Fight against attack on civil liberties

BETWEEN 50 and 70 people braved the weather to hold a candlelit demo of home educating families on December 8 outside the Houses of Parliament.
Later that night there was a mass presentation of a record-breaking 120 petitions to Parliament protesting against the Badman Report.
Karen Buck MP presented for Regent’s Park North, while Sarah Teather MP presented two petitions on behalf of constituents of Brent South and Brent East, who were outraged by what one MP described during the mass presentation as “the iniquitous Badman Report”.
The issue does not just affect home educators; it is related to the shocking, ongoing, erosion of civil liberties during the lifetime of this government.
It is related to a culture of suspicion, an assumption of “guilty until proven innocent”.
It is connected to the imposition of vetting and barring procedures which would insist upon parents being Criminal Records Bureau checked. It is part of a mindset which would even consider prohibiting lifelong friends and neighbours from sharing childcare on an informal reciprocal basis.
What’s next? Mandatory health and safety checks for all homes where children are resident?
Spot checks on kitchen cupboards in case junk food is in evidence? Prohibition of smoking/drinking alcohol in private homes (or any behaviour of which this government disapproves)?
A licence to have children and compulsory inspection by local authorities for all under-fives would appear to be the next logical step.
Look at the Children, Schools and Families Bill and see what you think.
“First they came for the home educators, and I said nothing because I was not a home educator:”Which parents will be next?
Judi Wilson
Burrows Road, NW10