The Sun

Is setting and I have had enough. The wretched blog, not this one! is being awkward its got some fancy gadget for deciding what is and is not spam/ham and I can't find a way to tell it when its wrong which it is in every case so far. This is particularly annoying because right at the top of the page its got a stat crowing 100% ! So far its 100% wrong and I can't fix it! I may scream.

The other thing about the blog is every now and then it prevents me from editing but it lists my attempts to do so as if I'd actually connected and done it instead of sitting here like a lemon waiting for the wheel to stop spinning.   Thinking about it it doesn't always get the stats right and it doesn't always show the leave a comment click. I can't do anything about the stats but I have tried to fix the leave a comment click and so far it hasn't worked or rather it has worked once only.

I have asked the support thingy it gave me information on deleting.....I was unimpressed. I've no doubt at all that its my fault its always my fault but I'm damned well not paying to go 'pro' on the site until I've found out what I'm doing wrong and how to correct what I've done so far.

Changing the subject in everything but annoyance Herself has decided she will eat whenever she feels like it. I used to feed them all three or four times a day, we are currently running at five or six and I'm wondering which will run out first the cat and dog food or her appetite.

If anyone is wondering why stocks may run very low the answer is if I feed one I have to feed them all. Its only fair and anyway if I didn't the remaining four would gang up and make my life hell. You try having two dogs trying to sit on your lap and two cats camped on your desk.  Its not easy.

Helen Mirren

As far as I can remember has always been famous for as she put it in a famous advert getting her kit off. I'm honestly shocked that anyone can possibly have missed seeing her full frontal, but to assuage any curiosity here for the ignorant are a couple of shots through as it were the years.

I've changed my mind they lower the tone. Google em.

I Have to Say

I was absolutely astonished. It should have been the quietest lunch I had prepared two and shared them almost equally, they would be I thought happily engrossed in pulling them apart for hours and yet I could hear him growling. Its always him Jezzie is always too busy chewing. I walked into the room and there was the funniest picture!

Herself oblivious to all threats was under his chin trying to get his bone from him. My poor Olly was in a dilemma the rule is very clear: herself does what she likes and everyone else lets her. The only thing is when the rule was drawn up it never occurred to me that bones would be a problem and yet here was her twenty year old self trying to get Ollys bone. It was clearly a delicate situation.

I picked her up and carried her out of the fray and into the kitchen scolding all the way. Not that she paid any attention she had caught a whiff of a long forgotten scent and was, graciously allowing me to carry her, hot on the trail. We got into the kitchen which as herself well knows is whence all food emanates and she immediately started snuffing around looking for the source.

I gave in. I opened the oven door took the lamb out and started cutting some herself size pieces out of it. This was the cue for the other two to appear. I gave in. There's really not much left which is not a bad thing. I'm not hungry and I can't stand the fuss. 

Andrea Davison

Andrea Davison bothers me. She is more than sixty years old and says she had to flee the UK to avoid being sent to prison on false charges. Ms Davison is said to have applied for asylum in what may be a South American country. 

 This is extraordinary when was the last time a citizen of the UK applied for asylum anywhere? I can think of Ronnie Biggs but he was trying to avoid going to prison for his part in the Great Train Robbery and was allowed to remain in Brazil because he had fathered a child there while on the run from the British police.

 Not so Andrea Davison  she appears to have been a well regarded member of the British intelligence services until she became a whistle blower on the child abuse cases in North Wales and was involved in exposing the arms sales to Iraq scandal. 

 Ms Davison made a statement to the Macur review and I reblogged the statement the link is here: 

 http://cathyfox.wordpress.com/2014/01/18/andrea-davison-child-sexual-abuse-whistleblower-macur-review-statement/

 Here is another link its to the Justice Denied Blogspot:

 http://google-law.blogspot.ie/2012/09/derby-police-tell-andrea-davisons.html

Justice Denied explain the harassment Ms Davison is said to have endured by a stalker/blogger who was said to owe Ms Davison thousands of pounds in damages.

Ms Davison was tried in her absence at Mold Crown Court and was found guilty on twenty six of twenty seven charges in the unanimous verdict of the jury.

Its all very murky full of intrigue and mud slinging and if its what Ms Davison says is true she has been grievously wounded trying to protect children by exposing child abusers. I'm not exposing anything new here its all very well known but it does appear to be disappearing into the ether with very little help given to Ms Davison who has been denied access to her own money and to an inheritance from her mother. 

It begs the question and its one that relates to all whistle blowers in child abuse cases: If the child abuse case is brought to trial and senior politicians, police and intelligence operatives are found to have been involved in a cover up will this help people like Ms Davison who have lost so much, sacrificed their careers and often the pension that goes with them and been relentlessly pursued for what will have been  no good reason. 

I See

The faux republicans are still churning out their considerably less than believable tat.  Marian Price did time for the Old Bailey bombing. She went on hunger strike and was force fed, well be fair others who went on hunger strike and were not force fed died, which would Ms Price have preferred I wonder but not much she's not worth it.

On release she reinstated her position within faux republican circles, hardly surprising such people were and are the only ones likely to listen to her tale of woe or care about her aches and pains.  In due course she had a go at publicly taking the piss out of the Brits and out of the terms of her licence. Unfortunately for her the wind was blowing in the wrong direction she and her supporters were the only ones to get wet.  She was arrested the Brits said for breaking the terms of her licence

Ms Price insisted there was no licence and that the Brits had given her a pardon.  When the all important document failed to appear her own and her supporters fury was turned on the Brits for losing the all important document. I have never understood this I would think she would be and insist on being given a copy of the pardon and have made sure it was kept somewhere very safe indeed. In due course she pleaded guilty and was released to dwell in bitterness and hatred in the comfort to which she apparently believes she is entitled.

I've no patience with her. I've no patience with her supporters and I could give a monkeys how ill she is, how comfortable she is or even how free she is. I'm just thankful no one has tried to make her a SPAD.

Lord McAlpine is Dead

Lord McAlpine is Dead

As in, to quote an old favourite of mine which  is more than McAlpine ever was; he is dead, deceased, gone. I can imagine many a skeleton will be leaping from the closet doors.  Am I allowed to say that now that he’s shuffled off this mortal coil in a downward direction?

I didn't like his politics . I didn't like that his circumstances were such that were it not for being born into a wealthy family the chances are his life would have been an ignominious failure. Not because he wasn’t intelligent enough but because academically he was poverty stricken. The lack of qualification was caused by dyslexia which prevents many very capable people from getting on. Yet here was a young man who within five years of joining the family business by working on one of their building sites jumped to almost the top of the ladder and was made a director. Some might say he worked hard and was lucky but I disagree: if that’s not a classic example of ‘its not what you know but who you know that counts’ I don’t know what is.

In the unlikely event there is anyone who is unaware of McAlpine: at his death he was seventy one, and retired. In his career he  had been a senior Tory, an aide to Margaret Thatcher and is alleged to have been involved in a paedophile ring  which had members among Westminster politicians.  He furiously denied the allegations and had for the last couple of years been waving his cheque book in a very threatening manner toward anyone who mentioned paedophilia and his name in the same sentence. I should say he won and his name was cleared.

I’m not sure what I believe of his sexual orientation he is gone time at last for the truth.

The French Way!

French gendarmes gather around a pile of manure which was dumped from a truck in front of the French National Assembly on January 16, 2013 in Paris (AFP, Fred Dufour)

I'll say one thing for the French they: they don;t faff about.

Westminster Correspondents Dinner

Really?  There is such an occasion?  Who knew! And more to the point who pays? does each pay for his/her own. If not is there a whip and do the 'great and the good' get in free because they are so 'great and so good'. Or is it possible the 'great and good' pay because if they don't the Correspondents may make it their business to ensure there is a major avalanche of articles which would otherwise be dismissed as of 'no public interest'?

Sometimes you see a phrase and the mind boggles, these are what used to be Fleet Street hacks dressing up and getting ideas above their ability. All paid for by the MSM media owners who often keep their loot in off shore bank accounts and the politicians who rarely have to bother with such subterfuge and celebrities who know which side their bread is buttered and who butters it.

I have learned to distrust it all.

I don't Know

Obviously its an association (gang!) of some sort but whatever it calls itself it has put me through a kind of hell for years. It has said I can't join something I never knew existed and certainly never applied to join.

I don't know how far or if to trust a word I read I'm very wary and suspicious of any approach I won't accept a join us if I think that invitation would be snatched away as soon as I committed myself, that's what I call entrapment.

It was well written very different from the usual style I don't think I read one 'whom'! But even this morning I was frantic I had been hacked again. I'm still concerned this blog is not right and that worries me.

There's an old saying I'm told its indigenous American in origin its "Walk a mile in my shoes" and its very apt. I would need convincing. I've gone through enough...I never did want to hurt anyone what seems to have been forgotten is that 'anyone' included me.

I think I should add this is not a refusal of anything as far as I'm concerned I've received no invitation and nothing has been explained its all too vague to be a commitment and that is as always deliberate. Whatever I do I will do what I see as right. 

Them!

And me. I felt sorry for them I did! I rarely cook anything with a bone in it but recently I have cooked turkey, lamb and pork all of which whilst not being burgers do have bones.  Obviously no animal could be allowed to eat the turkey bones I think that's very dangerous and mine were left noisily and sulkily wanting but I felt the lamb and pork bone could be shared between Olly and Jezzie as long as I stayed within sight and any sound of choking.

Regrettably Jezzie and Olly don't eat at the same speed she usually finishes ahead of Olly and then spends her time usefully employed looking half starved and defenseless while Olly growls at any approach to his stash.

Today is lamb shanks day the pair of them have been hovering around the oven since I put the wretched thing in I'm not hungry anymore I may not bother with it. Its not like there's much meat on the shank and there's going to be a hell of a row about who get's what.

I've made a decision from now on its back to the vegetarian option.   

Scandal!

Or not. Woody Allen has been honoured with a Lifetimes Achievement Award by 2014 Golden Globe Awards:-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/golden-globes/10567623/Golden-Globes-2014-Woody-Allen-receives-achievement-award.

Not everyone was thrilled to bits Allens son Ronan Farrow formerly known as Satchel tweeted his contempt for Allen:-

Mia Farrow didn't watch the Allen section she tweeted it was time to switch channels.

All of this is the result of a very unpleasant period when the couple were together. Mia Farrow and Woody Allen were together for some twelve years they never married or formerly shared a home but would visit each others homes and stay whenever they wanted and for as long as they wanted until the day Mia discovered nude photos of her adopted daughter Soon Yi on display in Allens apartment. To be fair and for what its worth Allen had not adopted Soon Yi but he had been a step father to her throughout the twelve year relationship of himself and Mia. To all intents and purposes he was her father but at some point he became interested in a different relationship and began to effectively court Soon Yi who had been neglected and eventually dumped by her birth mother when she was very young.

Woody Allen was the adopted father of Dylan who confided to her mother that he had touched her in what the world would describe as an inappropriate and sexual manner. Allen strenuously denied this and since the case was abandoned to spare Dylan having to give evidence Woody is not guilty of any child sexual abuse.

Mia is sometimes painted as the wronged woman out for revenge but Dylan who changed her name to Malone insists the abuse did happen and she will have nothing to do with Allen nor will his son Ronan or as far as I understand it any other member of the family who shared his life for twelve years.  Allen married Soon Yi and they now have two adopted daughters.

What is shown here is the near impossibility of proving definitively an allegation of assault when the child is so young s/he may be intimidated by the formality and experience of court and of having to repeat something that hurt and shamed them.

What it also shows is the complete breakdown of the family and the ongoing harm that can and often  does happen. The allegation is that one child was abused Soon Yi was very young but she was of legal age when the affair was discovered, but what is shown here is that all the children suffered and had to rebuild their own lives.

The other thing that is clearly shown here is how willing some celebrities are to accept possible abusers as colleagues, friends and employers. Roman Polanski is still wanted for drugging and raping a thirteen year old. Its been years since he went on the run but he has never been prevented from making films and very few actors I can't think of one have refused to work with him.

Here are links to further information about Woody Allen.

Links to articles and bio:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_Allen

http://www.celebitchy.com/234399/woody_allen_out_with_his_daughters_creepy_or_normal_loving_dad_/

http://nypost.com/2013/10/03/mia-farrow-uses-sinatra-story-to-get-revenge-on-woody-allen/

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2013/11/mia-farrow-frank-sinatra-ronan-farrow

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mia_Farrow

I Appear

Currently anyway to have this blog back. I can't tell you how pleased I am! Its not public visitors are in the known and family category but its my oldest and favourite blog. A lot of what I write starts here, not all because I worry about its safety but most ranting and child abuse posts begin here as do most of my animal posts I spent the weekend waiting to see if things improved and so far they have.  Its good to be back home!

I'm working on another post but its irritating me, not because I can't find information there's a ton and a half of it! Rather because I'm trying not to take sides too obviously. Its a toughie because I took sides long ago and I'd spill blood (his!) before I'd let him near any child of mine.

I might finish it I might not I can't decide.

Subscription Only? or Not

I’m not in favour of subscription only groups or internet sites I think depending upon the club or site they may add to a victims sense of isolation and otherness. If children and adults are to be helped they must know they are not only not alone they are no different from anyone, they have more problems and they need more help but it shouldn’t be a secret the adults kept secrets for too long and the children are being imprisoned by the secrets they keep. Subscription only indicates only those the group or owner approve of because of that some people may slip through the net intimidated by the need to apply, others may feel their problems are not important enough to qualify and all may lose because the freedom that’s in open groups and speech is lost.

People need to feel relaxed in their situation.  A person who has been abused may find comfort with others who have suffered similar experiences but s/he may also find the very exclusivity is yet another separation from whatever normal is.

—

That was the end of my last post on this blog but I couldn't leave it there the subject interests me in a general way  but also some subscription only places and sites interest me particularly because I don’t understand why. Of course there should be places where victims of crime can be counselled and/or be among friends and fellow sufferers but that’s not necessary for most of the time and in fact such isolation, everyone speaking with one voice, could be detrimental as it feeds into the isolation and separateness that can be such a problem for victims.

While such ‘closed shops’ meet the world doesn’t stop and wait, those who are ignorant of abuse need educating and those who suffered or are suffering abuse need to know that there is a freedom in acknowledging the abuse and refusing to let it control or shame you. 

It happened the pervert who did it should be punished and the world should know you ‘took care of business’. Often the hardest part of being the victim of abuse is when ‘other’ people find out but who are those ‘other’ people? When so many people have suffered abuse its entirely possible there’s a victim living quite near you and you want to keep your secret from them too? Does that not leave them in isolation and might they not be weaker than you?

Naturally people will join clubs and groups that follow the same interests but child abuse isn't an interest its a serious crime and all victims should feel empowered to confront their past and the paedophile who abused them. I’m not sure subscription only places help in that regard I think it entirely possible that in a small way, by keeping their doors closed to both the unknown and the disliked they aid the cover up

Working the System

In my last post I described, briefly and perhaps not very well, how I feel major charities and the NSPCC in particular are failing children. Today I want to explore that further, not by using individual cases I think in terms of child abuse in general its inappropriate to be specific and that the operative word is ‘use’. I don’t want to ‘use’ a child’s trauma to emphasize my case I think that is wrong. 

I’ve been reading a great deal about child abuse and child sexual abuse and they are not always the same thing, often an abuser will persuade a child, and how hard is that? that the sexual activity is mutual or the child’s fault. Its extreme abuse but its easy to see how a child may be persuaded that they have no choice and that its their own fault anyway.

I think since the eighties there have been charities like Child Line which is a twenty four hour call centre for children to call and explain their situation. Obviously anything that helps a child report and deal with physical or sexual abuse is a good thing. It is at least a potential start on the road to recovery. Child Line very quickly became a media and establishment favourite it trod the same path as the NSPCC and was taken over by the NSPCC in 2006.  

No child charity is there to replace govt child or social services. At their core all such charities should be separate from and wary of govt departments and procedures. It should be a part of all child representative organisations to advocate for the child if necessary in opposition to social services opinions. 

Time after time what we see is child help institutions and charities working with social services when imo they should be working separately and independently. What have the NSPCC to do with ‘team’ meetings? Of course they may be there if invited by the child or his representative, or if they have been independently monitoring the situation and feel they have something independent and relevant to add to the discussion. 

The thing is it must, has to be independent an alternative view not a reinforcement of social services decisions. Social services are not always right they have made glaring and tragic mistakes and child support groups and charities who work with social services must share the blame for that. 

If the child has a completely independent advocate at meetings there would be more questions and those questions might trigger real action to save a child. The nodding shop approach and that is what many of these meetings seem to be is failing children. Abused children become, if they live that long, abused adults carrying their trauma with them through life making adult relationships difficult if not impossible, many find it hard to respect the major child support groups that they believe failed them when they were children. More find it almost impossible to find the counselling they need because the trauma they suffered follows them leading them to be mistrustful and suspicious, often quite rightly, of child and adult support organisations.

The establishment has for decades seemed to believe that child abuse was not that bad, provided the child was not too seriously injured physically they were largely in favour of the spare the rod spoil the child mentality of the past. Even sexual abuse was thought of as easy to forget and no permanent harm was done. 

Its possible to look at the cases of today and see much the same attitude, there is a laxness about investigations and tragedies happen all too frequently because one social worker or another thought all was well when it obviously wasn’t. Its the mind set that has allowed tragedy after tragedy to happen and that guarantees more will happen. Its also that mindset that dissuades victims from going forward getting the help they need and where possible the justice they deserve. 

The police are said to be conducting some thirty or more active investigations into child sexual abuse throughout the UK and although I think some of these cases are historic and others may involve something other than child sexual abuse the number is a strong indication of the depth and seriousness of the problem and that’s before even approaching domestic child abuse. 

I’m not in favour of subscription only groups or internet sites I think that depending upon the club or site they may add to a victims sense of isolation and otherness. If children and adults are to be helped they must know they are not only not alone they are no different from anyone, they have more problems and they need more help but it shouldn't be a secret the adults kept secrets for too long and the children are being imprisoned by the secrets they keep.

Its Gone

I don't feel I can trust it anymore. This blog and all its siblings will have to be retired. I'm sad about that this was the first and always the favourite I felt comfortable here.

Now I don't.

You Should Know By Now

That what no one does is spend years insulting every little thing about me and when they get caught think they can slink off into the sunset, there is only one way to deal with it and that is my way.

The fat lady aint even taken to the stage yet, oh wait! There's more than one isn't there I hope they don't think I've forgotten them.....

Well there's a Funny Thing

I overslept! Just a bit but I thought I might go into town today and over sleeping puts a bit of a dent in my plans for the day. Nothing disastrous, well not if I really want to go, but everything has to be slotted in around it. and its a frosty day. I say day because morning has almost shot its bolt and the frost is hanging on like grim death out there.

Trixie is on the window I'm not worried about her she could live off her fat for months, my only concern is at bird feeding time and that is when she and particularly Pippa must be inside out of harming anyones way.

Still !

A problem with visitor numbers, bloody thing registers me as a visitor and doesn't register half the family at all, at all.  I'll give it the week end and then rant at the tech guys.

Mark Duggan

Was born in 1981 and died in 2011 that is certain, what is not so certain is anything that happened in the years between beginning and end.

It seems he was from a notorious family, never had a legitimate (tax paying) job but did have enough childhood problems to be sent to live with his aunt when he was twelve, presumably his mother and father felt they couldn't cope with his behaviour. Or there might be another reason perhaps he preferred Manchester. What is certain is that his aunt had no problem with him he lived with her for years before returning to London when he was seventeen.  Its too late now to know for sure about his past because what is for sure is that no one can be trusted to tell the truth. Not now, not from the day he died.

His criminal record does not suggest a hardened criminal. It suggests very strongly a young man doing what many young men do today and that is smoking a bit of weed and buying or selling something without bothering to check if a receipt existed before buying or selling. The police call this handling stolen goods but to be certain it was nothing more than a minor infringement you would need to know how many stolen goods and for how long.

Can I just say that when I buy something either from a shop, market stall or friend I've never yet asked the seller for proof of ownership I suspect not many of us do. I'm assuming that in order to be arrested and charged Mark Duggan had handled more than one stolen item but again to be sure you would need to know for sure how many items and for how long.

At a glance it seems odd, weird even that the police would be following someone like Mark Duggan hardly any previous, and as far as I know no record of violence so why were they following him? The police say he was a hardened criminal and a member of a notorious gang or since more than one name has been used for the gang perhaps there was more than one gang although from what I've read of gang rules and hierarchy membership of more than one would not be a good idea.

The hardened criminal explanation/excuse is hard to believe with no evidence to back it up. It is said that he once attended hospital for treatment to a gunshot wound to his foot hardly Kray stuff is it? In any event in a very different but far more damaging way the police may well be said to have shot themselves in the foot over the whole Mark Duggan pursuit and death.

I don't want to go into reminiscences I always do that! But I do want to say that from the 1970s on society decided that if you were black you were a victim. It makes no difference if one parent is white you are still allowed to consider yourself black and are therefore a victim.

Seriously, I think allowing anyone to wallow in the claim of victim hood merely because of the colour of their skin or the ill treatment of their great grandparents is the biggest mistake society has made in centuries. It gives people an excuse for every failing and makes the work of the police much harder and we do need the police, not as cowed yes men too weak to move against anyone of colour or minority but as upholders of the law whoever breaks it.

The riots that followed the death have nothing to do with Mark Duggan, they were the result of poor policing before, during and after the shooting. It was a golden opportunity for youth to express itself in protest, violence and most important to society: theft.

A life is lost I don't think we will ever know if it was thrown away or stolen but what we do know is that the crime figures issued by the Metropolitan police are being looked at very closely and so far they are being found wanting. This is not connected to Mark Duggan except it is its about dishonesty at the highest level and what we may be discovering, again, is that the Met is no stranger to duplicity.

Its said that its easier to get a gun in London than it is to get a licence for a gun that means that Joe Blogs can have a quiet word with John Smith and walk out of the meeting armed to the teeth, which funnily enough I notice some people appear to have less of than me! And cause havoc on the streets and all for no more than a nod and wink in a pub or car park or  anywhere unobtrusive and a couple of hundred quid.

We do need the police but they're worse than useless if they don't do their jobs properly or at all.

I'm Tired

I ache. I've upset Trixie, like I care. If I'm going to feed the birds and others I am damn well keeping the cats in while I do it. I have noticed my greedy killing machines had been paying too much attention to me with bird food. Well! She is off somewhere in here no doubt licking her bruised ego.

Didn't have a row but only because I am a sweet natured old thing who wouldn't say boo to a goose. Maybe but I tell you what? I will never again be the kind of person who sacrifices my response to spare someones blushes. You do it? You pay for it; in spades you bastards!

That's me today, tired, aching to think for fifty odd years I had no real idea of hips now I'm tired because I can't lie the way I'm used to and I can't sleep if I can't fucking lie down.

I'm sure it will wear off shortly and I will sleep and awake full of, er, beans and just longing to cuddle a rock or something.

Problem

I know little problems happen to all of us with absolutely no exceptions. I know it, I've said it and yes in some small corner of a very poor blog I have read, learned and inwardly digested the fact that little problems happen to us all. I can tell you that if I ever catch up with the only person who is smaller than his armchair he is in serious multi coloured shit. Be advised you do not goad me by using information gained through theft or sharing my blog with the rest of the suspects and there are a number of them who I suspect have no idea or only a minor fear that they are on said list.

Today the problem is this blog and one of my other blogs. This one has taken to including my visits with all proper visits which is irritating the hell out of me, almost to the point of not wanting to blog here. Yes I can tell the difference and I can do the simple arithmetic involved, which is more than the likes of Gerry Adams can attest to, except of course he can! He's a liar and yes I do know several more of those, funnily most of them are his supporters. Now there's a thing.

I am thoroughly irritated today. This blog is counting me as a visitor which is irritating and another blog a Wordpress one had decided to block all my posts.  This particular one had me worried and confused. I'd no doubt at all that it was my fault I had been editing a published post, this is something I do all the time as anyone who has ever read any of my blogs more than once can testify, and they may well be asked so to do.

Aaanyhow earlier this morning I filled in the whine mail and sent it off into the nether world I have yet to hear back which is disappointing. I was considering buying a whole new shiny blog because Wordpress want everyone to go 'premium' and I can see that making money is not necessarily an evil objective and the blogs subject is imo worth a few bob, not to me but the subject is about children and they are worth the cost.

Which brings me neatly to my other and far more important whinge. It looks as though I may not have enough for the house I want and its not like the bloody place is Buckingham Palace. As you can tell this has caused such concern and irritation I'm not sure I want the damned hovel anymore I've already got one of those and it has cost me enough. Time to think things over; again. Is renting a good idea I wonder how many landlords accept five animals?

Stressed here!

National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC)

The NSPCC was founded in 1884 as the London Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.  The successful growth of what has become an institution is obvious in the change of title, and equally obvious is the concern the people who contribute so much to the NSPCC have for children.  The NSPCC  lobbies for and supports children at risk in England Northern Ireland Scotland and Wales, but does it really do that or is it more a case of self promotion and protection within the establishment?

I know it must be hard to try to prevent child abuse and save those children who are being or have been abused. No one would deny the difficulty involved but I don’t think there are many people who would say the NSPCC is a real success story either, or if they do its in the growth of the society and the wealth of the organisation.  

Every child abuse horror we know of, certainly in my lifetime, is basically a failure of the NSPCC. Paedophile rings, many children on at risk registers seem to slip through the NSPCC net and I find that worrying. I don’t want to feel that the NSPCC is more mindful of its premier position than it is of child welfare.

Every child on the at risk register should be on an NSPCC register and every child should be seen on a regular and unexpected basis by both social services and the NSPCC. A child on the at risk register is deemed to be at serious risk of abuse from parents or relatives. It seems to me that if the NSPCC and social services were as pro active as they should be most abusers would be very wary of unexpected and frequent visitors. 

It might help the abuser to realise the child is not the only one at risk. This must be beneficial parents who abuse their children often do so because being a parent is not a cooing fantasy its a very difficult and often thankless task and sometimes people need physical guidance and supervision to help them become the parent they dreamed they would be.

It may be probably is that the At Risk Register is shared with the NSPCC but if it is where are the interventions in those cases social services fail? If the NSPCC does have access to abuse registers then every social services failure is also an NSPCC failure.

I think the NSPCC needs a huge clear out and a reevaluation of the way they do their work they should not be there to back up the system their role should be to shout for the child, to intervene if they feel a child is being failed by the parents or social services. There is no way the NSPCC should be considered an extension of social services. It needs to be looked upon as much as a watch dog of social services as a protector of children.

—

I’ve written this as an additional explanation to the comment I left on the excellent post by ‘the needleblog’.

2014

Once I couldn't get my head around the idea of being twenty one. In those days your twenty first birthday was the day you got the vote and were considered fully adult, from the glorious and immortal age of sixteen it looked old. The big day arrived and apart from a slight depression at what I was convinced was the still distant but rapidly approaching sight of the grim reaper.

I acclimatised to my new official maturity very well in fact it made no difference, I did go to vote at the first election after my birthday; it didn't feel like much. I also discovered I had a problem with the idea of being more than fifty. It seemed a far distance full of old people why they were all almost pensioners.

Now its twenty fourteen and I am; older. My goodness I thought I had done with adventure and cat fights! How wrong was I...And I'm still here if rather more battered and bruised than I would like but still I am what might be described as fighting fit and very wary.

I think this year is an important one I have to finish what others started but more than that I want to move to somewhere I feel not alone safe but also unobserved. Its all very well to stand up to it to decide its not a problem because it probably isn't, but it easily could be and that is one important thing and it has affected me not to crash I've that all sorted but to heal I have to stop it before it does more harm.

Is it likely someone would poison my dogs?  No! But was it likely someone would seek out my house, post pictures of the area, come to my home, accost me in it and at the local shops?  And all that is in addition to previous illegality. Is it likely someone entered my garden in the night and when they took themselves off carefully left the gate wide open?  Oh yes. How easy would it have been for one of the dogs to be knocked down by a car one of their cars perhaps.

Yeah, I definitely think its possible, and that's the thing its not what is or isn't going to happen its what I feel could happen, not to me but to the cats and dogs. If I feel they are at risk I have a responsibility to do my best to ensure their safety by minimising that risk. If ever anything was counter productive! Such antics don't move me to give up but they have almost certainly moved me to move...

In order for me to not just be safe but to feel safe I have to deal with them. Is it that I'm too honest? Possibly but after all I've been through who would settle for less than the truth. Its a kind of sick game with them and its got to stop. I have to ensure that anything they have said to my family is corrected and shown in its true light.

I have isolated myself and I do sometimes wonder would I have done that anyway? I had spent what seemed a lifetime looking after family and working. I wanted to be alone, rest and move on. I think the truth is I would have gone back more often than I have I missed three weddings one of them here in Ireland! There have been years of opportunities for them to tell the truth in a quiet way. Its time to stop hoping they will do that all restraint has done is give them a false sense of security.

That's them out of the way albeit only and too temporarily. Its time to get to see the family properly and regularly again, time to get back to dealing with, or at least enjoying! All the little dramas that are family life. Herself is another reason. At her age such a move would be a strain. Its a classic if it must be done it best be done quickly. Moving will make no difference to what is going to happen so move and make it happen is about right...