Adults can be stupid too

I love those post-Budget interviews of so-called "ordinary people", where they are asked, on the basis of watching Gordon Brown's speech in a big group, what they think of it. Yesterday's victims were from Sheffield. It would be more entertaining if they were forced to scour the Red Book for three hours and do a powerpoint presentation, but the BBC just wants quotes from angry punters to back up their editorial line: "he gives with one hand", blah, blah.

The government claims (and donpaskini points out - thanks) that the poorest "ordinary people" will not be worse off due to the extra £2.3bn pumped into working tax credit. But that assumes that the take-up of WTC is 100%. In fact, around a third of those eligible fail to take it up, either because they don't know about it, because they don't like having to fill in forms telling the government every time their job or income changes, or because they take pride in earning their money from work rather than claiming it from the state.

I was teaching some "extra-ordinary people" today - secondary school teachers, who were learning how to incorporate debating into their teaching methods. As I am a mean person, I made them take part in a debate to experience the joy first hand. The motion was "This House Would Ban The Use Of Evidence Gained Through Torture In UK Courts". And eight people entrusted with shaping the minds of tomorrow debated the topic as if the torture happened in the UK rather than just the trial. Other classic lines included:
"If Tony Blair wanted to legalise torture, he could just pass a law because we have an unwritten constitution" (A politics teacher)
"CCTV and DNA evidence are a good alternative to torture" (An RE teacher)
"We must use torture because we live in a global village where suspects can travel" (A Gifted and Talented Co-ordinator).

There should be a moral in there somewhere. Well - I admire those people who refuse to claim WTC and it saddens me that the government penalises them for their desire to become self-reliant. Oh, and teachers should know more about stuff.