There may be no overarching ban on photography, but there has been a creeping restriction of everyday photography – by community safety wardens, private security guards, and self-appointed ‘jobsworths’. Although shifting and vague, the rationale for banning photography in our streets, public…
The Home Office official, John O’Brien, gives a telling outline on Radio 4’s The Report (13 August) of who should be vetted. Someone should be vetted, he says, if ‘you get the opportunity to become familiar to them [children]’, and he says that ‘there is lots of evidence that the ability to build the relationship [with children] can lead to things like grooming’. He says that people who meet a group of children once should not be vetted, on the basis of ‘one-off contact not giving ability to form a relationship’ – but that organisations should be careful that non-vetted adults don’t…
Sir Michael Bichard, the man whose report into the Soham murders started the vetting database, is now having his doubts. In an interview in the Independent, he says that the regulations ‘need to be looked at again’ and that ‘there will always be situations where you could argue that the line has been drawn in the wrong place’. This shows the tide of opinion has shifted. It also reflects the fact that the government copied the database out of the report’s recommendations, almost without thinking about it. The desire to take ‘expert advice’ meant a social policy that was effectively copied up…
This is an excellent article from Francis Bennion, on the importance of establishing legal ‘proof’ in cases of damaging allegations. His points will be even more pertinent with the new vetting database, which will make decisions on the basis of whether an event happened ‘on the face of it’ or ‘on the balance of probabilities’.
This email came in from one volunteer, and shows the insidious reality of vetting – and the potential rebellion against it: ‘A couple of years ago I agreed to a CRB check in order to be able to carry on helping out with my childrens (age 10) junior football club in our village (population about 850). More recently, I’ve been asked to submit to another one to be able to help out at their local Cubs. So far, I’ve simply ignored this and will continue to do so as a matter of principle. If I’m asked specifically to go through the check…
In Regulating Trust – Who Will be on the Vetting Database?, the Manifesto Club reported on draft government Guidance for the upcoming vetting database. Here, volunteers – who will be expected to follow the database rules – respond to the draft Guidance. If you would like to send in a response, email here Anne Fine, OBE, FRSL If there is a more shameful, idiotic, irrational or dispiriting document kicking around in government, I’d be astonished. This futile business has already turned Britain into an international laughing stock. It was hard to imagine proposals even more bereft of common sense than those already…
In October this year, the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act comes into force – requiring all adults who work or volunteer with children to register on a vetting database. Yet the rules on who – and who will not – be on the…
Attention Please is a photobook of unnecessary, absurd and patronising safety warnings in public space, submitted to us by members of the public over 2008-9. The collection contains submissions from all over the world, and also from individuals including the Turner prize-winning…
The Manifesto Club has launched a report on the police abuse of alcohol confiscation powers, Robbed by the Police: Alcohol confiscation and the hyperregulation of public space. Alcohol control zones were supposedly created to tackle serious public disorder – yet police officers…
The Home Office recently introduced new restrictions on international artists and academics visiting the UK for talks, temporary exhibitions, concerts or artists’ residencies. Visitors now have to submit to a series of arduous and expensive procedures to get their visa, and then…
This sports day will be an informal gathering of parents, adult volunteers and children in a suburban London park. It is also – unfortunately – an act of defiance against the growing mound of rules and regulations that threaten such ordinary events. The sports day is in celebration of spontaneous volunteering – and against all the checks, codes and licences that are now required for anyone who wants to help out with children in their area. Such everyday gatherings in local parks are key to children’s development and to community life. In particular, at the Manifesto Club we oppose the government’s upcoming…