Making It Up

Contact

Tag: political stuff

  • Female faces – banknotes and Doctor Who.

    —

    by

    Jax Blunt
    in

    So, there’s this little campaign started by The Women’s Room on to make sure we retain a female presence on banknotes. Elizabeth Fry is about to be removed, and I think the idea is that she’s going to be replaced with Winston Churchill. Which means the sole remaining female presence is the Queen, and she’s…

  • Tonight I am thinking of friends.

    —

    by

    Jax Blunt
    in

    I read an excellent article just now. This quote stood out for me: The classic tools of propaganda are being used to turn the electorate against benefit recipients: demonisation; lies and distortion, appeals to fear, stereotyping and repetition. It is disturbing to discover that public opinion is being shifted towards the government’s desired ground. Once…

  • Life on a pound a day. #Livebelowtheline

    —

    by

    Jax Blunt
    in

    A couple of years ago I blogged about a charity to challenge to live on a pound a day for food and drink. At the time I thought it was a fascinating challenge, and a worthwhile way to raise the profile of the issue of global poverty. Now, I’m not so sure. This article from…

  • The elephant in the (spare bed)room.

    —

    by

    Jax Blunt
    in

    On Monday, the bedroom tax takes effect. Not heard of it? You’re not alone. I suspect the majority of the country hasn’t heard of it. If you’re not up to date, perhaps you’ve come across it as something else, maybe the spare room subsidy. The idea is that people in social housing who receive housing…

  • It's just not fair!

    —

    by

    Jax Blunt
    in

    If you’re a parent, I’m going to lay odds that you’ve had this said to you at some point, by a child feeling hard done by, maybe that a sibling was perceived to get more of something or other, or a better something or other perhaps? And maybe you’ve done like I’ve done, and explained…

  • All the old chestnuts again – home education is not a safeguarding issue.

    —

    by

    Jax Blunt
    in

    There’s a letter floating around Facebook and creeping on to blogs, from a Kent county council employee, referencing new intentions from the secretary of state for education to link HE children to schools and include them in school attainment targets. *headdesk*. There’s a freedom of information request in already to get to the bottom of…

  • Tax, benefits, morality and #spartacusreport

    —

    by

    Jax Blunt
    in

    I’ve been arguing with the HMRC website this afternoon. It’s coming up to the deadline for SA returns, and even though I’m fairly sure I don’t owe anything, I have to submit on time or I get a £100 fine. All of this led me to have a bit of a rant on twitter. But…

  • I have been accused of neglect.

    —

    by

    Jax Blunt
    in

    Again. Oh no, it’s not the first time. No, it’s not me personally. It’s worse than that in a way. It’s yet another invidious slight against the home education community. This time at the hands of the TES (times educational supplement) who have as their cover story the article Collateral Damage. Neglect and abuse under…

  • Won't you think of the children?

    —

    by

    Jax Blunt
    in

    There’s a journalist on twitter this afternoon rehashing old ground and proposing that home ed families should submit to monthly visits to ensure that their children are safe and not being abused. Leaving aside the issue of how a quick visit once a month could possibly work, or where the money would be found to…

  • School, huh, yeah, what is it good for?

    —

    by

    Jax Blunt
    in

    Despite appearances to the contrary, given that we home educate, I’m not actually anti school per se. I’m just not sure I can see the point of it. And I think that there are an awful lot of ppl with similar sneaky suspicions out there, who are using school and just wondering if… So let’s…