Philip Pullman - a man with principles

If I wore a hat I would be doffing it to Philip Pullman, he has declared that he will refuse to submit himself to registration on the Independent Safeguarding Authority database.

The implication of requiring this registration is that no adults can be trusted near children without having been registered and authorised.

I do not believe that this process of registration will protect children in any way whatsoever, for ample proof of this fact just google teacher abused pupil or nursery paedophile, these people were all registered and authorised - that didn't stop them did it?

What happened to the old fashioned idea of the regular teacher sitting in on the session where a guest adult may be present, surely that would be ample protection against abuse (provided the teacher can be trusted of course).

It's about time we stopped putting our faith in government databases, vetting and registration, instead we should simply supervise those we don't know well enough to trust and ensure that everyone is aware of their responsibility to report abusive behaviour knowing that their report would be dealt with in a proportionate and sensible manner, neither too sloppy nor too heavy handed.

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/90936-child-safety-checks-are-like-section-28-says-pullman.html