Nikolay Kalinin slams Gavin Williamson’s war on mobile phones in schools
Away from pursuing the passage of the blatantly stupid Higher Education Bill, Gavin Williamson has decided to wage war on mobile phones in schools, saying that they are “not just distracting, but when misused or overused, they can have a damaging effect on a pupil’s mental health and wellbeing.” Coupled with the Tory majority, the proposal will most certainly become law.
Admittedly, there is some ground to his arguments – yes, I too cannot believe I said that – as apps such as TikTok and Instagram are not only distracting, but also could be used for cyberbullying and sexual harassment, as Ofsted has highlighted.
However, this legislation is both useless and is some cases even harmful; for starters, schools already have restrictions regarding mobile phone use; some for example require students to switch devices off before class or put them into a box, and some can ban their usage outright. I’m not usually a supporter of libertarianism, but policies like this do make sense because they are flexible.
Portable telephone can also be used for beneficial purposes; the CEO of Mumsnet for example recently wrote an article criticising Gavin’s proposal and revealing that one of her friend’s sons who has special needs uses his phone to record verbal instructions and take photos of the board.
There are also apps such as Evernote which allow students to organise their notes and therefore increase their chances of memorising knowledge. For many students therefore, the phone is not just a tool for entertainment, it’s also a tool for education.
The catch-up situation is in particular important because technology is not to blame for the decline of children’s education; rather it’s the lack of financial support they and their schools receive.
Used properly and appropriately, technology has a place in learning.
According to a report by the Cornwall council, around 130 homeless people were forced to leave hotels in order to make room for 5,000 policemen in recent days. Some of them were moved to other temporary accommodation, only to be evicted once again.
One of the people evicted, who has schizophrenia, was forced to stay at a surf hostel. Her mother, Claire, who did not want her full name used, described the horrific conditions there: “The hostel is full of drunk surf dudes and holidaymakers. She is terrified – she thinks people are coming to get her. They have not even put in her a safe place. She has been treated abysmally.”
Going further, the distraught mother quite justifiably added: “What gives them the right to force vulnerable adults out of their accommodation?”
Local charity DISC Newquay has also reported that homeless people have been evicted from the luxury Carbis Bay Hotel, which sparked fury back in March for pulling down ancient woodland in order to make wave for redevelopment, despite being supposedly “eco-friendly” accommodation.
What these incidents show is a complete disregard for human wellbeing; what was the reasoning behind throwing homeless people out of hotels where it is safer for them to stay? There are around 1,343 hotels in Cornwall, meaning that there HAS to be enough room for members of police and government.
This is not the only problem currently plaguing the summit, as over the last couple of days, environmental activists have organised a series of protests in Cornwall, with one featuring protesters in Boris Johnson masks pushing a burning boat into the water with “YOUR CHILDREN’S FUTURE” written on it in order to convince the delegates to tackle ocean pollution.
In addition, 80 activists have set off on a 6-day walk from Plymouth Hoe to Carbis Bay in an attempt to convince the delegates to prioritise climate change agenda during the summit, with some of them from the Extinction Rebellion.
I also see very little point in the existence of the Group of Seven, because they seem to meet every year or so and yet achieve very little in terms of global policy. It’s been eons since they pledged to tackle climate change, and yet corporations are still pumping oil and contributing the global warming. The EU has done more to tackle climate change, and its existence in my opinion is more beneficial than the existence of the sockless G7.
Pictured above: The Carbis Bay Hotel – a supposedly ‘eco-friendly’ venue that will host the Group of Seven meeting that has also taken to disgracefully chopping down trees to make way for a parade of pointless politicians.
The Carbis Bay Hotel has quite rightly been targeted by protestors determined to show it as anything but ‘eco friendly’ and anything but supportive of its very own locals. That this business, to suit the short-term visit of a bunch of egomaniac politicians, has shut out locals and destroyed trees for a set of rooms that haven’t even got proper planning permission is utterly disgraceful. The Carbis Bay Hotel deserves nothing but the grief that it is quite deservedly getting.‘The Convenient Catholic Couple’ Mr and Mrs Boris Johnson will use the G7 summit as the first opportunity of their union to laud it over the world. This shameless puppet mistress and her sidekick will most likely find a way to embarrass Britain only further.
Odds of Tory twerp Shaun Bailey becoming Mayor of London in 2021 unsurprisingly sink to 45/1
Banger-on about being the son of a bus driver Sadiq Khan has without a question of doubt been a totally useless Mayor of London, but the prospects of his Tory rival beating him have now sunk to 45/1 from 29/1 last week.
Whilst Khan will go down in history for increasing the congestion charge at a time when the public would be safer in private cars than on pandemic spreading public transport, the result of batshit bonkers Bailey’s strange and frankly stupid policy ideas are most definitely the reason that he has fallen into third place behind the equally awful Brian Rose.
Aside from halfwittedly claiming homeless people can and should save £5,000 to get a home, Bailey’s pointless pledge to give away 300,000 pointless screeching (and likely to be completely ignored) burglar alarms has been deservedly condemned as “utterly ludicrous.”
Equally, this warbling wazzock’s bigotry has plainly come home to roost with a reminder of his comments in 2005 about “accommodating Muslims and Hindus” in the UK “robbing Britain of its community.” Given the 2011 census revealed that 40.2% of London’s population to be non-white, one can see why such offensive remarks will hamper his already hapless campaign
The best thing now for Bailey? Quit the Titanic before the iceberg hits.
Stupid Shaun Bailey SINKS to 45/1 – In January 2019, ‘The Red Roar’ reported Bailey was forced to return donations to his campaign from an an “impermissible donor” linked to the Paradise Papers scandal.
Stupid Shaun Bailey SINKS to 45/1 – Who’s more stupid Shaun Bailey or Owen Jones? During a 16:29 minute YouTube feature in May 2019, Bailey declared: “Nobody has a monopoly on common sense,” but then went on to prove he’s totally lacking in even an ounce of such.
As usual, well-known bully ‘Priti Useless’ proved that this is a government that believes in gettin’ things movin’ without botherin’ with detail. God help us all.
Pictured top: Priti Patel donned a British Airways hostess style neck garment to cover something up (love bites or restraint bruising, perhaps) when she appeared in Parliament earlier this week.
Matthew Steeples slams ‘Bosie The Clown’s’ pub destroying lockdown; 7 out of 10 pubs are likely to close as a result and the nation will be left pintless
This morning, the Guardian shockingly reported that seven out of ten British pubs could close as a result of ‘Carrie On Not So Regardless’ and her puppet ‘Bosie The Berk’s’ plainly pointless “damaging Covid-19 restrictions.”
Shamefully, in spite of research finding that 82% of pubgoers believing “that pubs and other hospitality venues offered a Covid-secure environment,” the likelihood of them reopening after the 2nd December seems low with each and every leak from our inept government.
A Pintless Policy – The Hour Glass in Brompton Road on the South Kensington Estate closed “temporarily” in Lockdown 1.0. It did not open again and locals have been left asking: “Will it ever?”A Pintless Policy – Recent research by the Hospitality Union found that only 2% of Covid-19 cases were connected to food outlets and restaurants. Just 18% came from other sources, yet schools and universities – which Boris Johnson has kept open – account for a staggering 22% of the total.
‘Starve a Kid to Save a Quid’ goes viral in the wake of the government’s disastrous attempt to starve poor school kids whilst Tory MPs deservedly get banned from shops and restaurants
Shared on Twitter this morning by @WhatEuroPinion, a poster placed “in a shop window in lovely Lancashire” perfectly sums up public opinion in reaction to the government’s decision to vote to not fund the feeding of poor children.
The notice pictured stated:
“POLITE NOTICE – David Morris MP is barred from entering this store for voting to starve children.”
“Along with 322 other Conservative MPs, he voted against extending free meals for kids.”
“He has been listed one of the top ten MPs claiming expenses with £77,676.00 so far.”
“He has also voted to give himself a pay rise of nearly £3,400.00.”
“Thatcher starved the miners, Morris starved the minors.”
Featuring a shot of the Tory leader and chancellor of in the House of Commons, it was accompanied by Boris Johnson asking: “Rishi, what’s the new slogan to follow ‘Eat Out to Help Out’?” and Sunak replying: “Starve a Kid to Save a Quid.”
Starve a Kid to Save a Quid – Marcus Rashford’s campaign should have been supported. Instead, the government’s own goal in opposing it has been universally slammed.
Starve a Kid to Save a Quid – The government’s decision to starve poor children has unsurprisingly caused a national uproar at a time when MPs shamelessly voted to award themselves a £3,400 per annum pay rise.
Actor Tony Discipline amusingly tears up Boris Johnson’s utterly confusing ‘Stay Alert’ coronavirus lockdown revision statement
Tony Discipline – best known for having played Tyler Moon in the BBC soap opera EastEnders – took to social media to explain Boris Johnson’s revised lockdown policies on Monday.
Illustrating the contradictory nature of the Prime Minister’s new directives by quoting him directly, the actor accurately summed up the confusion that has followed in a brilliant little skit.
With nothing to do but #StayAlert according to our befuddled leader, we suggest readers do something simpler: Adopt the DISCIPLINE of Tony and pour yourself another gin.
Born in Alabama in 1982, Jessica Jackson Sloan has morphed from a high-school dropout with a baby and a drug addict, jailbird husband in 2004 to, most bizarrely, one half of a “criminal justice reform dream team” with Kim Kardashian in 2020. “Steely-eyed blonde,” divorced and the co-founder of #Cut50 – a bipartisan effort aimed at reducing America’s incarceration rate – this Santa Clara University of Law graduate became Mayor of Mill Valley City Council in Marin County, California in 2015 and got herself involved with her “famous reality star legal apprentice” thanks to Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Jackson Sloan claims to want to “craft better policies that help, not hurt,” yet the choice of the somewhat shady company she keeps will continue to leave many questioning this plainly fame and power hungry woman’s true motivations.
Mayor of London candidate Shaun Bailey’s policy of giving out burglar alarm to 300,000 homes is utterly ludicrous
Burglar and car alarms are certainly amongst the most pointless inventions in history. Generally ignored, they annoy those in their vicinity and never seem to work when they’re actually required.
Now, first reported in the blog From The Hornets Nest, “man of gimmicks” Shaun Bailey – the Conservative candidate for Mayor of London – has decided to “give” burglar alarms to every Londoner aged over 65.
In a video shared on Twitter, Bailey announced his policy but did not cite any evidence as to why it would actually be effective. He remarked:
“What I am suggesting I will do is to give free burglar alarms to people aged over 65. They are the most vulnerable people in our communities and they need this protection and there’s the other end of this conversation as well. It makes burglary harder and what that does is reduce the amount of people who become career burglars.”
Patronisingly, this foolish man with pockets plainly as large as China then added:
“Of course if you really have one or you feel that you can buy your own one, please do go ahead. But you are talking about 200,000 to 300,000 Londoners who really need that support.”
As From The Hornets Nest rightly points out, “the millions he proposes to spend [would be] better deployed on replacing ‘on the streets’ police removed whilst he was ‘advising’ [David] Cameron on crime.”
IFAW secure a ban on the sale of most items of ivory in the UK with the assistance of Michael Gove MP and ‘Fake or Fortune’s’ Philip Mould
Elephants love Wednesday, and so will you.
Elephants remember Wednesday as if it was only Tuesday.
Anthony T. Hincks, author.
Last week, the International Fund for Animal Welfare announced that the Ivory Bill had been approved in the House of Commons and will now go for Royal Assent.
Superb news for elephants in the regard that this will close most elements of the UK ivory market, The Steeple Times has long supported this cause. Prior to Theresa May’s pointless election in 2017, Matthew Steeples, editor-in-chief, wrote to Lady Borwick – then the MP for Kensington. This bizarre woman, who was also President of The British Antiques Dealers’ Association and spoke frequently in the House of Commons in support of the ivory trade, responded with the bizarre comment: “[Doesn’t everyone enjoy] tinkling the ivories – playing the piano?”
Of the news, David Cowdrey, UK head of policy and campaigns at IFAW told The Steeple Times:
“This amazing news means we can give the best present ever to elephants this year; namely that another ivory market is closing and increasing pressure for all countries to do the same and help make the killing of elephants for ivory a thing of the past.”
“The Bill’s passage through Parliament was not easy and at times worrying. There were a number of attempts by the antiques lobby to water down the Bill, putting forward amendments that would have created more loopholes than a sieve full of water, but IFAW was on the case and briefed hundreds of supportive MPs and Lords throughout the Bill’s passage through Parliament. The end result was that all of those bad amendments were either withdrawn or voted down and we will now have one of the toughest ivory bans in the world, with a few very limited exemptions, which we put forward and supported.”
“The resulting Ivory Act will now ban the sale of most ivory items in the UK, which is fantastic news and we could not have done this without you. With elephant populations in crisis and an elephant poached every 26 minutes for the illegal ivory trade, it is vital to shut down the legal markets as urgently as possible so that they can no longer be used as a smokescreen for illegal killing and trafficking.”
“IFAW would like to congratulate everyone involved, especially our supporters and the UK Government for taking such swift action since pledging to introduce a ban. It has to be said that the Ivory Bill must be one of the quickest pieces of legislation to pass through Parliament in recent years and this reflects the importance that the Government attached to it.”
“I have to personally congratulate The Rt. Hon. Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for the Environment, who has championed this Bill from our very first meeting and also the Ivory Bill team at Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) for their amazing support and work in delivering a balanced and excellent piece of legislation. It is also important to note that all political parties supported this Bill and without their support it would not have succeeded.”
“When IFAW stepped up its campaign for an ivory ban in earnest about three years ago, we were starting from a bleak place. Though it had been included on manifesto documents little had been done politically, it was not a priority and was even dropped as a manifesto pledge by the Government at the last election. IFAW crafted a campaign that would create real change and brought in some vital players we needed to reassure and have on side, such as the Musicians’ Union, Music Industries Association and Association of British Orchestras to really understand their issues and work together as partners.”
“We spoke to museums and fine art dealers like Philip Mould and took their concerns on board, worked with them and built strong relationships that would shape the campaign and achieve real positive change for elephants. I also spoke to enforcement officers to understand what would work and what would not work, because at the end of the day any new legislation has to be enforceable and we want the people behind the illegal wildlife trade to be brought to justice. We lobbied hundreds and hundreds of MPs, Lords and civil servants. We wrote letters, IFAW published reports, gave evidence to select committees, conducted surveys, signed petitions and kept up a constant pressure, advocating real joined up solutions to the Government and all of our suggestions were taken on board.”
“As a public element to the campaign, we ran another UK ivory surrender, our fourth in the UK, where members of the public were encouraged to give up any unwanted ivory to be put beyond use and ensure it would not be traded. We continue to be overwhelmed by the huge public response to this, with hundreds of ivory trinkets and tusks donated to IFAW over recent months. The majority of donated ivory is passed to the relevant Government agency to destroy, and just a few items are retained for education work and publicity purposes.”
“Our partnership approach was supported and echoed by other NGOs and we all worked together to deliver one of the best and strongest ivory bans in the world. We now hope this will be replicated by the European Union and that they will act as courageously as the UK Government did to close down the EU to ivory and produce equally strong legislation. Our job will not be done until all ivory markets are closed and people only value ivory on a living, wild elephant.”
“It has been a hard, long and successful campaign thanks to all of your support and I hope has delivered a great Christmas present and one that we can all celebrate. The elephants won’t forget, and neither will we.”
