. The campaigners – made up of three individuals and the Christian Institute, Family Education Trust, The Young ME Sufferers (“Tymes”) Trust and Care (Christian Action Research & Education) – claim it breaches the European Convention on Human Rights.

Last week, Nicola Sturgeon’s political opponents used their platform on the campaign trail to speak out against the Scottish Government’s proposals. Scottish Conservatives leader Ruth Davidson urged ministers to rethink the scheme when she met parents campaigning against it.

It has not stopped the scheme, I understand.

Whooda Thunk that old, cold and hairy Scotland would be the place to fall to feminism? 

News is coming in that the Government Act mentions 'Mother' just once and 'Father' not at all.

Just think of all those 'Jobs for the Girls', for there is little doubt that women will be most of the 'named persons' doing the secret snooping and reporting. How many children are there in Scotland?

Hmmm. Well over a million by now.

I can see it - Catholic women will be reporting on Presbyterians; Atheists on Catholics, and Presbyterians on Atheist parents. And should any asylum seeking refugee Muslims from Turkey and all points south of Kurdish lands manage to make their way to Edinbro' or Glasgow, Mrs Shakira el Mahdi will be passing the blue pencil to her husband, the local ISIS liaison Mullah's best mate, to do the dirty.

It should make for some very dark headlines.

And the taxes. All those ladies to be employed. The pages at 4 Scottish Groats a pop. If a 2 year old can have 60 pages in the 'trial' period, just wait until the scheme really gets going and careers have to be made !

Some unkind folk say that the Scots are revolting (I am part Scot, m'self) and perhaps it is time they showed us all just how revolting they can be.

I shall pour a wee dram all 'round.

Pax.