Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell Them

In the same week we published our specials on Hampstead being awarded Level 2 Rights Respecting School status, remarking specifically on why the school shouldn't have got it and how UNICEF's poor system facilitated that, Camden Council delivered their monthly rag about nothing of any particular weight, which is used purely by the Labour-led council to quench their own ego. In said rag was a one-page spread detailing how Hampstead had won the award, including a quote from the director of the Rights Respecting School Award which read:

"Children at Hampstead School understand and are strongly committed to children's rights. They are listened to, participate fully in school life and have a strong understanding of the wider world. The school has a positive and empowering learning environment for all and we are very pleased."

What? I'm sorry, but, what? I know we don't swear on here anymore, but an apt response would rhyme with 'pot the duck'. This must be a different Director of RRSA, because the one that we spoke to, and voiced our issues with the school's track record resembling a prison in a small African dictatorship, said he was 'concerned' with what he said. Unless he has this new-fangled dictionary in which 'concerned' means 'I don't care about you poxy children because they're paying my wage', his 'concern' evidently couldn't stretch enough to not bum-lick the Head in such a public way. Not only are his remarks such a far cry from his fob-off responses to us that it's blindingly obvious he couldn't care anymore that students (us and others) think that he's a massive Janus (oh yeah, we could've said a lot worse), they are damaging to the work of UNICEF, which has already shown itself to be as ineffective as a split condom behind the bikesheds, as opposed to a supposed force for moral good.

It's laughable that the people that "understand and are strongly committed to children's rights" are us, and somehow we've ended up being used to laud the Head's money-wasting pet project. That said, we are certainly not "listened to" and, as we can see from the whole Kinnan debacle, if we were to out ourselves, we would definitely not be able to "participate fully in school life". We can say for certain that there is not always a "positive and empowering learning environment" in spite of the best efforts of the teachers; not with a member of SLT on a learning walk.

The magazine in question is produced by Camden Council at a cost of 15p an edition, and delivered to all households (and swiftly their recycling bins) in the borough. With the council constantly moaning about having to find budget cuts of £80m, it seems a bit odd that they don't scrap their propaganda rag costing them approximately £14,580 a month*, which is £174,960 they could knock off their budget each year.


*This figure is based on the estimated number of households in Camden being around 97,200.
DISCLAIMER: The title of this article is a reference to the satirical book on American politics by Al Franken. Whilst the content of his book has nothing to do with the content of this article, we thought the title was perfectly suitable.