Corvidae Corner

Tour de RPG's...

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:46:17 GMT

Okay, this post arose from some frustrations of mine on an RPG list, that spilled over onto twitter, resulting in at least one old-school roleplayer looking at what I was describing with incomprehension and horror...

So this is kind of a beginners guide to what's out in the wilds beyond emulating heroic fantasy* in RPG land...

Breaking the Ice , a game that provoked much derision on twitter, a two hander, no prep RPG of the first three dates of a relationship, playable in one evening... ideal as a first date, in fact!

Universalis is about the only truly "universal" rpg I've seen. Also GM less, creates an economy of story control to drive narrative.

Steal Away Jordan, a game where the PC's are slaves in ante-bellum southern USA.

Grey Ranks , where PC's are young (think child-adolescent-young adult) participants in the doomed Polish uprising of 1944

Nicotine Girls Where PC's are dead-end girls.

From the same writer: My Life with Master, PC's are minions of a Gothic villain, struggling for love.

Dogs in the Vineyard where PC's are religious enforcers in a thinly fictionalised late 19th century west, called on to make moral judgements of the people. And occasionally shoot them. And each other.

And the list wouldn't be complete without Sorcerer , the grandaddy of STORY NOW games; it looks like a conventional RPG in the White Wolf Vampire / Mage mold... but it suckers you. It's all about dysfunctional relationships, and how much of an unspeakable sh*t your PC is prepared to become to get what they want... and what that makes them. Fantasy, yes. Heroic... only on it's own terms.

Next time: more conventional, but kick ass games.

*In this case fantasy being any kind of adventure fiction simulator, be it D&D, Traveller, RuneQuest, Shadowrun... regardless of presence of magic, Dwarves, Elves and Capital Letters

Old Broon's Book of Impractical fat cats...

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:25:25 GMT

From my wee baby brother, though it's starting to do the rounds......

He's outwardly respectable (they say he throws his phone),
His cabinet increasingly consists of him alone,
If public purse is is looted or the pension fund's been rifled,
Illegal wars are started and the nation's voice is stifled,
Economy is broken and the Commons past repair,
Ay, there's the wonder of the thing - Macavity's not there!

Macavity, Macavity, there's no-one like Macavity,
He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity,
His powers of false accounting would make a conman stare
And by the time the bill comes in - Macavity's not there!

You may seek him in the Upper House, or some St Andrew's Chair,
But when the rot's discovered then Macavity's not there!

Bad answers to a bad question in the present climate...

Fri, 29 May 2009 08:47:17 GMT

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...

Reposted from AHEd list: Our Disagreements are our Strength

Tue, 19 May 2009 10:17:37 GMT

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.

Just a geek...

Wed, 13 May 2009 11:24:29 GMT

(A response to this)

So, I went for a casting yesterday. Modelling job (I'm with the Ugly Model Agency).

Only instruction was "geeky".

Now, that covers a lot of ground. Corporate Geek? Comic book guy geek? Trekkie?

I went for corporate. The other guy I met there said he'd gone for "Open university math lecturer circa 1978", and hit it pretty squarely, I have to say.

Well, when I got there, the casting should have said "unattractive schlub", because that's what they are looking for.

(Incidentally, if folks want to hire me at reasonable rates to be an unattractive schlub, contact my agency. Seriously. I have no shame. Check my portfolio for proof.)

But the clients thought we'd be offended if they said unattractive schlub. They went to the UGLY model agency, and were worried they'd offend us. Folks, we signed that away when we joined.

But.

But, but, but.

Apparently, it's okay to say "geek" and know that everyone should understand "unattractive schlub".

Geek is my tribe. We contain multitudes. We tend to be an inclusive bunch.

And some of us are seriously TEH HAWT. Hell, my brother is a pretty high up tools developer for Sony and a Wil Wheaton lookalike. How much HAWTer do you WANT, people?

basic script:"...The geeky guy flirts with her, she puts the book back, then takes out the product placement and finds hot guy..."

Please, when it gets made, make the hot guy dress geeky.

And, oh yes, if they want me, do you think I'll take the job? £250 a day, possible two days shooting, and no obvious "THIS MAN IS UNATTRACTIVE BECAUSE HE IS A GEEK" signposting? Like. A. Shot.

Slightly too long to twitter... CopyDUMB.

Fri, 08 May 2009 08:36:00 GMT

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.

Parent's Declaration

Thu, 07 May 2009 07:40:19 GMT

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

define the title you want

Thu, 07 May 2009 06:16:13 GMT

This is the TEST shipment you asked for

24 hours of Twits:

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?" #

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define the title you want

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 10:22:15 GMT

This is the TEST shipment you asked for

24 hours of Twits:

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? #

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Another letter to the InDCSFpendent...

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 10:27:14 GMT

Dear Sir,

Helena Cox (letters 18-Mar-2009) raises a spectre of insular religious home educators, presumably as part of a general push to get public support for governmental oversight of home education.

I wonder if she has written, or had published, similar "concern troll" letters about state approved faith schools, or indeed the culturally homogenizing effect of general state schools in eliminating the very diversity of opinion she claims to be defending.

I have far greater faith in parents than the state in being able to decide on an appropriate education for their children, and the more I see reported on the state of schooling in this country and the woeful outcomes for the children mired in state education, the greater my faith grows.

I am writing as a humanist-pagan home educator who counts amongst his, and his children's, home educating friends people of all faiths and none, including as some of our closest friends a family who fit the description Helena gives to a T. I have no fears for their children, as you could not find a more loving and supportive family.

Social diversity cannot be defended by state imposed homogeneity. Perhaps Helena should ask whether she believes that home education should only be for "people like us" and that "people not like us" should be forced to be like us.

And if she thinks faith based home education is "tantamount to child abuse", I can only wish that she is speaking from a blisfully naive viewpoint of not having witnessed child abuse. The comparison is crass and insulting to all parties.

Watchmen Fanboy nitpicking... possibly spoilery

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 10:19:34 GMT

Part one: FFS Zack.

1. Someone should take Slow-Mo away from Zack Snyder until he learns how to use it responsibly. Really, you could knock off half an hour of runnign time if you just stopped treating every action sequence as violence porn (or just plain old porn for the sex scenes).

2. We know it's A Significant Story, stop telling us. So much signposting. Much of it with Slow-mo. It's treating Watchmen like Shakespeare, and you know what else sucks when you treat it like this? Shakespeare. Really, Moore's plotting, characterisation and dialogue are strong enough to stand without the support of LOOK AT THIS tics.

3. "Rorshach and Comedian are sociopaths. We just kill, err, anyone who gets in our face." I don't remember that from the comic. Weakens Rorshach and Comedian by making Laurie and Dan just as psychotic. Oh, and Chain Guns on Archie? WTF?

4. "Hi, I'm Adrian Veidt, simpering Euro-trash" I know, Robert Redford isn't 35 any more, and Brad was tied up with Benjamin Button. But really.

5. "Gratuitous gore is TEH KEWL!" Watchmen needs quite a bit of gore already to be authentic. Bits of gangster on the ceiling? Not so much.

6. Moving my favourite bit of dialogue to a different pair of characters. "It all worked out, didn't it? In the End?" "Nothing ever ends, Adrian." Ah, sue me, they're MY nitpicks.

7. Crouching Night-Owl, Hidden Rorshach. IMHO, I think only Ozymandias should get to do the borderline inhuman physical stuff. Rorshach doing matrix jumps? Eww.

8. ... Heartless? I don't know if anyone coming to this film would care about anyone enough. Seemed oddly sterile for most of the time. Like a polybagged first edition of a rare comic. You see what I did there?

Part Two: Stuff that wasn't Zack's fault.

1. The guys behind me in the cinema. I don't know if you're stoned, psychotic or just extremely badly socialized geeks, but the appropriate response to any example of graphic violence is NOT a high pitched giggle. Maybe they weren't paying atttention to all the cues, but when the Big Blue Guy explodes the Little Asian Guys, he's not being a hero according to any definition I know.

Part Three: Stuff that worked

1. The Big Plot Change. Yeah, makes sense, more plot-economical

2. The rest of the casting. As near to note perfect as makes no odds. Probably why the freakishly awful casting of Ozymandias stands out.

3. Design, effects, and the whole visual shebang. Primarily because they were committed to not fecking up the excellence of Gibbons and Higgins design.

4. You see that big list of 8 things? None of them are a film killer, though the slow-mo and the lack of human connection come close at times.

Tweets for Today

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 00:06:21 GMT

24 hours of Twits:

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 #

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Tweets for Today

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 00:04:31 GMT

24 hours of Twits:

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

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Tweets for Today

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 00:04:35 GMT

24 hours of Twits:

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 ? #

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Tweets for Today

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:04:30 GMT

24 hours of Twits:

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 #

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Proud member of the Sewer Grate Photographing Tendency

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 09:52:40 GMT

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.)

Clause 152, Letter to MP

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 08:59:23 GMT

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

Tweets for Today

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:04:09 GMT

24 hours of Twits:

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.... #

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Tweets for Today

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:04:38 GMT

24 hours of Twits:

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. #

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Tweets for Today

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:04:29 GMT

24 hours of Twits:

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

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Tweets for Today

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 00:09:51 GMT

24 hours of Twits:

09:28 @epocalypse also: does he mean right wing extremist or libertarian? I don't think he knows the difference. #
13:56 is.gd/l1Y8 a little purple, but still... #
14:55 @joshuamneff ... did you wake up next to A Certain Famous Indie Game Designer AGAIN? Man, if I had a dollar for every time I did that... #

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Fri, 27 Feb 2009 08:46:32 GMT

NSPCC Last night: "We sincerely regret any misunderstanding caused by the quote attributed to Vijay Patel in the Independent. The reference to Victoria Climbie was meant to illustrate the point that she was killed at home out of sight of the authorities. It was not intended to imply that Victoria was educated at home or that home education was in any
way connected to what happened to her. "

1) BZZZT, I'm sorry that was the WRONG answer, can we go over to our guest panelist, the Victoria Climbie Trust to tell you what the right answer was?

"Victoria was neither home-educated nor hidden. The reality is that there is no such thing as a 'hidden' child, only children who are allowed to fall through the gaps. The key issue here is how statutory services interact with children that are known within the child protection system"

Thank you so very much, and before we say goodbye to the NSPCC, can we remind them that the NSPCC was one of the dozen or so organisations, groups and governmental departments that had been alerted to Victoria's predicament, but did nothing because, the case of the NSPCC centre, they were too busy organizing a party (allegedly)!

2) Of course, it wasn't meant to imply a link between the child's death and home education.

Just like my comments yesterday about ghouls and graverobbers weren't meant to imply that Vijay Patel is a parasite preying off the dead that the NSPCC could have saved.

Because saying that Vijay Patel is a parasite preying off the dead that the NSPCC could have saved would be a complete misrepresentation of mentioning him in the same context as ghouls and graverobbers.

I merely meant to say that a parasite preying off the dead that the NSPCC could have saved, like, say, a ghoul or graverobber, could have said the same things that Vijay Patel did.

Any link between the phrases "Vijay Patel", "ghoul", "graverobber" and "a parasite preying off the dead that the NSPCC could have saved" is, of course, completely in the mind of the reader, and nothing to do with me.

Tags: "Vijay Patel", "ghoul", "graverobber", "a parasite preying off the dead that the NSPCC could have saved"

Tweets for Today

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:05:22 GMT

24 hours of Twits:

07:03 @guinny searching for Hicks on spotify... damn #
07:36 "Balance" in reporting = we have to get insane people with prejudices to balance the sane ones with actual evidence. #
08:04 www.modernliberty.net ; heart in the right place, but sound like a new romantic band from 1983. "And now, supporting Spandau Ballet.. #
08:46 You know what's funny? Newspaper columnists calling twitter users "sad egotists". "Sorry, ma'am, your self awareness levels are too low." #
10:03 @doctorow I miss London. #
10:45 @epocalypse trying to dig up links, but basically any broadsheet or middlebrow tabloid in the last week will have at least one. #
11:03 Talking of low self awareness levels: is.gd/kVDH , compare and contrast is.gd/kWya . For shame, Mr Patel. #
11:16 task for the day: run a google search on "Climbie NSPCC". Perhaps they should do that themselves before mouthing off in the press. #
12:05 @joshuamneff damn you and your viral earworms.... with a friendly wave each morning... aaaaarrrrgggh! #
12:51 @BenjaminEllis Interesting, I'm generally a Cory booster, what's he talking about? #
13:22 @LouisaHerbs NSPCC graverobbing from graves they helped to dig... #
13:39 Word for the day: ghoul #
14:51 Poll: should I keep my picture blank? #

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Letter to the Independent; Graverobbing by the NSPCC

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:26:20 GMT

In the education section today, I witnessed a particularly odious example of grave robbing. It was all the more revolting for being prepetrated in the name of a group that could have saved the life of the very child that was being robbed.

In the article "Is the Government right to be concerned about home-schooling?", the NSPCC representative Vijay Patel said: "Some people use home education to hide. Look at the Victoria Climbié case. No one asked where she was at school. We have no view about home education, but we do know that to find out about abuse someone has to know about the child."

Firstly, Victoria wasn't electively home educated: the local authorities had not been able to find her a place at school, making her stay with an unstable, unsuitable relative.

Secondly, her daily whereabouts were known to many agencies including the NSPCC.

Thirdly, the NSPCC was gravely criticized at the time of the enquiry for not only failing to protect Victoria, but also for altering evidence to cover up their culpability.

Vijay Patel is robbing the grave of a child that the NSPCC failed to save. He is doing this in order to make a grab for power for his organisation in an attack on a minority group, a group for which there is no evidence of a problem concerning child abuse or neglect.

Mr Patel has been asked to present what evidence the NSPCC has that home education is or has been used to conceal neglect or abuse.

Such evidence has not been forthcoming.

The only thing we get is a regurgitation of a twisted version of the tragedy of Victoria Climbié, and a wilfull misinterpretation of the Eunice Spry case. Spry was regularly visited by the authorities, who were alerted to the possibility of abuse over a ten year period, yet did nothing.

If anything these cases demonstrate that oversight by authorities does not prevent abuse, but can give the abuser a sense of official license to abuse.

If visibility (which is something children outside of school during school hours have a great deal of) prevented neglect or abuse, then no school child would be abused or neglected. This is, sadly and obviously, not the case, especially where the school environment is either the cause of, or complicit in, the abuse.

Barnardo's have already withdrawn from this review, as they recognise that it is outside their remit. Mr Patel and the NSPCC seem unable to see a tragedy that they cannot exploit for their own gain at the expense of the liberty of families.

Tweets for Today

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:04:41 GMT

24 hours of Twits:

09:25 metaboli: worth it? #
10:39 @Glinner did they have this sort of article when people started installing telephones? #
14:26 @JamesWallis crush them until they are as jaded and bland as us! #

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