Archive for the Children and Education Category

BRITAIN appears to be evolving into the first modern soft totalitarian state. As a sometime teacher of political science and international law, I do not use the term totalitarian loosely.

There are no concentration camps or gulags but there are thought police with unprecedented powers to dictate ways of thinking and sniff out heresy, and there can be harsh punishments for dissent.

Nikolai Bukharin claimed one of the Bolshevik Revolution’s principal tasks was “to alter people’s actual psychology”. Britain is not Bolshevik, but a campaign to alter people’s psychology and create a new Homo britannicus is under way without even a fig leaf of disguise.

The Government is pushing ahead with legislation that will criminalise politically incorrect jokes, with a maximum punishment of up to seven years’ prison. The House of Lords tried to insert a free-speech amendment, but Justice Secretary Jack Straw knocked it out. It was Straw who previously called for a redefinition of Englishness and suggested the “global baggage of empire” was linked to soccer violence by “racist and xenophobic white males”. He claimed the English “propensity for violence” was used to subjugate Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and that the English as a race were “potentially very aggressive”.

In the past 10 years I have collected reports of many instances of draconian punishments, including the arrest and criminal prosecution of children, for thought-crimes and offences against political correctness.

Countryside Restoration Trust chairman and columnist Robin Page said at a rally against the Government’s anti-hunting laws in Gloucestershire in 2002: “If you are a black vegetarian Muslim asylum-seeking one-legged lesbian lorry driver, I want the same rights as you.” Page was arrested, and after four months he received a letter saying no charges would be pressed, but that: “If further evidence comes to our attention whereby your involvement is implicated, we will seek to initiate proceedings.” It took him five years to clear his name.

Page was at least an adult. In September 2006, a 14-year-old schoolgirl, Codie Stott, asked a teacher if she could sit with another group to do a science project as all the girls with her spoke only Urdu. The teacher’s first response, according to Stott, was to scream at her: “It’s racist, you’re going to get done by the police!” Upset and terrified, the schoolgirl went outside to calm down. The teacher called the police and a few days later, presumably after officialdom had thought the matter over, she was arrested and taken to a police station, where she was fingerprinted and photographed. According to her mother, she was placed in a bare cell for 3 1/2 hours. She was questioned on suspicion of committing a racial public order offence and then released without charge. The school was said to be investigating what further action to take, not against the teacher, but against Stott. Headmaster Anthony Edkins reportedly said: “An allegation of a serious nature was made concerning a racially motivated remark. We aim to ensure a caring and tolerant attitude towards pupils of all ethnic backgrounds and will not stand for racism in any form.”

A 10-year-old child was arrested and brought before a judge, for having allegedly called an 11-year-old boya “Paki” and “bin Laden” during a playground argument at a primary school (the other boy had called him a skunk and a Teletubby). When it reached the court the case had cost taxpayers pound stg. 25,000. The accused was so distressed that he had stopped attending school. The judge, Jonathan Finestein, said: “Have we really got to the stage where we are prosecuting 10-year-old boys because of political correctness? There are major crimes out there and the police don’t bother to prosecute. This is nonsense.”

Finestein was fiercely attacked by teaching union leaders, as in those witch-hunt trials where any who spoke in defence of an accused or pointed to defects in the prosecution were immediately targeted as witches and candidates for burning.

Hate-crime police investigated Basil Brush, a puppet fox on children’s television, who had made a joke about Gypsies. The BBC confessed that Brush had behaved inappropriately and assured police that the episode would be banned.

A bishop was warned by the police for not having done enough to “celebrate diversity”, the enforcing of which is now apparently a police function. A Christian home for retired clergy and religious workers lost a grant because it would not reveal to official snoopers how many of the residents were homosexual. That they had never been asked was taken as evidence of homophobia.

Muslim parents who objected to young children being given books advocating same-sex marriage and adoption at one school last year had their wishes respected and the offending material withdrawn. This year, Muslim and Christian parents at another school objecting to the same material have not only had their objections ignored but have been threatened with prosecution if they withdraw their children.

There have been innumerable cases in recent months of people in schools, hospitals and other institutions losing their jobs because of various religious scruples, often, as in the East Germany of yore, not shouted fanatically from the rooftops but betrayed in private conversations and reported to authorities. The crime of one nurse was to offer to pray for a patient, who did not complain but merely mentioned the matter to another nurse. A primary school receptionist, Jennie Cain, whose five-year-old daughter was told off for talking about Jesus in class, faces the sack for seeking support from her church. A private email from her to other members of the church asking for prayers fell into the hands of school authorities.

Permissiveness as well as draconianism can be deployed to destroy socially accepted norms and values. The Royal Navy, for instance, has installed a satanist chapel in a warship to accommodate the proclivities of a satanist crew member. “What would Nelson have said?” is a British newspaper cliche about navy scandals, but in this case seems a legitimate question. Satanist paraphernalia is also supplied to prison inmates who need it.

This campaign seems to come from unelected or quasi-governmental bodies controlling various institutions, which are more or less unanswerable to electors, more than it does directly from the Government, although the Government helps drive it and condones it in a fudged and deniable manner.

Any one of these incidents might be dismissed as an aberration, but taken together - and I have only mentioned a tiny sample; more are reported almost every day - they add up to a pretty clear picture.

The Australian

Act now!
Internet access is not conditional

Everyone who owns a website has an interest in defending the free use of Internet… so has everyone who uses Google or Skype… everyone who expresses their opinions freely, does research of any kind, whether for personal health problems or academic study … everyone who shops online…who dates online…socialises online… listens to music…watches video…

Millions of Europeans now depend on the Internet, directly or indirectly, for their livelihood. Taking it away, chopping it up, ‘restricting it’, ‘limiting it’ and placing conditions on our use of it, will have a direct impact on people’s earnings. And in the current financial climate, that can’t be good.

The internet as we know it is at risk because of proposed new EU rules going through end of April. Under the proposed new rules, broadband providers will be legally able to limit the number of websites you can look
at, and to tell you whether or not you are allowed to use particular services. It will be dressed up as ‘new consumer options’ which people can choose from. People will be offered TV-like packages - with a limited
number of options for you to access.

It means that the Internet will be packaged up and your ability to access and to put up content could be severely restricted. It will create boxes of Internet accessibility, which don’t fit with the way we use it today. This is because internet is now permitting exchanges between persons which cannot be controlled or “facilitated” by any middlemen (the state or a corporation) and this possibility improves the citizen’s life but force the industry to lose power and control. that’s why they are pushing governments to act those changes.

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In a recent Huffington Post exclusive, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and investigative journalist David Kirby reveal that in the recent case of Bailey Banks vs HHS, the Vaccine Court has ruled vaccines caused Bailey’s autism and ordered compensation for his family.

Banks is the second case where the government could not deny the overwhelming evidence showing vaccines caused a child’s autism. The first was the case of Hannah Poling in March 2008. The government conceded the case and awarded her family compensation.

Small victories for these children, but what about the hundreds of thousands of other families struggling with autism? Who and what can they believe in this continuing vaccine-autism controversy?

Congress, at the urging of the pharmaceutical industry, created the mysterious Vaccine Court in1986, which has not only protected vaccine makers from liability but also led to a tripling in the number of vaccines given to our children.

Why does the Vaccine Court exist? Why are the rulings in favor of the children being suppressed? Where is the justice for these parents?

In this new era of government accountability and transparency, the one in 64 American families dealing with autism deserve more.

It’s time the government told the truth about childhood vaccines.

Read more…

A great Autism and Vaccine Resource

Recreating a battle from the French and Indian War of the mid-18th century, the first group simulated the tactics of the British Redcoats, disciplined and orderly , while the second group played the part of the French irregulars and their ragtag Indian allies.

“The lesson here,” Janzen explains as everybody begins to dry off, “is that sometimes a group of determined amateurs can outmaneuver the well-trained professionals.” Instead of sitting in class somewhere, these teenagers are fighting their own kind of insurgency, breaking free of public education and drawing more and more families into their ranks.

Once scattered and unstructured, the home-school movement has evolved into an elaborate network of alliances and partnerships, decentralized but well-funded — and tenaciously determined to remain independent of any state regulation.

In Oklahoma, by some estimates, the size of the home-school movement now overshadows the combined enrollments of all private schools put together.

With no government oversight, no taxpayer funding and no professional accreditation, they’re trying to out-school the schools.

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‘DNA samples taken from 1.1million children are being held on an ever expanding government database. The new figures come as it was claimed ministers are sneaking  sweeping powers to collect and retain more DNA samples.The Tories said the Government was attempting to give itself a ‘blank cheque’ to store swabs and fingerprints of criminals and those cleared of wrongdoing.

They claim Labour is trying to expand the amount of biometric data they store without subjecting the controversial plan to full Parliamentary scrutiny.’

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Two out of three Britons back the idea of compulsory community service for young people, a poll has found.

A civic programme would find useful work for millions who would otherwise face mass unemployment in a deepening recession, many believe.

The survey also uncovered widespread fears that the energies and talents of jobless teenagers and twenty-somethings need to be harnessed to avoid the danger of rioting and unrest.

senior police chief has already admitted that officers are preparing for a ’summer of rage’ as victims of the credit crunch take to the streets to demonstrate against banks.

Superintendent David Hartshorn, who heads Scotland Yard’s public order unit, said bonus-paying banks had become ‘viable targets’. He added: ‘Suddenly there is the opportunity for people to mass protest.’

The poll was conducted by Prospect magazine to gauge support for a plan backed by influential Labour MP Frank Field for a ‘national citizenship programme’.

 

Under the scheme, everyone would have to spend a year between the ages of 16 and 25 in low-paid community work, either in schools, children’s centres and residential homes or on housing or parks projects.

The poll, carried out by YouGov among 2,270 people, found 64 per cent supported the compulsory citizenship work idea.

Among those aged between 18 and 30, the scheme still had the support of 52 per cent.

More than a third feared riots similar to those experienced by Greece in December.

And nearly three quarters agreed with the statement that there will be mass unemployment ‘for many years to come’.

Daily Mail

PARENTS should avoid trying to convince their teenage children of the difference between right and wrong when talking to them about sex, a new government leaflet is to advise.

Instead, any discussion of values should be kept “light” to encourage teenagers to form their own views, according to the brochure, which one critic has called “amoral”.

Talking to Your Teenager About Sex and Relationships will be distributed in pharmacies from next month as part of an initiative led by Beverley Hughes, the children’s minister.

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‘It was supposed to be one of John Prescott’s flagship new towns designed to ease Britain’s housing crisis, creating homes for 10,000 people, with its own schools, shopping centre, library and sports centre.

But because of planning delays and the economic crisis, only a handful of houses have been built and just three people have moved in.

One thing it does have, though, is a headteacher who is being paid about £60,000  a year to run a school with no buildings and no pupils.’

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Police this week removed an unruly 7-year-old from his classroom and forced him to be hospitalized under the state’s Baker Act — against the wishes of his outraged parents.

The boy spent the night alone at Morton Plant Hospital before he was seen by a child psychologist the next day and discharged.

“This is a total abuse of police power,” said the boy’s father, Richard Smith, 41. “My son has no mental health problems. He’s never hurt himself. He’s never hurt anyone else.”

Smith and his wife, Barbara, said they want to consult a lawyer.

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‘Conventional medical doctors around the world (and the drug companies that support them) want all children to be vaccinated against measles, mumps, HPV, chicken pox and literally over a hundred other diseases. Bill Gates even supports the effort to “eradicate” disease from our planet by vaccinating people in developing nations.

It all sounds like a noble goal, but like any such effort, it is based on an assumption. Upon closer inspection, that assumption turns out to be nothing more than blatant quacksterism hidden behind the technical jargon of  modern medicine.’

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Every baby born a decade from now will have its genetic code mapped at birth, the head of the world’s leading genome sequencing company has predicted.

A complete DNA read-out for every newborn will be technically feasible and affordable in less than five years, promising a revolution in healthcare, says Jay Flatley, the chief executive of Illumina.

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A United Nations human rights treaty that could prohibit children from being spanked or homeschooled, ban youngsters from facing the death penalty and forbid parents from deciding their families’ religion is on America’s doorstep, a legal expert warns.

Michael Farris of Purcellville, Va., is president of ParentalRights.org, chairman of the Home School Legal Defense Association and chancellor of Patrick Henry College. He told WND that under the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, or CRC, every decision a parent makes can be reviewed by the government to determine whether it is in the child’s best interest.

“It’s definitely on our doorstep,” he said. “The left wants to make the Obama-Clinton era permanent. Treaties are a way to make it as permanent as stuff gets. It is very difficult to extract yourself from a treaty once you begin it. If they can put all of their left-wing socialist policies into treaty form, we’re stuck with it even if they lose the next election.”

The 1990s-era document was ratified quickly by 193 nations worldwide, but not the United States or Somalia. In Somalia, there was then no recognized government to do the formal recognition, and in the United States there’s been opposition to its power. Countries that ratify the treaty are bound to it by international law.

Although signed by Madeleine Albright, U.S. ambassador to the U.N., on Feb. 16, 1995, the U.S. Senate never ratified the treaty, largely because of conservatives’ efforts to point out it would create that list of rights which primarily would be enforced against parents.

The international treaty creates specific civil, economic, social, cultural and even economic rights for every child and states that “the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.” While the treaty states that parents or legal guardians “have primary responsibility for the upbringing and development of the child,” Farris said government will ultimately determine whether parents’ decisions are in their children’s best interest. The treaty is monitored by the CRC, which conceivably has enforcement powers.

According to the Parental Rights website, the substance of the CRC dictates the following:

  • Parents would no longer be able to administer reasonable spankings to their children.
  • A murderer aged 17 years, 11 months and 29 days at the time of his crime could no longer be sentenced to life in prison.
  • Children would have the ability to choose their own religion while parents would only have the authority to give their children advice about religion.
  • The best interest of the child principle would give the government the ability to override every decision made by every parent if a government worker disagreed with the parent’s decision.
  • A child’s “right to be heard” would allow him (or her) to seek governmental review of every parental decision with which the child disagreed.
  • According to existing interpretation, it would be illegal for a nation to spend more on national defense than it does on children’s welfare.
  • Children would acquire a legally enforceable right to leisure.
  • Teaching children about Christianity in schools has been held to be out of compliance with the CRC.
  • Allowing parents to opt their children out of sex education has been held to be out of compliance with the CRC.
  • Children would have the right to reproductive health information and services, including abortions, without parental knowledge or consent.

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‘A massive program with its tentacles embedded into almost every corner of education and popular culture is underway to use the “green” agenda to brainwash children and turn them against their own parents, as the state moves towards the creation of a Stasi-style informant society using methods that have been repeated in every totalitarian state throughout history.

The controversy surrounding Al Gore’s comments during a speech at the University of Maryland Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference, during which he pitted children against their parents by telling them they “know more” about global warming, is merely the tip of the iceberg of a top-down movement that is mimicking a technique that dictatorships have practiced throughout history - the exploitation and brainwashing of children to turn them into Maoist, Stasi, Hitler Youth-style informants and enforcers against their own family and community.’

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Listen to Glen Beck’s commentary and Al Gore’s speech below

Part One

Part Two

‘Dr Alan Maryon Davis said that people needed new laws to “save us from ourselves” and actually welcomed state attempts to “micro-manage” their health.

The president of the UK Faculty of Public Health, which sets standards for health professionals, said that recent campaigns to cut down on binge drinking, smoking and obesity were not as unpopular as generally believed. “On the contrary, there’s plenty of evidence that people want to see the government doing more to help us avoid big killers like heart disease, stroke and cancer,” he said.

“I see an increasing acceptance that we, all of us, need not only more information and guidance from government, but also more legislation to save us from ourselves”.’

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To: The Rt Hon. Peter Mandelson esq;

As if we weren’t already going out of our minds in fits of rage at the rampant incompetence, gutter rutting corruption, untrammeled arrogance and utterly diabolic parody of a “government” that currently squats atop this nation like a gigantic dose of piles - the sweating, blubbering, puss filled monstrosity takes a few moments pause from chewing the corpse of Great Britain to open its blood filled mouth and tell us what it really thinks of British workers and the general public.

Apparently, in Marxist/Fabian UK, striking pre-emptively in defence of your economic wellbeing at a time of extreme distress and fear for the future of your family, now qualifies one as a “racist,” an “extremist,” or, worst of all, a dreaded PROTECTIONIST.

In these statements we can clearly sense the abject fear of the serial peeping tom who got caught, yet again, climbing through the window of the girls dormitory, pants around ankles, in a most unseemly and compromising position. Well far be it from us to paint such an unflattering picture of our wonderful “public servants”, after all, they do have our best interests at heart, do they not Mr Mandelson?

Clearly not content simply destroying our currency, armed forces, international reputation, political system and constitution, the laughing hyenas have now taken off those - ever so temporary - woolen jackets and shown themselves to be the fascist Eurocrat wolves that they truly are.

But seriously Mr Mandelson, did it not occur to you that the violent death of the entire system of economics (that you seem intent to defend to the last) is common knowledge now to the “man in the street,” even perhaps the poor sod who has to pluck the remnants of the foie gras and smoked salmon from your new ermine trimmed coat. Perhaps he might give you a lesson in “Buy British” one fine morning while you are busy warming up for another hard day of pontificating for the cameras and making a damn fool of yourself, again …

But anyway, I shouldn’t worry yourself unduly Mr M, there will be plenty of room in that “free trade” coffin for the mass hordes of other “has been” politicians and pundits the world over before we are finally through with this sorry chapter in the history of human folly and hubris.

Surely, any silly idea that the extreme weather would be a good time to stick the boot into British workers seems to have backfired spectacularly, does it not, or is it after all just another part of your grand master plan to bring the country to it’s knees in time for EUROPOL to come and help restore order?

And so, in concluding Mr Mandelson, given that your track record in government is not exactly one which could honestly be described as a testament to a honed ability in handling political crises of ones own making, I have a not so friendly word of advice for you Sir:

You should resign your position in the Lords immediately and without further delay, before the braying mob that you youself have just enraged to the point of violence, pulls you screeching from the building and hurls you into the nearby frozen waters clothed in nothing more than a frilly pink nightie.

In truth, while such an amusing spectacle would afford the vast majority of honest people in this long suffering country a much needed break from the daily misery that you and your henchmen have wrought on us, we prefer to settle these matters peacefully, and without need for any further unnecessary distress on either side of this rapidly escalating crisis.

Do it. Do it now. Get ye gone Sir!

Sincerely,

The UK Column

Excessive exposure makes a child materialistic, which in turn affects their relationship with their parents and their health.

That is one of the conclusions of a new wide-ranging survey into British childhood, produced for the Children’s Society.

It says that children are part of a new form of consumerism, with under 16 year-olds spending £3 billion of their own money each year on clothes, snacks, music, video games and magazines.

The report claims that some advertisers “explicitly exploit the mechanism of peer pressure, while painting parents as buffoons” and that in its most extreme form, advertising persuades children that “you are what you own”.

In addition the “constant exposure” to celebrities through, TV soaps, dramas and chat shows is having a detrimental effect.

It says: “Children today know in intimate detail the lives of celebrities who are richer than they will ever be, and mostly better-looking. This exposure inevitably raises aspirations and reduces self-esteem.”

It adds the way celebrities are portrayed “automatically encourages the excessive pursuit of wealth and beauty.”

This “media-driven consumerism” is having a negative effect on a child’s wellbeing, the report says.

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‘Couples who have more than two children are being “irresponsible” by creating an unbearable burden on the environment, the government’s green adviser has warned.

Jonathon Porritt, who chairs the government’s Sustainable Development Commission, says curbing population growth through contraception and abortion must be at the heart of policies to fight global warming. He says political leaders and green campaigners should stop dodging the issue of environmental harm caused by an expanding population.’

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When mercury was removed from many vaccines (except the flu vaccine) years ago, it was under the false guise that finally vaccines were now safe. What health agencies did not want you to know is that there are many other toxic additives still in vaccines, and one of them is aluminum.

Aluminum has not received the widespread media attention that mercury has, therefore many people don’t realize it’s a health risk.

“Aluminum is not perceived, I believe, by the public as a dangerous metal. Therefore, we are in a much more comfortable wicket in terms of defending its presence in vaccines,” said Dr. John Clements, WHO vaccine advisor.

Notice he said that aluminum is “not perceived” by the public as a dangerous metal … he couldn’t say simply that aluminum is safe, because this would be a lie.

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Should proof ever be needed of the scandalous social engineering now so casually carried out by our state, it comes in the case of the loving grandparents of two small children who desperately sought to adopt them but saw them instead placed with a gay couple.

The decision was made to refuse the grandparents the right to raise their own blood relatives and instead give them away to two gay men ‘in accordance with who can best meet their needs’, according to the social services jargon.

But how can two strangers – gay or straight – best meet the needs of two children abandoned by a drug-addict mother for whom the only constants in their short, difficult lives have been their loving grandparents?

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I knew this was coming. The inflamed, all-seeing red eye of political correctness, glaring this way and that from its dark tower, has finally discovered that home schooling is a threat to the Marxoid project, and has launched its first open attack on it.

Before long, those who wish to declare independence from the state system (and cannot afford monstrous private school fees) will face endless interference, monitoring and regulation.
How do we know this? On the 19th January, an obscure person called Delyth Morgan levelled what I regard as an astonishing smear against people who educate their children at home. She suggested that such parents might be abusers, saying (I have taken these words directly from the Education department’s own website):  ‘Making sure children are safe, well and receive a good education is our most serious responsibility.
‘Parents are able, quite rightly, to choose whether they want to educate children at home, and a very small number do. I’m sure the vast majority do a good job. However, there are concerns that some children are not receiving the education they need.
‘And in some extreme cases, home education could be used as a cover for abuse. We cannot allow this to happen and are committed to doing all we can to help ensure children are safe, wherever they are educated.
‘This review will look at whether the right systems are in place that allow local authorities and other agencies to ensure that any concerns about the safety, welfare or education of home educated children are addressed quickly and effectively. The review will of course talk to home educating families to ensure their views and experiences are heard.’

The nerve of it is amazing.  She first suggests the existence of abuse, then produces no evidence for this claim, then says that one purpose of the inquiry is to see if there is any evidence of such abuse. But if they haven’t any evidence, on what basis do they think they have the right to launch such an investigation? It is sadly true that, if you want to wreck someone’s reputation, you accuse him of child abuse. Everyone will immediately back away, and guilt will be presumed.

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‘Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, Martin Narey said that social workers should remove more, not fewer, children from their natural parents.

He admitted many professionals would regard his views as “heresy”, and criticised the prevailing philosophy of social services departments which, he claimed, sought to keep families together wherever possible.

Mr Narey also said that once the decision had been made to take a child away from their family, there should be greater use of residential care - formerly known as children’s homes - as an alternative to placing challenging children with a succession of foster families.

He said: “The emphasis is - too much in my view - on fixing families”.’

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Martin Narey Is the Ex-head of the Prison Service and pimps himself out as an after dinner speaker

See here…

‘Face scanners to speed up pupil registration and queues for lunches were helping to create a Big Brother regime in schools, it was claimed yesterday. Infra-red recognition systems - similar to those introduced at passport controls - are able to scan children’s faces as they approach the school entrance. They can also recognise them as they buy dinners or borrow library books.’

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Thousands of children supposedly educated at home by their parents are at risk of abuse, neglect, forced marriage, sexual exploitation or domestic servitude, the Government said yesterday.

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin, the Children’s Minister, has ordered a review of the rules covering the estimated 20,000 home-educated children in England and the 20,000 or so labelled as “missing from education”, who have dropped out of school before the age of 16.

The review follows mounting concern from local authorities that their overarching duty to promote and protect child welfare is undermined by the present rules, under which responsibility for a child’s education rests squarely with the parents. The role of local authorities is to compile a list of children not attending school and to take appropriate action if a child is not getting a “suitable” education.

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‘The devices, attached to a child’s wrist, set off an alarm if they stray near any of the exits. The tags will be offered to parents shopping at the giant Westfield centre which opened in west London in October.

In 2002 scientists at Reading University devised a scheme in which children could be implanted with a permanent microchip to monitor their whereabouts. It came in the wake of the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman but was criticised by childrens’ groups including Kidscape and Barnardo’s who said it was an overreaction that would not benefit children in the longer term.’

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The medicine has been designed originally to help treat Alzheimer’s disease, but could be adapted and licensed for sale in a weaker form within the next few years.

One brand of memory-enhancing pill is being developed by the multinational company AstraZeneca in collaboration with Targacept, an American company, while Epix Pharmaceuticals, also from the US, is developing another.

Both have “cognitive-enhancing effects” which are aimed at treating patients with age-related memory loss.

Steven Ferris, a neurologist and former committee member of the Food and Drug Administration in the US, has predicted that a milder version will be available for healthy consumers as a “lifestyle pill” available over the counter.

Dr Ferris said: “My view is that one could gain approval, provided you showed the drugs to be effective and safe. It could be a huge market.”

There is anecdotal evidence that mind-improving drugs are already being taken in Britain by healthy users.

Provigil, used to treat narcolepsy, is being taken by some students to help them stay awake, while Adderall XR and Ritalin, treatments for attention deficit disorder, are being used to help promote concentration.

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