Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

A mower may be a good thing for a lawn - we have one, rarely used. What we need is an industrial strength strimmer - the normal one has died of stress - and an operator that doesn't have a dodgy back or terminal laziness! If I could find such a person I could guarantee to love them unconditionally and infinitely more than I would ever love a goat!

[quote="icomefromalanddownunder"]I think that I may have completely missed the point.

I assumed that the perceived problem was that Police Officers, and employees of some other organisations, are not permitted to have 'second jobs', and that even if these Officers were doing it for nothing, or rather as a barter, it could still be construed as a second income.

Police Officers can have second incomes with permission.
This was nothing to do with the police or the type of employment they are in. It was solely down to OFSTED and their interpretation of the law. The two police officers involved were job sharing and so one was at work when the other wasn't and therefore helped each other out. They are friends and I'm sure not alone in this sort of arrangement.
The whole thing is completely bonkers !

Earlier this year we were sent details of a CH exchange trip to Germany, and informed that all the UK host families will need to be CRB checked before welcoming the visitors into their homes (I don't recollect whether it was made clear who would pay for this although there is apparently a fee of something like £35). Out of academic interest I enquired whether the German families would be required to undergo some equivalent check? Answer; No.

Bestimmt -- NEIN -- Sicher !
Die Deutscher sind nicht kopflos !

ailurophile wrote:Earlier this year we were sent details of a CH exchange trip to Germany, and informed that all the UK host families will need to be CRB checked before welcoming the visitors into their homes (I don't recollect whether it was made clear who would pay for this although there is apparently a fee of something like £35). Out of academic interest I enquired whether the German families would be required to undergo some equivalent check? Answer; No.

I am a little surprised about the lack of check on the German families.
I play for the village band, which is based on the village music school. Consequently, many of the musicians are between 11 and 18 years of age.
Some years ago I contacted the school trying to suggest an exchange whereby a few musicians from CH would come and play with our band during the summer, when we play in street progressions etc. at the village fiestas. Not difficult, holiday atmosphere and quite fun, more so for the young.
I also hoped to get a couple of ours across to see what a real band acts and sounds like, maybe playing in practices etc.
I was put off when I was told that if I did it through the school there would be all types of red tape, hoops to go through etc, to ensure the safety of the children. Something I understand, but getting local spanish families checked was going to be a problem, as I'm pretty certain they are very relaxed about these things here and it is sometimes hard work to get them to understand that they are not being treated as potential criminals.
In the face of all the problems, I put it to the back of my mind.
Has the situation changed with respect to overseas families being checked?

Common sense prevails

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/educ ... 303366.stm

Which idiot drafted these regulations? More to the point which idiot didn't check the draft properly? Maybe "-Up" should be added to the name of the Minister "in charge".

ailurophile wrote:Earlier this year we were sent details of a CH exchange trip to Germany, and informed that all the UK host families will need to be CRB checked before welcoming the visitors into their homes (I don't recollect whether it was made clear who would pay for this although there is apparently a fee of something like £35). Out of academic interest I enquired whether the German families would be required to undergo some equivalent check? Answer; No.

The school are paying the CRB check fees, but I hadn't actually realised that this is a one-sided thing and that the German parents aren't going to be checked!

I have just been informed, that I have been "Cleared" for the fourth time !

Before anybody suggests it ---- I am sure that they DO have their sources !!!

Lonelymom wrote

The school are paying the CRB check fees, but I hadn't actually realised that this is a one-sided thing and that the German parents aren't going to be checked!

I have to say, I asked the question more out of curiosity than from any genuine concern! I don't suppose for a moment that the German host families pose any more potential threat to our children than any CH parent would to theirs; it just seems irritatingly anomalous that over-zealous UK beauracracy (and I've just tried spelling that five different ways, none of which looks right!) means that we have to jump through hoops which are not required by the exchange country.

As it happens, I've recently had to fill in a CRB check for a role helping with a childrens' group. Among other things, the form required me to supply my passport number, bank account details, and my mother's maiden name... With the current Government's woeful record of 'losing' data, I am more than a little unhappy about exactly where this information might end up! And let's face it, recent cases have demonstrated that even the most rigorous CRB check can't really prove in any meaningful way that you're not a dangerous paedophile, it can only prove that they don't have any reason to suspect it!!

ailurophile wrote:Lonelymom wrote

The school are paying the CRB check fees, but I hadn't actually realised that this is a one-sided thing and that the German parents aren't going to be checked!

I have to say, I asked the question more out of curiosity than from any genuine concern! I don't suppose for a moment that the German host families pose any more potential threat to our children than any CH parent would to theirs; it just seems irritatingly anomalous that over-zealous UK beauracracy (and I've just tried spelling that five different ways, none of which looks right!) means that we have to jump through hoops which are not required by the exchange country.

As it happens, I've recently had to fill in a CRB check for a role helping with a childrens' group. Among other things, the form required me to supply my passport number, bank account details, and my mother's maiden name... With the current Government's woeful record of 'losing' data, I am more than a little unhappy about exactly where this information might end up! And let's face it, recent cases have demonstrated that even the most rigorous CRB check can't really prove in any meaningful way that you're not a dangerous paedophile, it can only prove that they don't have any reason to suspect it!!

Bureaucracy. It's "bureau", as in office, with "cracy" on the end. People tend to make it more complicated than it really is.

Yesterday it was announced that all parents accepting an exchange student will have to be checked, despite the fact that there has never been a complaint.

My sister's friends were taking my niece on holiday with their daughter and leaving my sister with the keys to their house to water plants etc. They said (jokingly) " You realise we are entrusting you with the keys to our car (a BMW) as well? She replied "You realise what we are entrusting YOU with our daughter?"

[quote="ailurophile"]Lonelymom wrote

[quote]
As it happens, I've recently had to fill in a CRB check for a role helping with a childrens' group. Among other things, the form required me to supply my passport number, bank account details, and my mother's maiden name... quote]

Think yourself lucky; I am officially banned from knowing my mother's maiden name because I have not gone through a series of psychological examinations! Of course government bureaucracy is so stupid that they even gave me a copy of my birth certificate - they simply didn't bother top check the notation on the side. I am not allowed to use it for such purposes.

Of course anyone taken into care by the local council is considered to have been abused and therefore will abuse every kid that they come near - apparent official thinking. However in my case that German ******** was responsible for my father's death, the NHS my mother's death and I had a pleasant if poor upbringing. Nevertheless, because I have an adoption certificate and not a birth certificate Essex council refuses to have me checked out; soo they will be banning me from seeing my own children!

As for the £35 fee, AFAIR from a year or so back a number of chief constables formed their own company with the effective monopoly of carrying out all the checks and they charged about £130 a time. Since they are not MPs they can get away with it.

Bitter and getting worse

sejintenej wrote:About the other three police constables who were on TV a little while ago; has the investigation as to why they used a helpless human for Taser target practive been dropped yet?

Item on the TV today; the police are not charging the victim with anything despite his being arrested allegedly for assaulting a police officer. Either he assaulted the officer or he did not; only the courts can decide innocence or guilt, not some grubby civil servant. The judge, if the is found guilty, can then consider extenuating circumstances like whether he was rolling in agony when the officer was accidentally hit by a flailing arm.

The Police Complaints Commission has still not finished investigating the tasering of the victim in June, 5 months ago. This I find totally staggering; they have the video of the assault, they presumably know the identities of the officers involved and have the means to question them. It seems that there are few questions to be answered:
1- Was the "victim" hit with tasers whilst rolling on the ground in agony?
2- (given the article in yesterday's Times) was the victim arrested purely and simply to get a DNA sample?
3- if the answer to 1 is positive, were there mitigating circumstances?
4- what report should be issued?
5- what, if any, punishment and compensation should be recommended?.

All that should take a week at the outside. Seems to me that the PCCis itself trying to have the incident forgotten.

I have noticed that annieext (?) mentioned being a Sister in St Thomas's circa1965 ----(TBA -- Charing Cross) calls it the Casualty Clearing Station -- across the River !

Did you know a Surgeon called Mc Pherson ? he is, or was, an Old Blue, a contemporary of mine in Ba B, and passed his first Mb -- while still at CH !!!

When I last spoke to him, at an OBs Day, he described Charing Cross Hospital, as a Railway Station !!

Great rivalry between the two --