John Hemming's Web Log

It is unusual for The Sun to come out critical of the system. This Article by Jane Moore is not officially from "the sun", but it is exceptional to get this reported. It properly identifies the flaws in government policy in keeping what is happening in the courts secret. " IT can no longer be ignored by those who purport to be in charge of this country that something is deeply rotten at the core of Britain’s social services."

this briefing is a good summary of the new standards regime. The new regime reinforces democracy ensuring that councillors are primarily accountable to the electorate.

I have just started reading the World Energy Outlook 2012. It will take some effort to properly review this, but it is an interesting document. Followers of my comments will have noted that oil demand by the OECD peaked somewhere between 2005 and 2008. It depends whether you look quarterly or monthly or even daily (and those figures would be hard to get in a reliable sense). However, in terms of millions of barrells of oil per day old demand is about 10% less than it was. The first interesting thing about the WEO is that with the "new policies" scenario that is their key scenario in fact oil consumption continues to go down from 2020 to 2035 (in the OECD). On a 5 yearly basis the USA's consumption is shown as peaking in 2010. (page 564) OECD Europe oddly enough has its highest figures marginally in 1990, but that is only because 2000 is missed out. I think again the peak for Europe (OECD) would be somewhere in 2005-8. The other interesting element is looking at t...

This is a post by someone who was adopted. The person concerned was adopted at age 7 months which is only just into the start of the period at which people could get RAD and hence is a good case to be considered as part of what the government wish to achieve. The underlying problem in terms of government policy is the failure to properly and scientifically approach the analysis of the policy. It is absolutely no good at all simply picking on a few examples where things have worked out well and using those as justification for the policy. What is needed is an analysis of the effects of each step in the decisionmaking process. For example there is a step of a court order placing one or more children for adoption. What needs to be studied is what the consequences are of this. It is wrong to simply consider the children that do end up adopted, you also need to consider those that don't. The Education select committee (actually its predecessor) visited Denmark and considered ...

Rico Sorda has kindly extracted my speech of today onto his web log here I shall highlight the key element: Parliament has to stand on the side of the powerless. Whitehall mandarins, judges, BBC managers, council bureaucrats and professionals all have their own interests and a desire to hide mistakes. Parliament needs to balance the scales on the side of the weak—those without wealth who are crying out and not being heard. The saga of the Ariel and Prospero statue warrants a read as well.

As a result of the efforts of the Deputy Lord Mayor there is now a special Birmingham Poppy (which I used to attach my more traditional poppy for the remembrance service today)

This web page has the BBC interviewing various people (including myself) about Jersey. One of the commentators said that those on the side of the establishment were given twice as long as the anti-corruption campaigners. I haven't checked this.

Warning: Most of this is in Italian.

There will, of course, be a move to claim that all the current stories revealing historic coverups are historic and have no relevance today. However, this would be misleading. I know of recent cases of children being maltreated in care that I have reported to the authorities and received an inadequate response. It is also obvious that the action of banning Leah McGrath Goodman was part of a coverup. This happened in 2011.

This is a report about the possible economic consequences of peak oil from the IMF. The report is impressive because of the way in which it looks at a number of the key issues. It comes to similar conclusions to those which I have highlighted. Historically the DTI refused to do a risk analysis on peak oil because it was "too risky." I need to allocate some serious time to reading the IMF report.

Humanitarian Crisis for Indian children and their families in confiscatory child care proceedings abroad The original document is here . A case for intervention under human rights laws for the repatriation of Indian children facing foreign confiscatory care proceedings to their relatives in India, instead of being consigned to foreign state institutions or foster care, or being given away in forced adoption abroad. Summary Petition to the National Human Rights Commission to:  recommend that the Government of India institutes a formal and transparent mechanism for the return to India of Indian children caught in confiscatory child care proceedings abroad  commission a legal and statistical study on the functioning of confiscatory child protection or child welfare laws abroad  spread awareness of the humanitarian concerns raised in this petition 12 October 2012 To, National Human Rights Commission Faridkot House, Copernicus Marg New Delhi – 110 001 Re: Petition to the Na...

This links to a radio programme (in English) about forced adoption. Note the story recently in polish express. I am not commenting on Friday's events as yet beyond what I said in The House. I had been assured by people that the government would allow the bill to pass, but this did not happen.

This is a Belgian radio interview (in French) with the Slovak Republic's representative in the European Court of Human Rights in which it is considered that the English system is more concerned with adoption than protecting children. (it is about number 380 if you click on the bar).

The link here is to a case in the polish language paper Polish Express. It relates to a mother in Haringey. Part of the google translation says this: JW: Why the speculation? Magda: I'm in this for half a year, I see and hear. For example, at a meeting of barbecue in one of many of my translators, you were present with the same care and told her that "Polish children a good product adoption." Interpreter repeated it to me. Saying basically that Polish children are good for adoption.

What is clear about the allegations relating to Jimmy Savile was that many involved children in the care of the state (aka "in care") - either in the UK or in Jersey. There are allegations that children have disappeared from the care system - not necessarily related to Jimmy Savile. What I have always found odd was that the government were interested in auditing what happened to the money, but uninterested in auditing what happened to the children. The SSDA903 return tracks what is recorded as having happened to children. Many children are recorded on that data base as having left care "for other reasons". From my number crunchers perspective that really worries me. Basically we have lost track of a number of children in the care system. Where have they gone?

This is a link to a story about further protests in Slovakia. It is now clear that this issue involves at least 89 children in at least 40 families. That, however, is only in the Slovak republic. We are working with some other governments, but they have not taken a public view on this. There are also other countries whose citizens are pressing for their governments to support them. This is a report on an English Language Slovak website.

In all the debating about Jimmy Savile and what he may have done in the past, there are aspects of the link to the current day that are being ignored. Of course there needs to be an investigation into what the BBC tolerated on BBC premises. There is also the need for a proper review of what happened at Haut de la Garenne and the allegations of abuse cruises off Jersey. However, it should be noted that (only last year) the UKBA banned a journalist (Leah McGrath Goodman) from the UK and Jersey who wished to investigate and report on what happened at Haut de la Garenne. She still does not have a visa to allow her into Jersey. The first thing to do, therefore, is to allow Leah McGrath Goodman into the country. I am surprised that the journalistic profession has been so unconcerned about the banning of a journalist from the UK.

This image: Looks at the NPV of the tuition payments for graduates in each percentile of income. The assumption is that the government pays the universities a fee of £7,500 for each year of study. Labour's proposal is for the government to pay no more than £6,000 per year to universities through this scheme. This will, however, not affect the lower income percentiles and only probably the top four percentiles.

This is one of a number of stories relating to the Slovak Government talking to the UK Government about the children. It seems that they are talking about 89 cases. That could be 89 children or 89 cases (a case can involve more than 1 child). I am talking to people from a number of other governments, not just the Slovak Republic. There are also the cases which affect English people which, of course, should be treated exactly the same way. This and This are two more stores in Slovak. This is the same story in Italian.

This is a French TV programme about forced adoption in England. This is an article about the issue by the TV journalist.