The shame of Britain's intolerance of children (or how Barnardos lied to me for money!)

The shame of Britain's intolerance of children

There is an unjustified and disturbing intolerance of children in the UK according to a shocking poll commissioned by Barnardo's.
The poll shows that society casually condemns all children, with more than half the population (54%) thinking that British children are beginning to behave like animals.

Research conducted by YouGov shows that the public holds a negative view of all children, despite the vast majority of children making positive contributions to their communities, attending school, taking part in activities and a significant number volunteering.

The findings show:

just under half (49%) of people agree that children are increasingly a danger to each other and adults
43% agree something has to be done to protect us from children
more than a third (35%) of people agree that nowadays it feels like the streets are infested with children
45% of public agree that people refer to children as feral because they behave this way*
nearly half of people (49%) disagree with the statement that children who get into trouble are often misunderstood and in need of professional help

I saw this on the news this morning. Basically, the guy from Barnado’s says that they have conducted a survey of 2000 people that shows that about half of us think that kids are vermin and feral and dangerous; then went on to say how horrible people were. The guy interviewing him wanted to know if there were any divisive questions in the survey and Barnardo’s guy said ‘No.’

In fact, the survey appears to either have been written by morons, or deliberately worded to elicit ‘negative’ answers, presumably in an effort to create sensational headlines and thereby get more media attention and, presumably more donations from people who feel bad because ‘society’ hates children.

An example – their press release reads:

45% of public agree that people refer to children as feral because they behave this way

In their notes to editors at the bottom, they then state:

45% of people disagreed with the statement 'People refer to children as feral but I don’t think they behave this way.'

That seems pretty divisive to me. No I don’t think that kids are feral. I don’t think they act like that. And most importantly, I’ve never heard anyone refer to kids as ‘feral’. So to answer the question literally and truthfully, I would probably disagree with the statement.

If this is representative of the questions asked in the survey, I’m not only a bit worried about how the respondents interpreted the question but also about how the answers are being interpreted.

I’m worried that Barnardo’s are trying to deceive me and as a result I will not donate to them.

Cat Food

This is what we're feeding our new kitten. I'm thinking of renaming him 'Hannibal'.

Remember, remember the fifth of November...

...gunpowder treason and... the day I woke to discover that the USA had elected it's first black president! Well done that country!

Grim grim grim grim grim

If you've ever taken the time to read my rants about the nasty grimness that keeps occuring in my office, you may recall an incident that I reported a while back in which someone vomited into a plastic cup and then disposed of the mess into the drip dray in the vending area of our coffee vending machine. In front of witnesses, no less. Witnesses that didn't kill him!

Well the vomit king has struck again. Yesterday afternoon a rather unpleasant smell surfaced in the vending area. No-one was sure what it was or even quite where it was coming from. All we knew was that it was grim. So we reported the bad smell.

This morning, the cleaning lady turned up and started to do her usual job of emptying the rubbish and recycling bins in the vending area. And what did she find in the bottom of the plastic bottle recycling bin? Plastic bottles? No. That would just be crazy! It was full of VOMIT!

So the unknown offender (who, incidentally is probably not a regular in our office, but a visitor to the training suite across the hall from us) obviously misinterpreted the use of the various bins in the vending area. I mean most vending areas have a bin for general rubbish, a bin for cans and a bin for vomit, don't they? Doesn't yours?

A very small bit of consolation...

Catfish and I went to see the new Bond movie 'Quantum of Solace' on Friday. It was very cool. Lots of action. Lots of Bond being cool. Good performances from everyone concerned. Excellent action sequences. What more do you need from a Bond movie?

It was pretty much the same stuff as Casino Royale, so you know what you're getting from the beginning - it's more like a continuation of that movie than a whole new movie. All in all, I think I preferred Casino Royale, but not because of any failing in Quantum.

There you go. Go and see it!

Happy Birthday Dr K

Yay. Happy birthday! Hope you got lots of lovely presents!

What am I saying - I bought you lots of lovely presents!

Rochester vs Dexter

Rochester looks like he's finally beginning to realise that Dex is here to stay. He's spent most of the weekend trying to be in a different room to Dex. Every so often, however, he forgets that he's supposed be sulking and joins in the stick chasing or the lap sitting. Of course, it only takes him a minute or two to remember the other cat - usually when he comes into line of sight and goes off to sulk again!

That said, they were witnessed sharing the sofa last night!

A new addition

This is Dexter. Technically he's Dr K's birthday present, but he was ready, and we picked him up today.

Rochester is decidedly unimpressed!

Once I'd coaxed Dexter out from under the study sofa, we carefully introduced them. Rochester was sitting at the bottom of the stairs, blissfully unaware that his life was about to turned upside down! Dexter was at the top!

Now it's probably worth pointing out that while Dexter had just come from a cattery full of his brothers and siters, Rochester hasn't shared a house with another cat since Ellie died a few years ago. this was never gonna go well.

Anyway, Dexter came to the top of the stairs and saw Rochester. Absolutely delighted to see what he considered a friendly face (well, furry, anyway) he bounded gleefully down the stairs to say hello! Rochester, on the other hand, who wasn't expecting to be charged by a kitten, was a little startled and spat in the poor little guy's face!

Heh. the start of a beautuiful friendship!

Expect the blog to be littered with cute pussy pictures for a few weeks!

Sweeteners

About an hour ago, one of my workmates convinced me to hold a sweetner tablet on the tip of my tounge. I can still taste it.

Movie Premiere

I went to my first movie premiere last night.

Yes, that's right. It was MY MOVIE! And a triumph it was as well! We hired the cinema at UWE and invited the cast, crew and all their friends and family. It's quite an experience to see the culmination of 18 months of work up on the big screen - and more importantly, to have people laughing (and groaning) at the right bits!

No-one but Stead, Dr K and myself had seen the finished movie before last night. The feedback we've had has been overwhelmingly positive. There's probably a certain amount of 'politeness' overseeing that feedback (in particular from my own mother, who described it as 'wonderful' whilst rolling her eyes), but I think there was a lot of sincerity there as well!

We had lots of ups and downs making the movie - Stead and I in particular had a few fallings out, but fotunately nothing major! That said, it's been pretty intense and I'd imagaine we'll be avoiding each other for a few weeks now! I myself am looking forward to vegging on the sofa, watching telly and playing with my PS3. it'll be nice to have weekends again!