UKIP enters the home education debate

UKIP has called for the sacking of Vijay Patel, the NSPCC official who tried to link home education with child abuse.

UKIP is calling for the sacking of a child protection official following "dishonest" claims over home education.

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children is backing a government investigation into home-schooling amid fears that teaching children at home can hide abuse.

"The NSPCC is trying to shift blame away from itself to the home education community," said UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom.

He also picks up on the "Fake Charity" angle I've been pushing here.

It is no surprise that the NSPCC is a government toady given that it ceased to be an independent charity years ago and now is a branch of government. It is heavily funded by the government and does the government's bidding. Today that job is to vilify decent parents.

Excellent. Maybe all this slogging away at the keyboard is having an effect. UKIP have also been busy on the policy front, issuing a position paper on HE, stating that they are fully behind the principle of the existing law and opposing any attempts by the state to get in the way of the freedom to educate at home.

There are said to be something of the order of 50,000 home educating families in the UK. That could be a lot of votes just hoovered up by UKIP.

(Via Carlotta)

Comments

[Lanna Rosgen]

I was having a look at UKIP policy aims, and saw that they are ardent royalists. Is that because they believe that the monarchy is (or should be) inseparable from the British identity? I find that very odd, but again my biases are showing..

[Steve2]

UKIP seem too right wing to me. I don't know how often this comes up, but libertarianism is something I have grown into from a younger left-wing stance. In my youth I onced managed to get into an argument against unilateral disarmament whilst participating in a CND march in the early eighties! So I may not be typical. But I understand about being called right-wing, and hell I may even embrace it now , but I really don't feel that way. UKIP don't seem designed to handle my potential voting ability ;)

What does the Bishop think of the site called Spiked?

http://www.spiked-online.com/

They proclaim to be Libertarian Marxists, which does seems contradictory to me, but I like what they write ... Is there a right wing/ left wing libertatrian stance?

[Steve2]

My last post was off topic, I have to agree that the pathologising of home education by the NSPCC is well criticised by UKIP on this point.

I clicked the site and found the quote with the specious comparison to the Victoria Climbié case. Pretty jaw dropping that this is considered a credible attack on home education. The social services can't manage the most likely type of case they would see, by people of the least compliant persuasion

So they happily include other social groups into the same risk group on a whim to make their numbers look good... I feel despair

[Bishop Hill]

Lanna

At a philosophical level, it is kind of hard to reconcile libertarianism with being a royalist. It is worth pointing out though that most stable constitutions have some undemocratic features in order to protect against populist demagogues. The monarch is arguably just such a defence.

For my part, I tend to shrug my shoulders and wonder why anyone gets worked up about it.

[Bishop Hill]

Steve2

I look at Spiked from time to time. It sometimes feels a bit strange, them being ex-marxists, but there is lots of good stuff there. I don't read it as much as I might because I often find it repeating things I've already read on the blogosphere.

In what way do you find UKIP too right wing?

I struggle to find a home for my vote at the moment. Conservatives are corrupt and still too conservative, LibDems too left wing. UKIP will certainly get my vote at the Euros. Libertarians haven't shown that they are more than a pressure group at the moment. I keep meaning to write a piece urging libertarians to unite - UKIP, Libertarian Party, the Liberal party perhaps, the Social Liberalists perhaps, liberals in the Conservatives and LibDems. There may even be a couple in the Labour party too.

[Bishop Hill]

Steve2

On right and left libertarians - they are often said to "meet round the back". I think the attitude to economic liberty is likely to remain a stumbling block though.

[Steve2]

Thanks for the response, I admit I may be unthinkingly tarring them with the right wing brush, from my light reading of their media image they did seem to be operating from a business vested position. I will do some work and read up about them. It must be perilous ground trying to operate as a libertarian politician, it reminds me of something Michael Crichton said, paraphrased as something like, "You often find that professors of economics who advocate free markets are still keen to get tenure" :)