Here (and be warned, here be pop ups that shouldn't belong on the page of a supposedly respectable blog), are repeated the answers to the question "Why are government services so bad and wasteful?" Yes, I know, most of you will have guessed the tone of the answers from the question, and yes they boil down to "because they are government services", but let's go...


1) Governments are run by politicians, not businessmen. ... Because of the need to be re-elected, politicians are always likely to have a short-term bias. What looks good right now is more important to politicians than long-term consequences even when those consequences can be easily foreseen.
...

Everyone keeping up here? I don't know who wrote this, but they really have not been paying attention while the financial markets built a tower of unsupportable investments on a bubble which they were repeatedly told was going to burst. But they couldn't pull out for fear of reducing their short term profits. For corporations, there is no future beyond the next dividend, nor, legally, can there be.

2) Politicians need headlines. And this means they have a deep need to do something ("Sen. Snoot Moves on Widget Crisis!"), even when doing nothing would be the better option. Markets will always deal efficiently with gluts and shortages, but letting the market work doesn't produce favorable headlines and, indeed, often produces the opposite ("Sen. Snoot Fails to Move on Widget Crisis!").

Anyone who has been in a coporation with churning mid to high level management knows that the cycle is faster and more destructive in business. Whenever a new guy is appointed, they need to make their mark quick and decisively, often by undoing any good that the previous incumbent may have. Otherwise they run the risk of being seen as undecisive.

(I'm seeing a pattern here: Governments are run by corrupt people called politicians. Companies are run by the benevolent hand of the market, and people don't interfere... and I am Marie of Romania.)

3) Governments use other people's money. Corporations play with their own money.

adamsmithsaysWHAT? Well, looking here , here , here and here , I'd say that, since corporations are by definition playing with other people's money, this comes from someone who doesn't understand corporate history, or indeed how Wall Street and the City have treated their investors in the last ten to fifteen years, putting investors money into ever larger Ponzi schemes, bringing the economy to a halt while asking the reviled government for bail outs.

And this was published in the Wall Street Journal. I guess it's either a fairy tale to help financiers sleep at night, or the pinnacle of Swiftian satire to get the publication of record for the architects of the greatest economic disaster in eighty years to publish an article on how they need to show those nasty bureaucrats how to run things properly... 

AHEd as a whole, as an organisation, exists to support the right of everyone to home educate. That's it, straight down the line, anything else is a distraction, a side issue.
 
However. Forging ahead with the side issue...
 
What would disappoint me would be to say to anyone on the list "you can't express your opinions because it offends someone." This means that people are going to come up against other people expressing opinions they disagree with, but as long as it doesn't turn into people saying "people like you shouldn't home educate", I don't know that it's the business of AHEd in the person of the list owners to step in.
 
In order to keep AHEd as an organisation that supports all home educators, I think we need to accept disagreements, even very deeply held ones, and accept that in defending the right of all to home educate, we must defend people who are home educating in ways we may personally think are wrong. We have to accept any opposing sides in any argument, as long as they're all supporting the universal right to home ed, and as an organisation we should accept the presence of arguments as an okay thing to have, even a good thing.
 
One of the truisms of the fight for freedom of speech, freedom of conscience is that in order for it to be meaningful, you fight for the right for people to say and believe things you personally find repugnant. The fight for educational, parental, child freedom has to include freedom for people to handle their families in ways we find just plain wrong. It also includes the responsibility to tolerate people telling us we're doing it wrong ourselves!
 
As soon as we deny people the freedom to, in our opinion, Get It Wrong, we're heading for, at best, the Tasmanian model. But we have to balance this with excluding people by telling them You Cannot Say This Here.
 
As long as people in this group can say to each other "Even if I do not agree with how you live your life, I will defend your right to conduct it without the interference of the state or their dupes", in my opinion we're doing the right thing as a group.
 
Tolerance does not necessarily imply approval, disagreement does not necessarily imply intolerance. If we can foster a group that values both disagreement and tolerance in the service of defending the broad principle of home education FOR ALL, I think we'll be a stronger organisation for it.

The alternative is, I think, a homogeneous, exclusive, somewhat wishy washy group, dominated by passive aggressive sniping, veiled references to taboo subjects and off-list bitching. I've been involved in too many of those online, thank you very much, and AHEd is too important to let it become, well, like the rest of the internet.

MPAA tell teachers to record DVD's with a camcorder then burn their own discs instead of ripping

Now, not only is this monumentally stupid, and a waste of time... haven't they repeatedly said that ANY copying or format shifting is breaking the DMCA?

SO not only are they telling teachers to break the law, but do it in the most half-arsed, neandethal fashion. Well done, lads.

PARENTS’ DECLARATION

WE DECLARE our independent status and affirm our responsibility for the upbringing and education of our children in accordance with our lawful rights and natural justice.

WE ASSERT our right to choose the place, form and content of the educational provision for our children in accordance with the following:

The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable—

(a)to his age, ability and aptitude, and

(b)to any special educational needs he may have,

either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.

(Section 7 of theEducation Act 1996)

In the exercise of any functions which it assumes in relation to education and to teaching, the State shall respect the right of parents to ensure such education and teaching in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions.

(Protocol 2 Article 1 of the European Convention of Human Rights)

WE WILL protect the rights of our children to own their own lives, to privacy and freedom from undue official interference in accordance with the following rights:

The right to respect for a private and family life, home and correspondence

(Human Rights Act 1998)

the right to be free from “arbitrary or unlawful interference with [their] privacy, family, home or correspondence” and from “unlawful attacks on [their] honour and reputation”

(Article 16 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child)

WE DEMAND that state officials remain within the bounds of the powers already conferred upon them under current law in their dealings with us, the people. 

WE WILL UPHOLD AND DEFEND the above principles without fear or favour where the state forgets its legitimate function, oversteps its bounds or seeks to exert undue influence or power over our lives and those of our children against our traditional freedoms and natural justice.

May 1^st 2009

Please indicate support for this Declaration via the comments box on http://ahed.pbworks.com/ParentsDeclaration or write to ahed 

• 10:47 Sounds like the ID card is sinking. Gosh, how are we going to stop TEH TERRISTS now? #
• 10:24 @jupitusphillip you can tell it's summer in north wales, the rain is almost vertical. #
• 10:23 @IanAppleby ah yes, Viv Stanshall, still the greatest living englishman (deceased category). #
• 10:18 "Five years ago, I was a four stone apology Today, I am two separate gorillas !" #
• 07:39 @debs__ Just had one, thanks, but another wouldn't go amiss. #
• 07:29 bit.ly/wwwaJ #
• 12:41 Oops, chicken little update: sky not falling currently NOT CONFIRMED. #
• 12:40 Averted disaster by sitting in the right place and talking. Yeah, I know, what are the odds? #
• 11:28 @glinner If you listen very carefully to Thomas the Tank Engine, you can hear Ringo Starr earning money for drink. #crapurbanlegends #
• 11:24 If you play Led Zep Iv backwards, it still sounds better than Lily Allen. #crapurbanlegends #
• 10:31 Oh, anyone want to read someone talking sense about Flu? bit.ly/3MUJH9 #
• 09:41 You know what really calms panicked people down? Mocking them. Also, stops you looking like a dick. Really. Trust me. #
• 09:06 @SpeedyJR ironic, really, given that it's hosted by the home secretary's husband... #
• 08:32 RT @bbcnews: A plan to store details of every email, phone call and internet page visited in the UK are expected.. tinyurl.com/cdw954 #
• 07:33 I'm not hungry, I want bacon. Knowing the difference is vital. #
• 21:29 RT @turtlegnome: www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU0tXWraFi0Watch and retweet #
• 15:03 @joshuamneff because it's 2pm in Dublin, matey... #
• 14:46 @BenjaminEllis Jack Bauer's Lift? #
• 14:41 @debs__ I'm calling the cops, telling them you've been murdering smurfs again. #
• 12:32 @Glinner keith flint used to be a waiter you know. "CAN I TAKE YER ORDER? WOULDYA LIKE A STARTER?" #

• 11:24 If you play Led Zep Iv backwards, it still sounds better than Lily Allen. #crapurbanlegends #
• 11:28 @glinner If you listen very carefully to Thomas the Tank Engine, you can hear Ringo Starr earning money for drink. #crapurbanlegends #
• 12:40 Averted disaster by sitting in the right place and talking. Yeah, I know, what are the odds? #
• 12:41 Oops, chicken little update: sky not falling currently NOT CONFIRMED. #
• 07:29 bit.ly/wwwaJ #
• 07:39 @debs__ Just had one, thanks, but another wouldn't go amiss. #
• 10:18 "Five years ago, I was a four stone apology Today, I am two separate gorillas !" #
• 10:23 @IanAppleby ah yes, Viv Stanshall, still the greatest living englishman (deceased category). #
• 10:24 @jupitusphillip you can tell it's summer in north wales, the rain is almost vertical. #
• 10:47 Sounds like the ID card is sinking. Gosh, how are we going to stop TEH TERRISTS now? #

• 07:22 ON Sunday, I got to play boardgames all day with my son and other excellent people. WIN. #
• 11:05 Things I didn't know, part 1,235,346,234,221: every offence is arrestible, since 2005 is.gd/mGd7 #

• 09:10 Is it wrong to want microwave laser rifles to go DING when they're finished? #

• 07:21 trying to find myself. If anyone has seen myself recently, can you let me know? I've checked my pockets and down the sofa already. #
• 07:59 @channel4news DEAR GOD MY EYES, YES, YES I CAN SEE IT! #
• 08:07 @channel4news BLUE! BLUE! #
• 08:15 @channel4news Yes, the world must never learn of Jon's "I (heart) Paxman" tatoo just at the collarbone.... #
• 08:22 @debs__ More accurately, almost 7000 criminals that we know about were stopped... #
• 10:01 @BenjaminEllis Hasn't the government ensured continued frustration by promising all things to all parties? #
• 11:16 Retweeting @debs__: RT @homeedforums London Fantasy Safeguarding Network - if in doubt, just make it up! tinyurl.com/c69v62 #
• 13:44 riddle: why is raising Baby P in an education debate like this picture: is.gd/lLIy ? #

• 07:58 @bbcwrexham Collecting Prince Charles photos from home ed group: group talking about in possible article, if you're interested. Writing a PR #
• 09:53 new blog post: Sewer Grates, arresting landlords and the insane state. is.gd/lINl #
• 12:24 as a lactose intolerant pseudo-pagan, i wish to protest against this: is.gd/lJXL #
• 13:23 @jupitusphillip we're invading Rutland to have a disco? Or holding a disco to invade rutland? #
• 13:24 @jupitusphillip you're going to be the googlewhack for "invade rutland" now #

Manchester man held for photographing sewer grates, despite apparently not even photographing sewer grates.

A story that lurches from Orwell to Kafka to Terry Gilliam...

As a home educator under the current government, I can't help feeling sympathy. But it won't stop me exploiting his story as a modern parable, maybe even a metaphor.

You see, the NSPCC and the government keep attacking home educators by using scare stories of people that either a) weren't home educators or b) co-operated fully with the state and still kept abusing their children.

On the lists, one of the common metaphors is that, having found that a man in Berkshire hit his child, the government calls for 24 hour monitoring of all men in Berkshire.

I'd go further and say it's as if the man who hit his child was a) under surveillance already and b) not even from Berkshire, just visiting.

So the government is assuming that I'm probably abusing or neglecting my child because I choose not to send them to school. So they want to come to my house to get evidence that I'm abusing or neglecting my child. And if they don't find any, they want to come back in 6 months to look again.

The state is insane.

(Further evidence: the Police officer who wants to make landlords responsible for the criminal acts of their tenants. Which I think is a great idea. Can't wait until they make employers liable for criminal acts by their employees, teachers responsible for the criminal acts of their pupils, the Home Secretary responsible for criminal acts by the police, prison service etc. and the Queen responsible for criminal acts of politicians and clergymen.)

Dear Angela Eagle,

I'm writing to ask you to oppose clause 152 in the Coroners and Justice
Bill, on the grounds that it completely removes the government from the
provisions of the data protection act.

This would leave the citizenry of this country open to this or any
future government abusing their personal data. Time and again we have
seen that the more data is collected, the more it is shared, the less
secure it is.

I understand the reasons for the government wishing to allow all it's
branches to access all the data available to any of them, but the risks
both to civil liberties and data security vastly outweigh the
advantages to the general public.

I am particularly concerned that this comes in the same week which has
seen MP's voting to keep their home addresses off the public record. It
appears that the house appreciates data security when it applies to
them, but not to the citizenry in general.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Darby

• 07:22 pfft! is.gd/ls5M #
• 07:26 @warrenellis I burn little bits of my self esteem for money. #
• 08:17 @bbcwrexham family only returned home at ten last night, and immediately fell asleep. haven't checked their camera yet.... #

• 07:22 is.gd/lmhp even the TV critics have had enough. How long till game over on the surveillance state? #
• 09:45 excellent report on children's data: is.gd/loJN #
• 10:15 @epocalypse Lester Haines - the anti-Orlowski? #
• 12:47 @bbcwrexham My kids will be there: they go to the home ed group at the centre every other Monday. A worthy winner of best village. #
• 13:01 is.gd/lpNo stop clause 152, pass it on. #
• 13:21 @BenjaminEllis sir, you are sailing uncharted waters. We wish you the best... but keep plenty of water handy. #
• 13:29 @doctorow I got asked once "Why do you keep writing about home ed?" I should have answered "the only other thing I know about is YER MAM" #
• 14:21 @debs__ Yurts are the answer #
• 14:31 cheating FTW: is.gd/lqmY #
• 14:36 yiddish for the day: klots-kashe is.gd/lqpK #
• 14:44 Okay, now two people from the South of England have mentioned it's sunny. I get it. Please stop now, before it's as annoying as #snow. #

• 23:29 back from Essex, boardgames, HE'ing relatives, missing my clan though. All back tomorrow night, after more games for me. #