Monday, 23 April 2012 08:00
'The Deputy Prime Minister also admitted in a television interview that very few people care about the need to replace the Lords with an elected senate.
A report from MPs and peers on Monday is likely to recommend a referendum to win public backing for the plans. It will also raise concerns about the role of an elected second chamber, and whether it should have primacy over the views of the House of Commons.
The Joint Committee is expected to call for an 80 per cent elected chamber, where members serve non-renewable 15-year terms. They would get a salary of around £50,000, rather than the existing attendance allowances.'
Monday, 23 April 2012 07:27
'Millions have been shocked by Friday’s story of the London couple who were charged, on flawed medical evidence, with having shaken their four-month-old son to death. The charges against the parents were dropped at the Old Bailey last December, but it was only last week that they finally won his sister back from social workers still determined to hold on to her.
The reporting of this tragic case lifts a tiny corner of that veil of secrecy which has long hidden a crucial and disturbing flaw of our child protection system. This is the way that doctors are far too ready to report to social workers that children have probably been physically abused, and the readiness of family courts to endorse those suspicions on medical evidence which is not put properly to the test. All the indications are that hundreds of families are torn apart each year for similarly dubious reasons which never come to light.'
Monday, 23 April 2012 06:05
'The Dutch government is on the brink of collapse after politicians hit an impasse on implementing austerity measures required to secure a bailout.
As the economic and technical data points to financial Armageddon looming in Spain Dutch politicians are deadlocked over the decision to implement brutal austerity measures to secure an economic bailout or to tell the bankers to shove it and take the path of Iceland.
Dutch politicians have announced they can not come to an agreement on austerity limits required to secure the bailout to save the Dutch economy.'
Monday, 23 April 2012 05:55
'As an unschooling parent, I often struggle with the thoughts of what happens to all the other children that are still in the public school system. While we believe very strongly in the benefits of having our children at home and following an unschooling lifestyle, I know that it is simply not possible for everyone. What can be done to help those children?
How can we care so much about our children while knowingly walking away from the other kids that are stuck in what I feel is a completely inefficient model for gaining knowledge?'
How can we care so much about our children while knowingly walking away from the other kids that are stuck in what I feel is a completely inefficient model for gaining knowledge?'
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