30 FEATURE
1 JULY 2021
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From the front line… Must we fight forever for freedom?
BY JACQUELINE CURZON With the end of the UK academic year in sight (already concluded in Scotland), it feels timely to talk about the impact of the disturbance to education. The Children's Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza has called for urgent action regarding ‘bubbles’ and the ‘10 day self-isolation’ in schools. 250,000 children are currently off school as a result of having to isolate, despite only 9,000 testing positive. These numbers have quadrupled in just over a week, so realistically the present guidelines need to be relaxed, if not drastically reduced. Sajid Javid, the new Health Secretary, has indicated he wants to push for a return to normality {whatever that means now}, whilst the DfE is suggesting isolation could be replaced with daily testing in September. With approx 6.8 million children in school in the UK, that’s a juggernaut full of tests coming your way {and might end up parked alongside stolen whiskey and cigarettes}. Some reports suggest many or most after-school clubs are no longer running, because of these very same bubble issues, and that is having a massive impact on children’s mental - and physical - health. She added that isolation had impacted on children’s ability to ‘form and sustain friendships’ and generally have fun. If, after all, you can’t or don’t enjoy school, it’s a long haul to skid through 12 years of compulsory education. Sir Iain Duncan Smith backed calls to scrap the bubble system, and insisted teachers should be vaccinated within the next two weeks, if not already by now. More than 100 charities have complained that children are being ‘overlooked,’ with four former education ministers [Robert Halfon, Sir John Hayes, Tim Loughton and Chris Skidmore] backing a call for children to be put first. Lord Blunkett, former Labour Education Secretary, said young people’s futures were being damaged by muddle and confusion, contrasting the closure of a classroom for one positive case, with the thousands who are attending the Euro football without a need or insistence for isolation. He points out [Telegraph, 29 June] that almost 6 months of learning has been lost, along with a disproportionate widening of the gap between the ‘haves and have-nots.’ Confusion has been the biggest enemy of the state, with advice to 'relax restrictions' being undermined and thwarted a mere ten minutes later by the emergence of new variants. Okay, I’m not being literal here, but some prices are too high to pay, even if those least affected by the education chaos think it's just melodrama. As I said last week and many times before, we must learn to live with, and adapt to, these variant viruses. Dame Rachel said people should ‘think long and hard before ever closing schools again.’ Hear, hear! The
Jacqueline Curzon PHOTO: LARA MINSKY PHOTOGRAPHY
vaccination programme has prevented 7.2 million infections and 27,000 deaths, according to Public Health England and Cambridge University, so I repeat that we as a society cannot sustain this perpetual interruption from normal educational practices, nor can we lock ourselves away in perpetuity every time a scare story pops up. As a parent with twin girls finishing primary school, it is agonising to worry about their progression to high school, when standards have unquestionably dropped during the pandemic, and the virus is still very much a headline. Those who know me will concede that I am absolutely not a fan of smartphones and devices, especially if in the hands of minors. Having to lean somewhat reluctantly towards a Nokia brick phone for the girls, when in fact I would prefer them to have NO phone, would be my only concession to expected peer pressure. It was gratifying then to read that Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, is finally considering making schools phonefree zones. This is long, long overdue. A six week consultation is underway, which is intended to tackle issues of poor behaviour, discipline and bullying, and Ofsted have directed teachers to assume sexual harassment, online sexual bullying and sexual violence are occurring in schools, colleges and universities, even when it is not being reported. The recent Ofsted report for one of our London (previously) showcase secondaries reported exactly that: that children often don't see the point of reporting, as (abuse) is so frequent and very little is done about it. They visited 32 schools and spoke to 900 young people, as a response to the MeToo website which posted thousands of testimonials. Platforms such as Tiktok, Snapchat and WhatsApp were cited as routes to this type of bullying behaviour, so it is then completely understandable why I support a zero-phone, or zero-internet phone policy in schools. Sean Harford, National Education Director at Ofsted said, “we will expect schools … to have created a culture where sexual abuse and harassment is not
acceptable.” A recent heartbreaking story underlines the seriousness of such opportunistic behaviours. Oliver Stephens (13), an autistic child, was lured via messaging apps to meet a girl in a park in Reading back in January. The two boys who stabbed him to death were both aged 13, and have admitted manslaughter, if not murder. Jurors at Reading Crown Court heard that this was definitely not a consensual fight which escalated, but rather an execution planned using messaging apps. Both individuals fled the scene before getting rid of incriminating evidence such as phones, knives and the clothes they were wearing. Yo, Minister. Now hands up for smartphones..? Let’s hope for a burst of common sense from the DfE! Sense and Sensibility remains one of the all-time classics of romantic literature, but the characters would likely be appalled at current political trends. Following the discussion at Oxford to pull down the Rhodes statue, and where dons were refusing to lecture as a protest move (but not forfeit their salaries, naturally), there has been yet another wokey development. The Students Union has plans to set up a ‘Consultancy of Sensitivity Readers’ to vett its student newspaper, Cherwell, and edit out insensitive, racist, sexist or inaccurate material. Perhaps Jane Austin readers might enjoy the newlook edition of Non-Sense and Super-Sensitivity {published by Bloodaxe & Hatchett, 2022}. Never mind statues, no books are going to be safe, be they about history, politics, biography or even the classics. But most especially, books about statues… Oh dear, silly Matt Hancock has lost his moral compass, or at least his winning smile deck of cards, but nonetheless might want to cover son joues rosé by amending his 'Hands, Face, Space' mantra to 'Hands, Face, Disgrace'. One must concede that someone anonymous, but with a massive axe to grind, had bugged his office (assuming it was not one of the usual suspects {Cummings, Ferguson or Gove} revengefully bent on sharing Matt’s ministerial misdemeanours). For a department which continually reminds us to keep healthy, perhaps Hancock should have remembered his own Healthy Meeting Policy, and paid closer attention to his 5 a day:- who, what, where, when, why! When Boris announced the replacement on the weekend, he didn’t gloss over the responsibilities incumbent on a minister to uphold public values. It has since transpired that the camera which caught the clinch was supposed to be facing the balcony, so questions as to ‘who, when and why’ still remain. Although the public may be glad to see the back of him, we are now left in no doubt as to the possible reason for the perpetually smiling Matt. Not sure he was smiling quite so much this week, although BoJo has hinted that Hancock may still
stage a comeback: Hancock's (other) Half Hour, perhaps? Sidestepping neatly from these parliamentary personality ponderings, it was a pleasure to read the original puppets of Statler and Waldorf [aka -the Muppets] are going under the hammer in Los Angeles. Known as the Hecklers, they are expected to fetch up to £43,000, which is not quite as much as a government minister's salary. This week no reference to Ms Sturgeon (drat, I’ve gone and done it now!) ~ instead, a report that the Duke of Cambridge has made a visit to Bonny Scotland, this time without the disapproving heckles of the First Minister, presumably because the visit was part of the Queen’s annual visit for Holyrood week. Everybody, without exception, loves the chance to meet QEII. They visited AG Barr’s factory in Cumbernauld, nr Glasgow, where the Duke bravely tried the Irn Bru which is, after all, their other national drink. It was not clear if Her Majesty partook of the brew. Now, to gastronomes, Wimbledon is synonymous with strawberries and cream, a snack served there originally in 1877. But of course last year every fixture in the sports calendar - and most fruit picking was cancelled. This year tennis fans may have skipped dessert, but they gave a well deserved standing ovation to Dame Sarah Gilbert, the scientist who championed the Oxford vaccine. There was a huge roar from the crowd for Prof. Gilbert after she was named over the tannoy. Although currently seating at 50% capacity, none complained about the rain or any other interruption from play. The reigning men’s champion Novak Djokovic (34) made short work of his British opponent, 19-year old Jack Draper, despite the younger player winning the opening set. Two other British players made their mark: Fran Jones (20), a young lady with ectrodactyly-ectodermal dysplasia syndrome (a rare genetic condition which causes her to have only eight fingers and seven toes) made her Wimbledon debut this week against 17-year old American Coco Gauff. Despite losing her match to Gauff, Jones is predicted to have a bright future. Sir Andy Murray (34) - who returned to play after a four year gap - beat Nikoloz Basilashvili and now qualifies for the second round. You ace-it, Andy! Finally, from racquets to racing car fanatics….you’ll be right chuffed to hear that Ferrari have unveiled its new hybrid plug-in sports car. The £268,000 296 GTB has a top speed of 205 mph, but can only do 15 miles on a ‘fuel’ tank of electricity. [It wasn’t clear if this was 15 miles at 30 mph, or 15 miles at 200 mph] But hey, what an amazing, electrifying ride you will have, even if {the ride} is short lived. Live, Laugh, Love Jacqueline x
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