Monday 6 April 2015

What's news?

I saw these reports in the Times (£) and the Guardian, so I had a quick search to see if the BBC had reported it or something similar.


The Times.

“Theresa May was forced to drop plans to publish a counter-extremism strategy because of splits in the coalition.
The home secretary put forward measures, including linking benefits to the ability to speak English, and tougher asylum rules for those judged to have breached a new definition of extremism, for inclusion in the strategy.
However, the government was unable to agree her far-reaching strategy before parliament was dissolved after the Liberal Democrats...............” 

The bit above you can access for free is enough to give you the gist, and of course the Guardian’s is not behind a paywall.

The Guardian.
A Home Office strategy to tackle non-violent extremism has been discreetly shelved after Liberal Democrats in the coalition government blocked the proposals as too hardline and an affront to civil liberties.A leaked copy of the 28-page report, seen by the Observer, reveals a series of measures designed to counter extremism, including reduced benefits for people who struggle to speak English, training for Jobcentre Plus staff so that they can spy on people considered vulnerable to extremism, and banning individuals from entering the UK if they are judged to have “undermined British values”.It is understood that senior Lib Dems refused to approve the strategy, despite promises by the Home Office that it would be published before the general election.”
But when I typed in every combination of ‘Theresa May’s extremism plans blocked by Lib Dems’ or ‘Lib Dems block Theresa May’s new tough line on extremism’  into the BBC’s magnificent search engine all that came up was this rather detailed report of a teaching union’s scaremongering fears about a ‘heavy-handed’ approach to counter extremism. Teachers 'fear extremism debates in class'
"Teachers claimed Muslims were being demonised". "Teachers are being forced to spy on their students over fears about Islamic extremism, a teachers' union conference has heard."




NUT leader Christine Blower warns against a heavy-handed approach to counter-extremism




You might think people who would be interested in this report might also be interested to know that the Lib Dems have scuppered Theresa May's plans, flawed or not. 

1 comment:

  1. "the BBC’s magnificent search engine"

    It is quite special. Unique even.

    Anyway, time has elapsed, is it there yet? Or are we again to assume that those who decide such things have deemed such not insignificant news as something not worth troubling the nation's public with at this difficult time?

    Which is really getting to be a bit of a thing for the BBC, I have learned.

    ReplyDelete

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.