ARE your kids back at school yet? Or are they still in their rooms tapping away at a screen?
Just a heads up here — they were meant to be back at least a week ago.
So maybe chivvy them along a little.
It’s becoming a real problem, actually.
More and more children aren’t bothering to go to school.
In a study last year, the Centre for Social Justice reckoned 142,487 kids missed a HALF OR MORE of all their lessons over a year.
And 20 per cent of kids miss at least an afternoon per week.
How has this happened?
OK, there were plenty of children playing truant back in my day.
You’d spend the hours smoking and maybe smashing something up.
And gloating over the fact you weren’t in double maths.
But it’s got much more serious.
In a way it would be better if the kids were out smashing something up.
But by and large they are not.
Instead they are at home with depression or anxiety.
Or some similarly related mental condition, which didn’t exist when I was a kid.
Another survey, by The Children’s Society, found that 15-year-old British girls showed the heaviest decline in reported “happiness” of any country in Europe.
There is a whole bunch of reasons why we’re in this position.
One of them, obviously, is Covid.
That wretched virus — or more properly our terrible over-reaction to it — meant that kids missed the best part of a year’s education.
They got used to not being at school. The behaviour becomes ingrained.
At the same time, a lot of the parents were on furlough — being paid for doing nowt.
Many people found this an extremely attractive innovation and still haven’t gone back to work, even now.
There are 9.2million people of working age in the UK who are not working or looking for work.
That’s 700,000 more than before Covid.
Staying at home, then, can get to be a family habit.
But there’s also the increased diagnoses of mental health illnesses.
Frankly, if your kids ARE in school, they might be in the school’s “wellbeing centre”, which are reliably full everywhere.
This is the place the children go when they are feeling depressed or anxious.
And there are many more staff to deal with them than was ever the case before.
I do think that our children are a bit over-indulged in this department.
I’m not saying that they should all be told to snap out of it.
Although I’m tempted to.
But a degree of investigation wouldn’t go amiss, rather than just taking an adolescent’s word for it.
But then many are made anxious by social media.
We know that for a fact.
Social media is a pernicious influence on our kids, and the sooner we ban the under-16s from having open access to the internet, the happier those kids will be in the end.
So there you have it, a complex matter which the Government seems determined to do nothing about.
Because banning smartphones and getting a little less tolerant with malingerers isn’t an easy thing for governments to do.
But it is the right thing to do.
Kids who stay off school will — sure as eggs is eggs — develop into adults who stay home all day.
It is crucial for our society that we nip this in the bud, then.
Get the kids back in schools.
And not in the wellbeing centres, but in the classroom, learning stuff again.
A LESBIAN social worker who described her colleague’s “gender fluid” dog as a “boy” was disciplined by her employers.
The dog is a dachshund called Pablo.
It is forced by its owner to wear a tutu and take part in LGBTQI+ parades.
But now a tribunal has awarded the lesbian £55,000, plus £8,000 in legal costs, after she was banned from contacting members of an LGBTQ group or attending meetings.
This all happened inside Cambridgeshire County Council.
And one assumes it will be the people of Cambridgeshire who pay for that compensation.
Rather than the stupid council employees.
Mind you, serves them right for living there, I suppose.
If you live there, get the hell out and move to somewhere this stuff doesn’t happen, i.e not Brighton or Oxford.
Or London.
Or . . . oh God, what’s the point any more?
TRAINEE lawyers have been warned against using the term “falling on deaf ears”.
This is in case it offends people who are hard of hearing, apparently.
I just hope that in whatever fatuous seminar this advice is imparted, all the students are suddenly struck by the most appalling tinnitus which prevents them from hearing such guff.
THE Israeli pager detonations cheered me up no end.
Suddenly, at precisely the same time, bang!
Thousands of members of Hezbollah found their gonads had been rapidly transported to a different part of the planet.
All co-ordinated by some Mossad agent pressing a button.
Yesterday there was more – bombs in walkie- talkies this time.
Hezbollah is a vicious Islamist terrorist organisation sponsored by Iran.
The more of them removed from circulation the better.
Hezbollah vows revenge – good luck with that.
The Israelis easily have their measure.
MARTIN HEWITT is the UK’s new border chief.
He was appointed by Sir Keir Starmer.
His job is to try to stop the economic migrants arriving here in boats from Calais.
He has just said that tackling the people traffickers will not be enough to stop the numbers coming here.
Given that this is Labour’s only stated policy, looks like those numbers will be rising and rising.
HE likes his freebies, Sir Keir, doesn’t he? Not remotely different to the Tories, is he?
It’s now been discovered that Starmer’s missus received two free tickets to the Taylor Swift gigs in the UK.
Why?
More worryingly to me is the fact that almost half the bloody Cabinet was at the shows.
Including Wes Streeting and Bridget Phillipson.
Is that really their idea of culture?
Listening to the middle- of-the-road caterwauling from a boring plastic moppet?
THE, ahem, comedian Robin Ince has accused Ricky Gervais of “bullying” him when they were on a tour.
Apparently Ricky made a few jokes at Robin’s expense.
And Robin claims he then came out in red lumps all over his body.
Through stress, you see.
I’m not sure I swallow all this.
I suspect Ince is attacking Gervais in public because he doesn’t agree with his politics.
Ince is yet another woke public schoolboy much beloved by the BBC.
The kind of comedian the BBC adores – one who never says anything funny.
I DON’T have much of a problem with Huw Edwards’ suspended sentence.
If you are worried the former BBC newsreader has not received sufficient punishment – remember his entire life has been destroyed.
Yes, compared to some other crimes it seems lenient.
But that’s the way our courts have been going – they are too open to political interference.
That’s a scandal, but Edwards is not really anything to do with it.
The problem now is for the BBC.
Director-General Tim Davie has got to sort out the corporation’s useless, self-serving complaints department.
And an apology to The Sun wouldn’t go amiss, either.
ANTHONY JOSHUA could wake up as heavyweight world champion again on Sunday – but he will still have to do the washing and ironing.
AJ challenges for Daniel Dubois’ IBF belt in what is expected to be a record 96,000 sellout at Wembley Stadium.
It would put him in an exclusive heavyweight club alongside Muhammad Ali, Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis and Vitali Klitschko as three-time champ.
But Joshua said: “Do you know what’s crazy, on Sunday morning you wake up and it’s the same.
“Your bills still come out of your account, you’ve got to do your washing, it’s all the same.
“When I was in Saudi in the Airbnb I was just there ironing and washing after the Francis Ngannou fight. It’s mad.
“The only difference is that it hurts losing. It takes a few weeks to get over but time is the best healer.
When you win, you’re on a high and you want to experience that. When you lose, you get low and it takes time to get back balanced.
“After the Ngannou fight, everything was good, you’re riding that wave and hopefully we do that on Saturday as well.”
Joshua first won gold in 2016, knocking out Charles Martin for the same red strap he challenges Dubois for eight years later.
ANTHONY JOSHUA VS DANIEL DUBOIS: All the information you need ahead of huge world title fight at Wembley
CASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO WELCOME OFFERS
He then added the WBA and WBO belts to unify but lost them to Andy Ruiz Jr in a stunning 2019 upset.
It set up a heroic rematch victory six months later but Joshua again dropped the titles to Oleksandr Usyk, 37, this time failing to win them back in the rematch.
AJ has since won four on the spin and goes into his fight with Dubois, 27, as confident as ever.
He said: “Of course he is dangerous, but let me tell you, this is the thing with fighting; it takes more than being strong to be a champion and to be a complete fighter.
I truly believe from what I’ve studied, read and what great people who have come before me have said, it takes more than being a physical specimen.
“It’s a good attribute but when you come across someone who is willing to take that from you, you’ve given them your best shot and they are able to take it, that’s when you figure out what it takes to be a champion.
“That’s what I’ve done. I’ve been to the well. He’s fighting someone who is willing to die in there – who wants to give it everything to be victorious.”
THIS weekend Wembley will witness one of the biggest all-British fights of all-time.
But who will emerge victorious under the famous arch? Some of the biggest names in boxing have been having their say…
Oleksandr Usyk: “My favourite is Anthony Joshua but I am very bad at predictions. But I will predict Anthony Joshua.”
Dillian Whyte: “I just think that it’s one of those fights where it is a genuine 50/50 fight in my opinion.”
Joe Joyce: “I was initially edging with Joshua but I don’t know, Dubois is coming on.”
Frazer Clarke: “As heavy-handed as Dubois is and as good a fighter as he’s becoming, I still have to go for Joshua.”
Francis Ngannou: “Even though Joshua lost against Usyk twice and Dubois fought Usyk and almost knocked him down and almost won, I would still give this to Joshua.”
Click here for more fight predictions for Anthony Joshua vs Daniel Dubois
DISGRACED music mogul Diddy has lost an appeal for bail, despite making multiple promises of better behavior in exchange for his freedom.
Just one day after appearing in court and initially being denied bail, a judge again ruled that Sean “Diddy” Combs would remain jailed pending trial after his Monday night arrest in New York City.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him, including racketeering, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution.
The charges allege Combs “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct.”
An unsealed indictment on Tuesday revealed the gruesome details of Combs’ alleged behavior.
Prosecutors accused Combs of using his business empire, under the name Combs Enterprise, to organize and cover up his alleged crimes.
Among the biggest bombshells revealed in the indictment was Combs’ “Freak Offs” – events where he allegedly forced victims to have sex with hired sex workers and recorded the scene.
It comes as…
“Freak Offs were elaborate and produced sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during, and often electronically recorded,” prosecutors alleged.
Combs allegedly arranged for participants, including sex workers, to travel across state lines and, sometimes, internationally for the freak offs, which sometimes lasted for days on end.
Freak offs often involved drug usage to keep participants “obedient and compliant,” followed by IV fluids to recover afterward, the charges stated.
The “sensitive, embarrassing, and incriminating” material Combs recorded was then used “as collateral to ensure the continued obedience and silence of the victims,” prosecutors said.
After Combs’ initial court appearance on Tuesday afternoon, a judge ordered him to be held without bail, citing “very significant concerns” about his reported substance abuse and “anger issues.”
His arrest follows a months-long investigation into his alleged behaviors, during which raids were conducted on his homes in Los Angeles and Miami.
If Combs is convicted and receives maximum sentences, he faces a combined 45 years behind bars; the racketeering charge has a 20-year max, the sex trafficking charge carries a 15-year max, and the other charge has a 10-year max.
Sean Combs' infamous drug-fueled freak offs, first revealed by his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura's lawsuit in November 2023, have become a central narrative of the indictment, which alleges:
At Tuesday’s hearing, Combs’ attorney, Marc Agnifilo, presented a bail proposal worth $50 million.
Combs offered his $48 million Miami home and his mother’s $2 million Miami home as collateral.
He also pledged to limit his travel to New York, New Jersey, and Florida.
Combs also said he would keep his private jet parked in Los Angeles and wear a GPS tracking device.
Still, it wasn’t enough to keep him out of jail.
Amendments made for Wednesday’s appeal reportedly included monitoring Combs’ residence 24/7 and a pre-approved visitor log.
Agnifilo also stressed Combs would not have a cell phone or internet access.
Both the prosecution and the defense presented their cases, but ultimately it wasn’t enough as the judge denied bail again.
SEAN 'Diddy' Combs was ordered to remain in jail while pending trial after being hit with sex trafficking charges. Appealing the decision in a letter to Judge Robyn Tarnofsky, the music mogul's attorney, Marc Agnifilo, promised the following:
Combs is being held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, known for rat infestations, violent outbreaks, and being understaffed.
The jail has a capacity of 1,600 inmates, often with celebrities among them.
Ghislaine Maxwell and R Kelly are just two who have endured the horrific conditions.
Maxwell infamously complained about the jail’s lack of potable water and bad stench.
Reports of the prison’s conditions are so vile that the jail is no longer accepting new inmates who are serving out sentences.
Instead, the prison is mostly holding inmates awaiting trial, as in Combs’ case.
FIVE people have been treated by emergency services and seven cars were damaged in a major incident.
Horrified parents watched in horror as youngsters on a moped threw a substance over the vehicles in Corby, Northamptonshire.
Armed police and ambulance crews rushed to the Burghley Road playing fields at 6.30pm on September 18.
Young people had been arriving to train with Hellenic Fisher FC at the time, the Northamptonshire Telegraph reported.
More follows…
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