Which British Values?

Well, it's been nearly a year since I last blogged here, since I last got slightly miffed or moved about something. Well, not quite, but I have mainly been venting in 140 characters or less over on Twitter. But today I am miffed. Quite peeved if you will because David Cameron and Michael Gove have been speaking in public once again.

Michael Gove wants British values taught in schools and Cameron has given this his full support saying:

"I would say freedom, tolerance, respect for the rule of law, belief in personal and social responsibility and respect for British institutions - those are the sorts of things that I would hope would be inculcated into the curriculum in any school in Britain whether it was a private school, state school, faith-based school, free school, academy or anything else."

On the surface very laudable, but lets look at these British values a bit more closely.

Freedom
Well, building on the Blair/Brown governments' removal of the right to freely protest David Cameron's government has overseen mass electronic spying on UK citizens, allowed foreign intelligence/spy services access to our emails, and generally left the populace less free to display dissent and dissatisfaction.

Tolerance
There is plenty of tolerance. Unless you are unemployed, disabled or ill. Then you are a work-shy scrounger who deserves to be harried to death by the DWP under the leadership of Iain Duncan Smith because you are using tax-payers' money for frivolous luxuries like rent, heating or food. And woe betide you if you have a box room you use to store medical equipment because that is a spare room you need to pay extra tax on. This sort of sponging is something Cameron's Britain won't tolerate.

Respect for the rule of law
Whose law? A traditional British value has been not respecting the rule of law. From rebel barons forcing King John to sign the Magna Carta, the Civil War where Charles I was beheaded through to the suffragettes breaking and rebelling against the law to give women the vote, the British have not been very good at shutting up to respect the rule of law and not rebelling.

Respect for British institutions
What sort of institutions? Physical or metaphorical? It is easy to respect our scientific institutes, our museums and theatres. These are hotbeds of original thinking and subversion. Our satirical institutions from Shakespeare and Swift through to Private Eye and Spitting Image are worthy of respect, bursting the pompous bubble of the ruling classes. But I don't think these are the institutions Cameron and Gove are referring to. There's the institution of fair play, but that's not only British. Any culture with a gramme (or an ounce if you're still imperial) of compassion will believe in fair play. The same with gender, gender identity, race, sexual orientation or religious equality. There's the increasingly irrelevant institution of the Church of England, but they can't even agree on the role of women in their society, so why should they get a say in legislation impacting people outside their members only club?

Insisting that young people are taught to respect the status quo (rather than the Status Quo to whom exposure can lead to denim overdose), can lead to a generation of children who grow up believing that mass surveillance, accepting the role society has given them and not making a fuss is normal and to be applauded.

Bugger that for a game of soldiers! I'm up for a traditional British rebellion. Who's got the sharp axe?

Stephen Fry and Me

Speaking publicly about your own mental illness is a brave thing to do. Whether or not you love or loathe him (me, I love him) Stephen Fry has really been the human face of bipolar disorder (at least in the UK) for years. If Stephen sharing his story and experiences encourages one person to get help, then he has helped save a life.

I suffered from depression in the past, I was on anti-depressants and had counselling. I was on the mild side of mental health issues. I learnt a lot about me and what my triggers are. I know my coping mechanisms. When I worked in the MoJ, the staff magazine was running an article on mental health issues (it was an awareness month). I helped the magazine staff as I worked in diversity and knew about the MoJ policies and it ended up with a short article about me and my depression. I was offered anonymity, but said no. Publish my name because I have nothing to hide and am not ashamed that I needed professional help at one point in my life. 

What I didn't expect was the inbox full of emails from staff who had depression and other mental health issues saying how brave I was, or that since the article, they were telling their line management about their mental health issues because they weren't so scared. 

I was just a civil servant in a first line management position at the time. Now think about the impact Stephen Fry's story will have. I spoke to the staff rag about pills and counselling, and appropriate workplace support. Stephen Fry spoke about suicide and the lows of bipolar disorder. Now that is brave.

Woolwich, What Now?

To everyone saying that we should kick out any and all immigrants/muslims/black, brown, got a bit of a tan people, that we should string up the men that murdered a man in S. London today, or we should let a public lynching happen etc., I have one thing to say:

Aren't you better than this? Do you want to sink to the barbaric levels of violence these men did?

If you want a society based on old testament style "an eye for an eye" brutality, then move to certain areas of the Middle East or Africa where it happens and is indeed state-sanctioned.

Or choose civilisation and due process.

I am horrified by what these two men did - the part of the rant that one murder gave to an eyewitness's camera phone put the blame on the government's foreign policy. He and his accomplice are to blame. They chose to bring bloodshed and horror to the streets of their own city (he sounded like a south London lad), they are to blame for that crime - just as politicians are to blame for unsuccessful foreign policies that breed resentment and hatred. And their actions have harmed people across London as brainless mobs and vigilantes will retaliate. The EDL are saying that they are going to Woolwich, so I am already feeling sympathy for everyone living there. And they will target the first muslim or north African looking people they see.

And within a few days, there will be more violence and riots because idiots can't get beyond revenge.

* In the few hours since I posted this, two mosques have been attacked (Gillingham, Kent and Braintree, Essex) and a mini-riot occurred when the EDL marched on Woolwich to display their hand/eye coordination through rock throwing and ability to put on balaclavas. How this helps anything, I don't know...

Pride and Prejudice Without Austen

Some people may or may not know that I spent over nine years working as a civil servant. I started as an usher in my local crown court before working my way up through the grades and divisions 'til I was safely ensconced in middle management in the headquarters of the Ministry of Justice. In those nine years, I did a lot, from dealing with nervous jurors to speech writing for ministers and a lot in between.

The thing I am most proud of, that meant the most to me, was simply an invitation. I was working in the Diversity Department of the Ministry of Justice and was part of a team working to put together an event for both students and policy makers about hate crime. There had been a lot of media attention on race and disability hate crimes and there was a lot of research going on in this field. At one of the first planning meetings, we were discussing which organisations to invite; disability groups, representatives from different religions - so many charities and research groups.

I wanted the Sophie Lancaster Foundation involved. Sophie was killed because she was different. Because she was a goth. Robert Maltby was attacked and left severely injured because he was different. Because he was a goth.

I was the office goth.

I was the office metalhead.

I was the office weirdo.

I was damn good at my job.

"I want the Sophie Lancaster Foundation there" was my main contribution to that meeting. "The what?" was the reply. I explained about the attacks on Sophie and Robert, the work that Sophie's mum Sylvia was doing with the foundation, the impact of the attacks and the foundation on the alternative community and the judge's sentencing, in which he invoked hate crime legislation as part of the sentences given. I showed them my S.O.P.H.I.E. wristband.

My management team were impressed. I was able to extend an invitation to Sylvia Lancaster and the foundation to attend and have a stand, to be able to interact with the students and policy makers from across the justice system.

On the day of the event, I was running round like a blue-arsed fly - these things don't organise themselves! And even suited and booted, I was still recognisably the resident alternative. I didn't realise at the time, but Sylvia had spotted me running around (smart black suit, platform boots, long black hair and just enough black eyeliner to sink a small ship) and had already decided she wanted to chat to me. I think she'd worked out that I was behind the invitation! We managed to find a few minutes to talk and she was lovely, but under her lovely warmth was a steel core. Sylvia Lancaster is a strong woman who has taken the greatest tragedy that can befall a parent and turned it into a force for good. Absolutely amazing woman.

The day ran past in a blur for me. I got a thank you email from the Sophie Lancaster Foundation after, I still supported them and pimped out about them on my facebook and twitter feeds. It wasn't until August 2012 that I realised I had something to be proud of.

I was at the Bloodstock festival as a DJ. Bloodstock officially supports the Sophie Lancaster Foundation - indeed their second stage is called the Sophie Stage. And the foundation has a stall in the main festival area. As I walked past the stand, I saw Sylvia standing there. I was no longer a civil servant at this point, and my hair was a bright blue, so I didn't think Sylvia would recognise or even remember me. Still, I thought it would be polite to stop and say hello.

So I did. Sylvia not only remembered me, but said that initial invitation had been a pivotal point for her work. She explained that she had met so many policy makers and been invited onto several panels where she could demonstrate the effects of hate crimes on the alternative community, that she had made a difference in national criminal justice policy making because I had insisted on an invite for the foundation.

Because I spoke up in a meeting.

A blog? Really?

So, a personal blog. Well, I only have Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and a few more profiles on more errr selective sites... So why have I started this blog?

Truthfully, I have no idea.

Not one. It's not like I don't have the opportunity to spout off on the internet already. I do, much to the amusement or dismay of friends, followers and probable stalkers. I have friends who blog, Hell, I even follow the blogs of fictional characters and in all honesty, they have better writers than me. But Blogger exists so lets see what happens.

It will probably be quite dull. I think I'll like it.