I still think Childline was a good idea.. The (Kids) took it over because the adults allowed it to happen..
 I noticed a difference in the schools when Teacher and Parent Association was introduced.. The parents took over.. and the kids ruled the parents.. The teachers were left out in the cold..
 I've seen parents trying to smack the backs of a child's legs and missing every time.. because the child knew all the moves.. 

The trouble is there are lots of things set up with good intentions.  But then some ne'erdowells want to tweak it a bit, play silly buggers with the semantics of the wording, interpret it in a way that suits their narrow narrative and before you know it the good intentions are lost and the whole thing is (quite rightly IMHO) berated.

Quote from: dextrous63 on September 30, 2023, 07:33:03 AMThe headteacher in the first school I worked in was er, "old school".  I was told how he'd once heard that a pupil had told a teacher to f**k off.  So, he walked straight into the classroom, grabbed the kid by collar and shirt tail and frog marched him to the school gate, kicked him up the ar$e and said "YOU f**k off".

There are times in which this sentiment seems entirely appropriate.  The imbeciles who cut the tree down fit the criteria.  I don't care what their motives were, nor if they had a difficult upbringing.  They can just "f**k off", just as much as that tw@t who killed the girl on the bus can.

I sometimes wonder how long it will be before the people in power begin to realise that being nice to kids and letting them get away with things that I was never allowed to results in not only bad behaviour but also falling educational standards.

Wokism is slowly destroying this country, and that's why we now have the society we deserve.

It will be a grand day when "common sense" returns to the world once more. As I'm sure it will.

Quote from: Raven on September 30, 2023, 11:03:19 AMIt will be a grand day when "common sense" returns to the world once more. As I'm sure it will.

Have you been smoking some of that sea grass again?

    

Quote from: Ashy on September 29, 2023, 12:38:02 PMThey probably want the land for a wind farm.

Who would have thought it?

Quote from: JBR on September 30, 2023, 10:33:47 AMI sometimes wonder how long it will be before the people in power begin to realise that being nice to kids and letting them get away with things that I was never allowed to results in not only bad behaviour but also falling educational standards.

Wokism is slowly destroying this country, and that's why we now have the society we deserve.

I would say we have the society that the likes of you & me don't deserve.

September 30, 2023, 03:38:49 PM

Quote from: Ashy on September 30, 2023, 03:10:48 PMWho would have thought it?

Well it does seem a very unlikely thing to do without a strong motive.

I suppose the motive could be that the tree would be the centre of the objections about the turbines spoiling the view & it's significance for tourism.

Quote from: dextrous63 on September 29, 2023, 07:10:27 PMCassandra.. what's the maximum punishment that could be meted out to the little twerp?

From January the 1st this year,'The Forestry Act 1967', was amended by the Environment Act to allow uncapped fines and importantly imprisonment for  'breaching a T.P.O. 'Tree Preservation Order'. However it appears that it's powers of sentence (passed into law in November 2021) to impose these new restraints is yet to be added to the statute, as far as I can ascertain. Therefore he may have to be sentenced under previous guidelines.

Previously illegally felling 12 oak trees, all at least 150 years old, attracted a fine of just £15,000 in January 2020. The case, prosecuted in a Hastings magistrates court, in my opinion was limited to puny and outdated legislation, hence the Judicial Review.

The legislation is aimed to deter 'chainsaw ready' local authorities and developers who will gladly pay feeble fines to get their way on the 'well their gone now, so lets get on with it Dodge City view' of modern life. However for the villainous destruction and deprivation of it's beauty to now and the future, the alleged offender and his arrayed associates, if proven guilty and are capable of sentencing (age restriction) would in my Crown court get handed down at least 5 years and their assets destroyed by an accompanying fine.

As I'd suggested I believe he fronted his 16 year old sibling (legally a minor) with the prime blame to avoid the penalties extending to him, suggestively as the primary suspect.

Thanks Cassandra.  So there's no hidden thing in the statute books that means we could hang them??

Pity.

But when the authorities want to destroy a tree, the people in it get taken to court and the tree is put to death.

Quote from: Ashy on September 30, 2023, 05:50:19 PMBut when the authorities want to destroy a tree, the people in it get taken to court and the tree is put to death.

I once defended a man and his wife who appeared as 'Robin and Marian Hood', who lived in a tree. They appeared before the beak, draped in green complete with tights and Quarter Staffs (no bows and arrows permitted in court).

They were being evicted from the third Ash heading North on some particular Avenue as it was due to be felled in the name of progress (i.e supermarket had bunged the council to do so in the publics interest of them earning a fortune etc etc). Robin had established himself as a squatter and we managed by what is now known as 'crowdfunding' to injunct the Town Council from cutting the Hood's home down.

It was a hoot at the time and I had to appear with gravitas whilst answering questions like "and how do your clients relieve themselves from a Tree". I then caused pictures of their Tree House to be shown including their assured privacy behind woven walls. The opposition claimed this was a permanent residence and therefore needed toilet facilities and planning permission. They wanted proof that Robin and his missus, didn't deficate from within the tree at any time, especially if it was cold and wet (weather), in reponse I insisted they had to prove they did! Also pointing out that it was not a very permanent home, as they (Council) proposed to destroy it and that the Hoods had chosen their home specifically to be adjacent to the local 24 hour public toilets (together with photographs). Also they didn't reside there for longer than 5 months and 28 days in any year, as they camped out in Sherwood Forest in the summer months. It lasted as a hearing much longer than it should have done, attracting media interest etc. Eventually a sympathetic local farmer offered them permanent residence in one of his many oak trees, in exchange for them guarding his sheep. A whole team of workers turned up and helped the Hoods produce a rather wonderful 'aboreal bijou' home complete with a hoist and lift etc. Myself, my opponent and the Judge relished it as did the majority of the town. The very pompous and arrogant Councillors were booed every day, as we entered court, cameras flashing etc. and eventually scurried away tail between their legs.

Those were the good old days ...

Crikey, what a ripping yarn Cass. 🤣🤣

 You must have been involved in some right old weird cases in your time.

Cassandra - great tale - loved it!

Quote from: dextrous63 on September 30, 2023, 08:55:13 PMCrikey, what a ripping yarn Cass. 🤣🤣

 You must have been involved in some right old weird cases in your time.

Much to the chagrin of my late father as head of chambers, with time I 'mellowed' but really relished 'good murders' especially poisonings .

There are three stages to maturity I found, when I was young I was a nutter, then a bit of a nutter and latterly eccentric. I can honestly say I learnt from every case and still miss the 'bench' and all my friends from those times, across the frontiers of justice very much. There are very few brief in nearly thirty years as an advocate I wouldn't rush to re-live now, the same as a Judiciary.

Those in rejection, are only because of the hateful people I had to represent and getting to realise what revolting and terrifying people there are in this world.

The rest from Robin and Marian to some of the finest 'Petermen' in the business, they all taught me something and enriched my life along the way!