Ben's news opinions, or, "what the hell is the world coming to?"

 

"Sacked Baby P Boss Seeks Review" - "Sharon Shoesmith was removed from her post on the instruction of Ed Balls, the children's secretary, following severe criticism of her department. Ms Shoesmith argues the London council, Ofsted and the secretary of state treated her unfairly and illegally."

No... just... no. This stupid woman oversaw the department that pissed about doing nothing while this baby was being injured on a regular basis. They drove out a whistleblower who was trying to report how bad the care was. Once the kid was killed their own internal review showed that 'his horrifying death could and should have been prevented', but bizarrely and conveniently recommended that no individual should lose their job. The independent report that came later said that there was "insufficient supervision by senior management" and "failure to implement the recommendations of the Victoria Climbie inquiry, which heavily criticised it five years ago".

How can that not be the fault of the person in charge? She should never be allowed to work with humans again, never mind children. Go away you fool - you fucked up, and someone died in agony as a result. Get a different job.

Next...

"Bully Report School Worker Sacked" - "A dinner lady who told a parent his seven-year-old daughter had been attacked at school in Essex has lost her job after a disciplinary hearing".

Apparently telling a parent what happened to their child is a 'breach of confidentiality'. In other words, what happens to your child at school is secret! Only the school is allowed to decide what you find out. So if your child says one thing and the teacher says something else, you'll never know the truth, because everybody else has to take a vow of silence. "People working in schools have to respect the confidentiality of the school" says some moron from the Association of Head Teachers. Sorry, but no - schools are there for the children, not the other way around. Some teachers might be happier that instances of bullying don't make it out to the parents who choose where to send their kids or to the sponsors who fund the academies, but that should be completely subordinate to making sure parents know about the welfare of their kids. The school is not a person with a right to privacy. But the children are people with a right to proper protection, which can only come with full oversight of what goes on.


I was angry about something else too but I've forgotten it now. Grr!

music

I just got back from the Ensiferum / Metsatöll / Tracedawn gig. I only saw one Tracedawn song since they started at 7:20, even though the tickets clearly said "Doors: 7:30", and I turned up at 7:50. Fuck you Rock City! Ahem. Metsatöll were a pleasant surprise, with one guy pulling out a variety of instruments some of which I couldn't even name let alone play. Finishing it off were Ensiferum who were vastly more entertaining than Finntroll had been last week, although I was getting a bit bored towards the end.

The next gig will be Amorphis / Before The Dawn / Amoral on Saturday. Bring it on.

It's also a week and a half since I got the new Paradise Lost album. In that time pretty much all of my friends have heard it and almost unanimously think it's great. I've listened through it five times now, and I'm sticking with my judgement - I think it's the worst of their 'metal' albums since One Second. But hey, if everybody else loves it, great. I still have new Katatonia and Swallow The Sun to look forward to in the near future so all is well.