Ofsted is facing a crisis in public confidence as it comes under a series of attacks on its authority this week, with the watchdog accused of being "flawed, wasteful and failing".  Its new inspection regime is accused of forcing social work departments to focus on passing inspections instead of looking after children, giving good schools mediocre ratings on routine technical matters – such as fences not being high enough – and more claims that sub-contracted inspectors are not fit for the job.  The Guardian.

I guess this had to come out eventually.

Instead of being the nasty, oppressive and authoritarian government BULLY, Ofsted needs to reinvent itself as a proper staff development organisation, providing SUPPORT and TRAINING to schools which require it.   I know it can be done because I have seen it done in other countries.

But will it? The arrogance of government and (even more so) petty bureaucrats knows no bounds.

When it comes to joining a church I think I would rather go with the women clergy than a church renowned for its acceptance (in terms of coverups at the cost of a few Hail Mary's) of large scale buggery of choir boys by  priests.

BBC News.

Gordon Brown is due to mount a robust defence of Britain's military policy in Afghanistan by warning al-Qaeda is the biggest threat to UK national security.  BBC News.

I do not agree. I think Labour - with Blair's arrogant, warmongering foreign policy - is our biggest threat. Bring our troops back now and patch up the divide that exists here at home.

Christopher Booker on why we will lose in Afghanistan.

Former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair has also said there should be no role for the private sector in Britain's law enforcement.  BBC News.

There are other countries where this kind of thing is happening, including South Africa which had more private policemen than real ones in 2006.  There is concern about some of these as well, given that they are paramilitary forces, prone to taking ther law into their own hands.

However, the bottom line is that this kind of organisation can only exist where normal policing does not work, as seems to be increasingly the case in the UK where Plod spends too much time sitting on his butt filling out forms (online these days) and raising stealth taxes by targetting motorists doing 36 mph in a 30 mph zone. I would not be interested in signing up for a service like this but am lucky to live in a secure area. I have had only one incident of theft in 7 years, which was my own fault in that I forgot to lock my car.

Mark Thompson, the Director General, who receives an overall pay package of £834,000 a year, billed £648 to stay in a five-star hotel in Las Vegas, and made 63 claims – some as little as 70p – for parking meter fees. 

After massive disclosures about politicians and their dubious expense claims, it is now the chance of top executives at the BEEB to enjoy public displeasure. Personally, I find it just about impossible to believe that someone earning £834 000 a year would stoop to claiming 70p for parking. I mean... just how GREEDY can you be?

I am now beginning to understand those who are opposed to paying the TV licence. Perhaps government will do us a favour by abolishing the fee in revenge for the Beebs willingness (and joy) to embarrass them.

I can't wait for revelations about banker's expense claims, and while we are about it, the claims of generously paid university VCs.

Three-year-old Atlegang Phalane was shot dead in Midrand, near Johannesburg, as he sat in the back seat of a car next to his uncle. The police officer is reported to have said that he thought the boy was carrying a firearm, though according to Moses Dlamini, from the Independent Complaints Directorate, no gun or object which could have been mistaken for a firearm was recovered from the car.  BBC News.

One of the first victims of SAs draconian 'shoot to kill' policy has been a three year old boy. Government and police are adamant that they will continue the policy in an attempt to combat the highest violent crime rate in the world. President Jacob Zuma said that the sheer level of violent crime in South Africa made it very different to other countries and said that many police have died as a result of cornered criminals opening fire on them.

Deputy police minister Fikile Mbalula said: "Yes. Shoot the bastards. Hard-nut to crack, incorrigible criminals. Where you are caught in combat with criminals, innocent people are going to die - not deliberately but in the exchange of fire. They are going to be caught on the wrong side, not deliberately, but unavoidably."

Opposition parties have condemned the policy.

What interests me most is the ease with which the so called rainbow nation has reverted to the policies which they vowed never to repeat. A shoot to kill policy was never openly discussed in apaprtheid SA, but was very much part of the way in which the Afrikander elite kept the black population under control. In 2006, The Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Amendment Bill was passed, allowing police to monitor communications between people - supposedly to fight crime.

What is worrying is the way this kind of policy can spiral out of control. Who is next? The 'criminal' who is doing 160 kph mph in a 120 kph zone and who is unable to stop at a police check point? Someone is a hurry running down the street who just might be a bag snatcher? Communications workers protesting about pay? Booze fueled football hooligans fighting in the street during next year's world cup?

Other related issues:

Can Zuma rein in his spies? |:| Foreigners in fear |:|

A source close to the Prime Minister said Mr Brown would tell Sir Christopher that the vast majority of MPs were "decent, hard-working individuals" who did not come into politics to milk the system, but that the scandal, uncovered by The Telegraph , showed there were also some "bad apples". 

Brown is to tell Sir Christopher Kelly that his reforms should not be so stringent as to make politics the domain of the rich. Could he perhaps leave some leeway for a little corruption, fraud and dishonesty? Perhaps allow a teensy bit of false claiming, grasping what they are not really entitled to, from the scummy taxpayers they pretend to serve? Please?

Unfortunately, politics has, and always will be, the exclusive domain of the greedy and dishonest. I have nothing but contempt asnd disdain for every single one of them.

Welsh Secretary Peter Hain, who led a campaign to exclude Mr Griffin from Question Time, said: "This is exactly what I feared and warned about.

"The BBC has handed the BNP the gift of the century on a plate and now we see the consequences. I'm very angry about this."

Hain, the man who conveniently forgot to declare a rather large amount of money donated to his campaign to become deputy of the Labour party, is a rather strange chappie. Having cut his political teeth in apartheid SA like myself, one would expect him to have respect for the views of others, be they ultra left or ultra right. This means that the BNP leader has every right to air his views on the BBC, just like Clegg, Cameron and Brown and to even think of preventing him from doing so is to go against the basic rights which are so much a part of our supposedly democratic society. I find it extremely ironic that Hain is now supporting policy which the Apartheid state he claims to have opposed specialised in.

My viewing of the Question Time programme left me absolutely delighted - the BNP leader was thoroughly mauled and I very much doubt that the BNP gained any seats as a result of the show.

I think Hain is making a song and dance in an attempt to rehabilitate himself in the hope of retaining his seat. What better way than to climb on the non-racist bandwagon.

 Labour, represented by Straw, did not come out particularly well either and it is pretty clear that they are going to get their asses kicked come the general election. The forgetful Hain, in my opinion a thoroughly untrustworthy self-seeking poser, will be a casualty.

Good riddance.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8322743.stm

I'll stick with my least favourite of Labour MPs - Balls - who has stated that he wants to ensure there were sufficient "powers" available "to keep racism and BNP activity out of schools". The point is, Ed, that it is not only BNP supporters who are racist. Racism is endemic in our society, for most people hidden under the blanket of political correctness, but no less vindictive or ugly because of this.

We need to keep racism out of our entire society, and Labour's record on this is not particularly good.  We have had accusations of institutionalised racism in the police force and there seems general trend towards a ghettoisation of our society, all of which has occured on Labour's watch.

Those prepared to give Labour money get honours and are paraded about as an example of Labour's openness while talented police officers get promoted just so far. It is the glass ceiling syndrome repeated, with checks and balances designed to keep the status quo with home born Brits maintaining control of the levers of power. Labour are no less adept at this power wrangling than the Tories or other parties.

Black officer rejected eight times. Tarique Ghaffur case, nothing learned. Met report - Muslims more corrupt than others. Slurs against Muslim student, Staffordshire U. BNP racism in schools claim.

"The evidence that our democracy is failing is overwhelming and yet those with the biggest interest in sustaining the current system - the Westminster village, the media and particularly the political parties, including this one - are the groups most in denial about what is really happening to our democracy." BBC News.

Greg Dyke, former Director General of the BBC, has suggested that politicians and the media are threatening British democracy by opposing necessary change to the way government operates.