The Church Of England To Take Over Thousands Of State Schools

Michael Gove

I know I was Michael Gove bashing yesterday but I couldn't ignore his recent deal with the Church of England to allow them the power to run thousands of state schools. Forget teachers, I think about 90% of the population have lost faith in Gove and his radical policies. After announcing earlier in the week that he wished for certain types of schools to be managed like a business, he has revealed today that a deal has been made between him and the Church of England. This deal, as said, allows the church to take control of state schools and also for bishops to appoint governors. The reason for this unpopular deal is centered around Gove's belief that the church can raise educational standards and he wants to help them 'recover the spirit which infused it's education mission in Victorian times'.

I'll say first and foremost that religion should not be in charge of education, it's as simple as that. It doesn't take a genius to realise that Christianity and other religions (except Islam) are in clear decline and society is becoming increasingly secular, so why does Gove think increasing religious influence over education is a good and progressive move? The fact that he's trying to revitalise a community 'spirit' that dates back to the Victorian era shows how out of touch his policies are. You do not need religion to increase the quality of education in schools - good teachers and facilities can do this. I'm skeptical at how the process of appointing governors will remain impartial when those who are carry it out are bishops. Not to offend anyone but surely it would be naive to think there wouldn't be any hidden agenda when selecting candidates - the more religious the better? Why doesn't Gove focus on what the actual problem is within education - the lack of funding, poor facilities and the lack of interest from young people to name a few - instead of introducing religion? Yes it may have worked in the Victorian era but if it escaped your knowledge Gove, we're over 100 years past that point.

The Archbishop of Canterbury
welcomes the idea.

He also said that the Church could help children from chaotic families gain stability and instill order and discipline. Again, with the right type of teachers and support systems in place this could be done without the inclusion of faith. This is purely my own opinion but I believe religion can sometimes be used to indoctrinate vulnerable children who haven't be taught to effectively analyse theories and therefore view faith as fact. I don't agree with religion having a stronger influence in education because, aside from religious studies, it has no place. It has no place in politics, it has no place in education and it has no place in the health system (in terms of staff) because not everyone believes it.

I have no confidence in Michael Gove whatsoever because I've failed to agree with any one of his policies. Reverting to an out-of-date system is... stupid and I really can't see this ending well.

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Michael Gove - The Educational Car Crash Waiting To Happen.

Michael Gove

It was leaked to the press yesterday that the Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, is planning to make free schools and academies 'profit-making businesses' using venture capitalists and hedge funds. With this news, I'd like to make an arguably accurate guess that a good majority of teachers working in state education have lost all confidence and faith in this man. I'm no teacher (obviously) but even I can see the fairly obvious problems in his proposals - class inequality being the most important. It's common sense that if a school or academy is not, or never will make profit then businesses and venture capitalists will not invest, because why would you waste your money on a project that will give you nothing in return? Therefore schools from deprived areas, that attract fewer high performing students, will NOT get adequate funding and will thus continue to fail. It appears to many that the interest of a child's education is now less important than the profit generated through investment.

It's not the first time Gove has proposed policies that have lacked public backing. Previously, he suggested that school days should be longer (opening at 8:30am and finishing at 4:30pm) and school holidays should be shorter (approximately 4 weeks long) saying it would benefit working families. However if you look at other European countries like Germany, who's school days are significantly shorter, there is no evidence to suggest a negative impact on the child's education because of this. Independent schools who also have more term holidays than state school said that this change is completely unnecessary and pointless as there is again no evidence to prove that making school days longer and holidays shorter will benefit a pupil's education. The problem I have with this proposal is the teachers. There have already been talks of increasing their retirement age to their late 60s, cutting pensions and implementing a 1% pay rise limit, and now Michael Gove is trying to increase their working hours and cut their holiday time. These teachers devote time and effort into hundreds of students who are the next generation of workers and all they get is cut after cut after cut. To make matters worse the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority have recommended a potential £10,000 pay rise for MPs while the rest of the public sector feel the full force of George Osbourne's 2013 budget.

An NUT Protest

Whilst I admire Gove for not sitting on his backside and agree when some say at least he's trying to reform the education system, his ideas are wrong. Rather than encouraging progression and modernisation, Gove seems fixated on resurrecting previous systems that were a success in his mind. The fact that there have been three votes of no confidence against him must scream out to the cabinet that his proposals are simply unwelcome. As for making certain schools into businesses, I think it's ridiculous. It's wrong to treat something as precious as a child's education as a money-making scheme for investors because there will always be some that get less funding that others - in most cases it'll be the working-class children who are at an instant disadvantage. If this goes ahead, it could be a very slippery slope and I can't see it being a risk worth taking.

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Westboro Baptist Church To Picket One Direction Concert

One Direction

Back to business and I've just read that the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) are planning to picket a One Direction concert in Kansas as they believe the pop group are 'crotch-grabbing little perverts and are the perfect representation of this filthy world'. The church (or should I say cult?) also went onto attack the UK calling it a sin-chasing, fag-enabling, Christ-rejecting country - clearly still a bit miffed off at being denied entry into our borders to preach their lunacy. They've even taken the time to create a parody version of the single 'One Thing' preaching something along the lines of "God hates you unless you obey and you aren't gay".

Ah Westboro, there are so many things I could say about you and your deluded family that it's difficult to know where to begin. I struggle to understand how intelligent people can arrive at such insane conclusions of the world and the people that live in it. I say intelligent because some of the members have proved to be academically gifted in subjects like law (which obviously helps them avoid punishment in the courts) and have studied at a high educational standard. Yet they stand there holding placards vowing for American soldiers to be killed in action and thanking God for the deaths of innocent children, placing blame on the USA for accepting homosexuality and abortion both socially and legally. How anyone with a heart or an ounce of empathy can stand at a brave serviceman's funeral in front of their family, friends and collegues and say they are delighted this person, who they don't even know, is dead is beyond me. It's vile and disgusting behaviour which undermines the true purpose of the First Amendment that is freedom of speech.

The New Generation Of Hate?

While they have become a laughing stock to the rest of the Western world, it's the children I feel sorry for the most as they may not know it yet, but they are being indoctrinated into believing hateful opinions as truth. Their own parents are teaching them that it's good to hate people, it's good to hate gays, it's good to hate Jews, it's good to wish death on someone, it's good to be a disgusting, immoral human being all in the name of God. I watched a Louis Theroux documentary about them and one of the young sons had been coached into using homophobic language which he later relayed on camera whilst being interviewed. This kid looked no older than 10, yet he was expressing medieval opinions as if they were his own in order to please his father.

These people aren't even people in my eyes. They are animals who take pleasure in hurting and offending because clearly they were never loved as a child. They're like parasites that feed off media attention which allows them to spread their message of hate and think it's 'God's will' when the legal system rules in their favour in order to uphold the First Amendment. Whilst it's amusing, even for me, to listen to their ridiculous claims - like calling Barack Obama the anti-Christ - it's the children who are cause for concern.

I understand that the First Amendment and democracy must be upheld, but these people are getting away with wishing death on servicemen, homosexuals and basically anyone who isn't in their church and that is not what democracy is all about. As for the One Direction concert, I reckon they should go for it but they should bear in mind it's their 100 church members versus about half a million devoted directioners. My money is on the 12 year old girls.

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A Landmark Victory for the LGBT Community - DOMA and Proposition 8 Overturned.

The Supreme Court Logo

I was scouting the internet looking for research as I was just about to begin a blog on the One Direction Vs The Wanted 'feud' when I read that the US Supreme Court had overturned the Defence Of Marriage Act (which bans same-sex marriage) ruling it unconstitutional. Most of you may not know what DOMA was, as I didn't, but this decision is a huge milestone for the LGBT community and has contributed greatly towards marriage equality. They also ruled today that the Proposition 8 case had no legal standing to appeal against the same-sex marriage ruling in California, allowing it to resume and for gay couples to be legally marriage in the state.

So what exactly is DOMA? It was a controversial ruling, which took effect in 1996, that opposed same-sex married couples to be granted certain legal rights which heterosexual couples had - including tax exemptions, social security benefits and green cards. Section 3 of the Act also stated that the word 'marriage' only meant the union between a man and a woman and the spouse must be a member of the opposite sex, thus blocking federal recognition of same-sex marriage. This was today deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

LGBT Flag

What about this California Proposition 8 overruling? What's that I hear you ask? The background story to this proposition was that in 2008 California ruled in favour of allowing same-sex couples to get married, but some people (naturally) opposed this and devised a way to block the ruling from taking effect - hello Proposition 8.  Basically Proposition 8 was a ballot asking the Californian electorate to answer 'yes' or 'no' on whether they believe their state should eliminate the right for gay couples to marry. The result were that 52% voted yes and 48% voted no. Fast-forward all the legal jargon... to put it simply, this vote overruled the recent law allowing gay marriage in that state and therefore it became illegal again. However today the Supreme Court said that this was also unconstitutional saying it unfairly discriminated against gay couples who wanted to marry, and as such all gay marriages that took place before Proposition 8 will now be fully recognised in the eyes of the law. If you followed all that, well done.

Love is love.

Whilst all this can be really confusing (and trust me, it took a good half an hour to get the gist of all the different ruling and appeals and what act did what) it's a double landmark victory for the LGBT community. One day, maybe, we can finally all be equal for being who we are. This act was blocking basic rights to people who just happened to be in love with someone of the same gender. Long-distance couples couldn't live in the same country because they weren't recognised as an actual couple and therefore couldn't gain a visa. Married gay couples could not be recognised as the next of kin to each other and as such lost many legal benefits if one partner was to pass away, the list goes on and on.

It really does amaze me how this act has been allowed to stand for so long when America claims to be a country that accepts homosexuality. It's also sad to hear that, whilst this ruling did come through, it did so only marginally - with a vote of 5-4. There are only 13 states in America that allow two loving adults of the same-sex to get married and form a union under law. The day that we all live side-by-side equal, regardless of skin colour, gender, age or sexuality is still so far away, but this victory is hopefully one of many to come in helping us achieve this goal. Love is love regardless of what gender, and today many gay people in America and elsewhere can have their heads' held high because it's a long-overdue step in the right direction.

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Why Does The England Squad Never Win Anything?

I know many people say that we have to stop heaping pressure onto the England squad when they draw or lose matches because they are not as good as our nation and the FIFA rankings makes them out to be. However watching tonight's England V Brazil friendly, it would be understandable to say that we would struggle to qualify for the next World Cup if we play like we did in the first half. It says a lot when you have a squad of 11 Premier League quality players and your best player for 45 minutes is your goalkeeper - Joe Hart. I understand that many key players like Wilshere, Cleverely and Sturridge were ruled out as injured, so there's an argument that England were playing with a much weaker team - but is that an excuse?

Glen Johnson is at best - average.

There are players in the team that play for the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal - top quality teams playing at a competitive level, two include Champions League football, yet some looked like they were playing for a Sunday League team. How Glen Johnson gets an international call-up is beyond me, he's slow, he cannot hold his line and doesn't seem to be able to pass a ball. I know that Kyle Walker was also ruled out due to injury but if this is the second best right-back our country has to offer then we've got a problem. Another player that I was disappointed with was Michael Carrick - a Champions League winner with Man United. Yet with England he had trouble keeping hold of the ball, giving possession up on so many occasions and struggled to pick out any decent passes. He may not be an England regular but he has failed to show any real spark when playing at international standard. James Milner is another one who has failed to justify why he should have a place in the England squad, my theory being he's only there because of so many injured team-mates. The first half of tonight's game he was virtually none existent going forward and when he did get the ball, he either passed it back to Baines or lost possession - as you can tell, I'm not a fan (I actually groaned when I saw his name in the line-up).

James Milner is ineffective.

As said in many tabloids and media outlets, one of England's problems is that they aren't technically gifted enough and I think this is true to a certain extent. I'm not saying that the players should be playing like Barcelona with their tiki-taka tactics but it's so infuriating when these supposedly world class players cannot string four or five passes together and the quality is, to put it nicely, sloppy. The only way we can beat players is do a 'kick and run' down the wings, which defenders with pace can easily deal with. Our tactics in the first 20 minutes of tonight's game was for Hart to pass it out to one of his defenders, for them to pass it forward, then to be passed back to the defence (if we didn't actually lose possession), all the way back to Hart to be booted up field and Brazil to mount another attack.

Should youngsters get more opportunities?

I'm not naive and understand that England are simply not good enough to look like serious contenders to win the World Cup but I feel that the team needs to start being revolutionised. What I mean by this is to start shifting out all the dead weights and OAPs (like Defoe) in the team and start bringing in a new generation of English players. We have won nothing since 1996 and we have not looked like winning anything for a number of years so why do we insist on picking the same players and the same formation when it is not working? I reiterate the argument made by many fans in that I believe players should be picked based on their performance at club level and not whether they play for Man United or any other top club. Take Danny Welbeck for example (although he's injured now) selected to travel to Brazil although he scored a grand total of 2 goals in his 2012-13 season. How can a striker, who's job is to find the back of the net yet only scored 2, deserve an international call-up over other English strikers like Ricky Lambert - who scored more than double Welbeck's total.

I will cut them a little bit of slack in that it is the end of the season and there will be some tired legs but the quality has been the same for many years - some players just don't step up to the occasion and perform. The only player I could argue who is of true world class quality is, expectedly, Jack Wilshere and until we start producing players of similar quality we will not win anything.

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Woolwich Tragedy - The EDL Rear Their Ugly Head

Lee Rigby

Today, on this Bank Holiday Monday, many decent people went out to pay tribute to the fallen soldier Lee Rigby who was savagely murdered last week in Woolwich - for others, an opportunity to use his death as a means of street violence and fascism. Yes, I'm talking about the infamous 'street protest movement' English Defence League (EDL) headed by half-wit Tommy Robinson (aka. Stephen Lennon). Approximately 1000 EDL members marched through London in a pathetic attempt to gain publicity for their right-wing agenda and stir up racial tension between the two communities.

I'm just going to start off by saying I think it's disgusting how this fascist and frankly racist thug group would use the devastating death of a young soldier to further their support and publicity. Today was a day for people to pay their respects, mourn Lee Rigby's death and offer support for his family and other families involved in the Help for Heroes charity so what do the EDL do? Take to the streets with their childish placards and their unimaginative chants of 'E-E-EDL' causing a massive police operation to keep order and control. Really well done guys (!)

Tommy Robinson

So let's just look at the wonderful chap Tommy Robinson who represents and sets an example for all the other members of the EDL. Robinson reportedly served a 12-month custodial sentence in 2005 for assaulting an off-duty police officer who was intervening in a domestic incident between Robinson and his wife - classy guy. He was then convicted in 2011 for 'threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour' and banned from all football matches for 3 years after being involved in a 100-man brawl... again I couldn't think of anyone better to lead the English Defence League. Fast-forward a couple of months and he was arrested for breaching his bail and, being the political activist he is, started a hunger strike believing the prison meat to be halal (it surprisingly only lasted a day). Anyway, last but by no means least, he was arrested again in 2011 for common assault after headbutting a fellow EDL member (you can't make this stuff up) at a protest in Blackburn, which just to add is unfortunately the town I live in.

The EDL protesting today

So the EDL wish to be taken seriously by the government as a type of pressure group and who better than to lead them to this goal? A deluded, petty criminal who reckons himself to be a hard-man football hooligan/political activist who's been selected as the chosen one to take back England from the ghastly 'Muslim infidels' ... what an absolute t*t.

Back to the protest, and with these things it goes without saying that they end in some form of violence. The EDL and UAF (Unite Against Fascism) threw glass bottles at each other and the police, protesters were heard shouting anti-Muslim chants including 'who the f**k is Allah', some threatened a man wearing a Palestinian scrarf with a stick and a total of 19 were arrested with 12 charged. Two war memorials were also defaced with the word 'Islam' (although it is not clear which party was responsible).

A young girl pays tribute to the fallen soldier

It does amaze me however how Tommy Robinson had the cheek beforehand to say 'this is a day of respect for our armed forces'. No Tommy, it really wasn't. If you wanted to respect the armed forces then you would've gone to Lee Rigby's memorial and laid flowers down like all the other decent people, and not took to the street to cause chaos and violence. No matter how much the EDL try to dress it up, no matter what cause they stand for, they are racist and fascist in my opinion. You only have to look at what some of their members are saying on Facebook and Twitter to see where I am coming from. For example one member - Adam Rodgers - encouraged other members to burn down a local mosque... it's truly  disgusting. They aren't even wanted by the people they were supposedly paying their respects to today! Help for Heroes actually cancelled a march because it was believed the EDL were trying to take part so what sort of message is that sending out because it's not exactly painting them in a positive light?

It's time the EDL realised that the majority of this country that they so wish to defend do not want them and condone everything they stand for. Today was not about Tommy Robinson or the EDL, it was about a good decent man who served his country and (I'd guess) would not want his name to be used as an excuse for ignorant racism. Lee Rigby had done more to defend this country than Tommy Robinson has ever done and the sooner he and the EDL disappear, the better.

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The Woolwich Tragedy Is No Excuse For Racism

Lee Rigby

I doubt many people living in England right now are unaware of the sadistic and barbaric attack which took place yesterday in Woolwich, London. For those who don't (and without going into too much detail as it was truly horrific) a man identified as 25 year old Lee Rigby was brutally murdered by two Islamic extremists in what is understood to be a terrorist attack - the first since the July 2005 bombings. What those two men did is utterly disturbing and horrendous and my thoughts go out to Mr. Rigby's relatives in such a sad time.

However, as you may have guessed from the title, this post doesn't focus solely on this appalling attack but also the reaction of the British people following the news, including some of the most racist and bigoted comments I have ever come across. With tensions already high with regards to immigration and our membership in the European Union, this event seemed to be the spark that set off an endless tirade of hate and xenophobia, so I wish to address the first elephant in the room - the attackers are Muslim. Yes, they are... but so are two million other people living peacefully in Britain at the minute, so are they all the same? No.

The Two Attackers

It's cliche to use the phrase 'don't tar them all with the same brush' but there is no other appropriate phrase that springs to mind. I don't wish to insult anyone but in my opinion it shows a limited degree of intelligence and twice the amount of ignorance to assume that two million people who follow an identical faith behave in the same way as these two animals. If we could just take a step back from all the hype and hysteria to think about what we're saying about other human beings then I hope, for the sake of humanity, that we can understand that it is wrong.

I shall share this story with you. Two weeks ago, a 75 year old Pakistani man was murdered with a machete in Birmingham by a white man, which was understood to be a racially motivated attack. Now, are all white people racist based on the actions of this man? No? So why are people quite happy to make the same generalisations against British Muslims? If you want someone to vent your hate and disgust at then look no further than the two monsters who took away the father of a two year old child for no reason whatsoever.

Racism seen on my Facebook

What I also find repulsive is how people like the BNP (British National Party) leader Nick Griffin used this tragedy to fuel their bigoted agenda to gain more support and votes. Griffin took to Twitter stating that this attack was due to mass immigration - obviously ignorant to the fact that the attacker Michael Adebolajo was born in London. He then went on to say that he'd be happy to go back onto BBC Question Time which, to me, implied that he would use the death of an innocent solider to spout his racist rubbish in a bid to win votes. Moreover, the EDL (English Defence League) took the opportunity to 'protest' in the streets which ended in the destruction of a mosque and random Asian bystanders being attacked.
There's enough here for you to read as it is without me adding another 5 paragraphs about my feelings towards the BNP and EDL so I shall just say that I condemn their reactions and everything they stand for.

What happened yesterday has shook our country. It's heartbreaking to have a young, brave serviceman murdered in a place where he was supposed to feel save. But we MUST stand together and show extremists that we - black, white or asian - will never succumb to their terror and brutality. Stand united and we are strong, stand divided and we will lose.

I leave you with a quote:
"When there are no enemies within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you" - Winston Churchill.

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