Scouting Sunday at the Political Conferences

Scouting and politics don’t usually mix. Scouting is not a party political organisation, but can have some influence over our politicians. So with the party conference season upon us, the Scout Association have organised events at each of the major conferences to talk about youth issues like knife crime, obesity, volunteering etc. They’ve also asked that members contact their MP to ask them to go along. So I’ve contacted ours! It’ll be interesting to see if he goes and what he has to say about it.

He should write back to me as I wrote to him about the event, so I wait with baited breath!

US Presidential Election

I’m getting fed up hearing about the US Presidential Election on the radio, the TV and in the newspapers. It’s been dragging on for over a year and won’t properly finish until January. Now I’m all for hearing what’s going on in the world, but this is getting silly.

Can I vote for a US President – no. Does the US President affect me directly – no. Does the US President affect me indirectly – maybe. But I still can’t do anything about it.

The thing is the coverage is disproportionate. There’s about to be a general election in Canada next month, but is there any mention of it – no. Would the US media pay this much attention to our next General Election – no.

Does the average American know who Gordon Brown, David Cameron or Nick Clegg are? I doubt it, but we know all about Barack Obama and John McCain.

I think a bit of perspective is needed here. Yes, let’s know what’s happening in this election, but not to the point where there’s nothing else in the UK media.

 

I hope that none of my friends in the US take any offence to my above rant. If I have offended anyone, I’m sorry, but it’s something that’s been getting on my nerves for a while now.

Normal service is now resumed!!!

Strike

Apparently, I’m supposed to be on strike on Wednesday and Thursday over pay (or lack of pay increase)! Apart from a letter from UNISON’s HQ and one from the local branch, I’ve heard nothing. There has been no mention of it at work!

Having said that, I won’t strike anyway as I don’t think it’s right to strike in a school – it’s not fair to the kids.

It will be interesting to see what, if anything, happens! We’ll see…….

Ralph for President

I was reading this post by Jerry of the Scoutmasterminute.com on the qualities needed for a US President. He was saying that if the President and politicians followed the (US) Scout Law, then he or she couldn't go too far wrong!

A very good idea I thought, until my mischievous side remembered seeing this –

ralph_poster_01

Ralph Wiggum for President in 2008!

I decided not to post this as a comment on Jerry's blog as it would detract from his sensible comment. So I hope Jerry can forgive me for the slight mickey take!

Photography is now Banned (Apparently)!

There seems to be an increasing trend that people who take photographs of landscapes, buildings, transport and general everyday scenes are now considered potential terrorists or paedophiles.

There was a story in the media this week of a chap who was getting abuse for taking photos of buses! This is despite the fact he’s done it in all innocence for many, many years.

It’s quite common to read in the train mags of officious jobsworths stopping people taking pictures of trains on stations as it’s against ‘regulations’ or a ‘health and safety issue’. This is despite Network Rail issuing clear guidelines that say it’s not a problem as long as the rules are followed. Mind, I read the other day that a Train Operating Company had employed someone to do work for them which involved taking photographs on their stations, but when he went to do his job the station staff banned him from doing so! Again ‘health and safety’. Great own goal that I think!

I used to enjoy standing on a station for hours on end taking snaps of the passing trains, but now I’m quite reluctant to do so. Having said that, I’m less likely to do so as things are more boring these days!

501 Image04

A class 501 EMU at Gospel Oak taken around 1982 and a class 86 entering Stoke station around 1980

So there we go, two photos I took many years ago, when photos could still be taken without suspicion!

In fact, things have now got so silly that the MP Austin Mitchell has now tabled an Early Day Motion in Parliament about this issue.

Oh, Not Again!

Scouts refuse to allow boy who won’t swear to Queen.

An eight-year-old boy has been told he cannot become a Cub Scout after refusing to swear allegiance to the Queen.

Matthew McVeigh objected to part of the Cub Scout Promise which includes the line, “I promise to do my duty to God and the Queen”.

His mother Tracy wanted the pledge changed on religious grounds to: “I promise to do my duty to God and my country”.

But Matthew was told by the 1st Neilston Scout Group in Renfrewshire that unless he took the official oath he could not become a fully-fledged Cub.

Mrs McVeigh, a Roman Catholic, complained the 1701 Act of Settlement specifically discriminated against her faith because it only allowed Protestants to take the throne in Britain.

She added: “Why should we make an oath to the monarchy? The monarchy actively discriminates against Catholics.

“It’s an absolute disgrace in this day and age. We are supposed to live in a multi-cultural age, but this just flies in the face of that.”

The Scout Association allows young people of different religions to replace the word “God” with other deities, and also allows people of other nationalities in the UK to swear to do their duty to “the country in which I am now living”.

But Chris Foster, spokesman for the association, said the rules stated that British nationals must pledge allegiance to the Queen.

He added: “It is simply UK Scout Association policy that all British subjects must promise that.”

Its rules state that scouting is available to all faiths and takes account of the different religions of its members.

In the case of the Scout Promise, which adds the words “On my honour,” at the start of the Cub Scout pledge, Muslims may choose to substitute the phrase with, “In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent the Most Merciful”.

Mrs McVeigh, 29, a mother-of-three, said her son was an intelligent boy and did not want to make the promise “just for the sake of saying it”.

She added: “I was gobsmacked that the Cub Scout commissioner said that if Matthew didn’t say the promise he would effectively be out the door. He said he could still go along to trips, but he would not be insured.

“The Cub Scout Promise was worded way back in 1907 and, let’s face it, times have moved on. Matthew absolutely adores the Cub Scouts.

“I am not asking for special treatment, I would just like him to be a Cub Scout without compromising what he believes in.”

Matthew said the decision was “not fair”, adding: “I really enjoy the Cubs and don’t want to feel left out or different to everybody else.”

Fr Jim Byers, Scouting chaplain of the local Catholic diocese, said he had never heard of a case of religious objection to the promise in 20 years, but urged the Scouting authorities to look into the case.

Cubs have to recite the full promise, which states: “I promise that I will do my best, To do my duty to God and to the Queen, To help other people, And to keep the Scout Law.”

After reciting the verse they receive a badge, woggle and neckerchief and become a fully-fledged Cub Scout.

 

From today’s Daily Telegraph.

OK people, it’s simple. Scouting has a set of rules and one rule is that you make the Promise (or Oath). If you don’t want to, go away and join a youth club! Harsh, I know but that’s the rules.

Sounds to me like Mummy is putting words in the lad’s mouth. The eight year olds I know wouldn’t object to doing their duty to the Queen. I’m certain that there are no problems of this sort at our local Catholic Group just down the road from us. Mummy is now threatening to go to court as it infringes his human rights.

For what other Scouts think see here.

Mind you, putting things in perspective, this is quite petty, silly and unimportant when compared to the poor Scouts who lost their lives in the tornado the other day 🙁

Donations

As I said in an earlier post, the Scouts decided to make donations to the Burma Cyclone appeal and the China Earthquake appeal. I got round to doing this last week, online through Oxfam.

After the donation was accepted, I got confirmation emails to say the money had gone through. However, last week I got two separate letters from each appeal thanking me for the donation. This seems a little unnecessary to me as, although it’s always nice to be thanked, it looks like a waste of resources. Surely the cost of the paper, envelope, printing and postage could be better used helping those who need it.

I’ve emailed Oxfam to suggest they just send out confirmation emails, so it’ll be interesting to see what they think.

Local Elections 2008

The local Council elections were on Thursday and were very interesting again. The local Labour party have lost more seats again, eight in fact. The council still is not lead by one party, but Labour are getting less and less. It’s interesting to note how and area can swing from one way to another.

Military Wearing their uniforms

There is a story in the media today about service personnel in the RAF being told not to wear their uniforms in public to avoid abuse by civilians. What narrow minded fools these civvys must be.

It shouldn’t matter what you think about the armed forces serving in Afghanistan or Iraq or whether or not you approve of the reasons for them being there, these people are doing very dangerous jobs and need everyone’s support.

It’s very different in the US. Returning military personnel wear their uniforms with pride and people support them irrespective of their views on various campaigns.

90 years ago in the First World War, young men who did not wear uniform out in public were given white feathers by women as it was assumed that they weren’t in the Army etc. This did cause some problems with young men back from the Trenches whose uniforms were being washed and deloused!

Another Scout Bashing Organisation

From today’s Daily Telegraph

Scout’s oath ‘is religious discrimination’

By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent

The Scout Association has been reported to the equality watchdog for allegedly discriminating against atheists by making them swear an oath to God.

Ever since Lord Baden-Powell founded the 100-year-old organisation, the promise by scouts to do their duty to God and the Queen has been as much a part of their movement as jamborees, woggles and the three-fingered salute.

BP

Scouting for Boys author Lord Baden-Powell: “discriminates against atheists”

Now, however, it has become the latest target of secularists when the National Secular Society and the British Humanist Association complained to the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

They are furious that the Scout Association is refusing to scrap the pledge required of every new member, which they said was excluding “a growing number of children without belief”.
Members in Britain, where there are nearly half a million scouts, have to promise to “do their best to do their duty to God and to the Queen”, to help other people and to keep Scout law.
To accommodate the movement’s 28 million members around the world, the words can be modified to encompass non-Christian faiths.
The Scout guidelines state: “The phrase ‘to love God’ and ‘duty to God’ implies belief in a supreme being and the acceptance of divine guidance and therefore the word ‘God’ can be replaced by ‘Allah’, ‘my Dharma’ or others as appropriate to suit the faith or religion of the individual concerned.”

But the two secular bodies said in a joint letter to Derek Twine, the chief executive of the Scout Association, that the requirement for members to have a faith should now be made optional.

They said that the Association’s stance was “completely unacceptable” for an organisation “that is so committed to personal development of young people and that claims to foster mutual understanding between different beliefs, which of course should include those of no belief.”

They also criticised it for claiming on its website that it was “inclusive”, and called on it to make ambiguously clear that it was a religious organisation. Scouting leaders said that they had no intention of changing the oath drawn up by Lord Baden-Powell, a “muscular Christian” who believed that faith was an essential element in the development of young people.

Stephen Peck, the Association’s director of programmes and development, said: “It is fundamental to scouting that young people are helped to understand their spirituality. It is in our lifeblood.”

The Equality and Human Rights Commission, which was set up in October and which is headed by Trevor Phillips, said it was committed to a vision of fairness, but it was too early to comment on this case.

Scout Oath (or Promise)

On my honour,
I promise that I will do my best
To do my duty to God and to the Queen,
To help other people
And to keep the Scout Law.

I give up Angry

Why is it people are always negative about Scouting? Stuff all the positive thing we do!

I don’t see them having a go at the Guides, Boys Brigade or Girls Brigade. I guess we’re just a big target! So I’ve grumbled to them!

Dear Sirs,
 
I am rather disappointed to read about your joint attack on The Scout Association and religion.
 
First of all, let me state my position. I am a Group Scout Leader with a very long established Scout Group (we are 100 this year in fact). We are a Group which is sponsored by a local Church of England Parish. Being sponsored by the Church means that we get the use of the Church’s hall facilities free of charge and occasional financial support for Leader training. In return we help out at the Church’s Summer and Christmas Fairs to help raise money for the Church’s upkeep. We also attend Church services four times a year.
The vicar of the Church will pop in to one of our meetings occasionally to say hello and speak to our young people.
At no point do we ‘force’ religion down our young people’s throats or try to ‘convert them’ to believe in Christianity. Nor do we or can we force our young people to attend services and we will not penalise them for not doing so.
 
Scouting is open to all young people without prejudice to their faith (or lack of), sexuality or needs. The general idea is to have fun, do new things, to learn new skills whilst doing so and to be well rounded citizens.
 
If a young person wanted to join us and specifically stated that they were an atheist that would be fine. When explaining the Promise, I would say that Duty to God means their own personal God. If they do not believe in a Supreme Being then I would say that it refers to their personal beliefs and morals. I assume that not believing in God does not preclude the person from having strong moral and ethical beliefs.
 
I notice that your complaint is just about the Scout Association. Why not the Guides, Boys Brigade and Girls Brigade? As I understand it, the Guides operate a similar position to the Scouts and the Boys and Girls Brigades actually promote Christianity.
 
Please do not make frivolous complaints about organisations whose primary concerns are the development of young people and those young people enjoying themselves. Your complaint can only detract from this and cost all organisations involved money which would be better spent on young people. 
Bet I get a wishy washy reply.

Merry Non-Denominational Winter Festive Period

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive and gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday as practised within the traditions of the religious or secular practices or traditions of your choice or, if none, without regard to any religious or secular practices or traditions at all. We wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically healthy generally accepted calendar year 2008 with due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make this country great (not to imply that this country is a country you are part of, nor that it is necessarily greater than any other country, or is indeed the only “your country” worth referring to) and without regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith, or sexual preference of the wishee.

By accepting these greetings you are accepting the following terms. These greetings are subject to clarification and withdrawal at any time and imply no promise by the wisher to the wishee to implement any of the wishes herein. These greetings are freely transferable on the express condition that there be no alteration of the original greetings. These greeting are void where prohibited by law and are revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. These greetings have no guarantee or warranty of any kind. These greetings are valid for a period not to exceed one year or until the issuance of subsequent greetings or until clarification or withdrawal of these greetings pursuant to the terms of these greetings, whichever comes first. The sole remedy for any dissatisfaction of the wishee is, after service of written notice on the wisher by the wishee, clarification or withdrawal of these greetings or issuance of new greetings, at the sole discretion of the wisher.

I think what I meant was Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year!

It makes me laugh to think that we are not supposed to celebrate Christmas in case we offend other religions and non believers. This is despite the fact we are supposed to honour the festivals of other religions!

The leaders of the main religions have all said that they enjoy the Christmas festivities and respect Christmas. Even Richard Dawkins says he enjoys singing carols!

So stuff all the PC brigade, remember Christmas isn’t just about shopping and think of those who have to work over Christmas!

Local Rail Services 2

After I'd received the reply to my e-mail from East Midlands Trains , I thought I'd reply –

Thank you for your reply.

I have to say that I'm not over confident that the Crewe Derby route is going to be treated as a priority. You talk about the fact that ‘We will link stations progressively over the next few years and this will enable passengers to speak directly to an information controller….' Being cynical and based on the fact of the lack of investment and interest in the route by previous companies, I feel that the Crewe Derby route stations will be amongst the last to receive these improvements!

Of the 70 ticket machines you talk about, will Longport be included?

I also hear on the grapevine, and please correct me if I have misheard, that you are to run the single coach Class 153 units on the route, thereby reducing the seating capacity and moving the two car units to other areas.

My final worry is that you are expecting local authorities to pay for the upgrading of your stations! Why should they pay to improve your facilities when it is in your interests to improve services etc. to increase passenger numbers?

I'm sorry if this all seems a little negative, but local train services in North Staffordshire have been eroded away over the last 15 years or so and your predecessors seemed to treat this area as an inconvenience!

Yours sincerely

And the reply –

Thanks again for your email.

We will not be installing ticket machines into the Longport station.

We are proposing to run single coach Class 153 units on the Crewe-Derby route from December 2008, however, this has not been finalised. We are currently consulting with stakeholders on our proposed December 2008 and their feedback may have some bearing on this decision.

We do have funds to undertake station improvements however, we are also looking to local authorities to assist. We will be looking to invest in stations where we can make a valid business case for it.

Kind regards
David Horne
Mobilisation Director
East Midlands Trains

That reply doesn't exactly instil confidence does it? The trouble is that it's an East Midlands franchise serving the West Midlands / North West. Time will tell I guess, but I'm not holding my breath for improvements.

Hospital Superbugs

I notice there is a lot in the news at the moment about superbugs in hospitals. This is quite a simple and easy problem to solve – clean the hospitals properly!
It seems the hospital trusts and their chief execs seem oblivious to this concept. As long as they can cut costs left right and centre and keep their huge salaries and benefit packages then it's 'I'm aright Jack'. But the best bit is that the high ups seem to make an utter pigs ear in one area, then move on to another and do the same. What are they and the people who employ them thinking?????

No Autumn General Election

The PM has said no to an autumn general election . Lightweight!

He said – 

"Over the summer months we've had to deal with crises, we've had to deal with foot-and-mouth, with terrorism, with floods, we had financial crises.

"Yes, we could have had an election on competence and I hope people would have understood we have acted competently, but what I want to do is show people the vision we have for the future of this country in housing, health and education.

"And I want the chance in the next phase of my premiership to develop and show people the policies that are going to make a huge difference and make a change in the whole country itself,"

Which translated means 'I've got the job I've waited 10 years for and no one is going to take it from me. No election until I absolutely must'. 

Frown

The Post Office

Seems as if the Post Office / Royal Mail is now set to self destruct.

The Communication Workers Union have called strikes, which means that, in all probability, we won't get any post now for a week!

Royal Mail themselves seem to want to self destruct and annoy as many people as possible at the moment.

They're closing Post Offices, stopped the majority of mail going by train (despite the increase in road congestion , pollution etc), closed their own dedicated underground railway in London, stopped second deliveries and started to deliver mail later and later in the day.

The union seems to be just as bloody minded and awkward. This is the union that goes on strike for having its members suspended. Now, if the rules are followed and fair hearing occur, that is fair enough, so why a strike?

Admittedly, the Government haven't helped by moving services out of the Post Offices, but it does seem that there is some massively bad management going on and some very rigid uncompromising staff within the business.
Will the Post Office survive? Who knows, but I bet my Great Great Grandfather, William Wood who was a postman, is spinning away merrily!