UK Government to expand monitoring people in their homes!

[benji]

THOUSANDS of the worst families in England are to be put in “sin bins” in a bid to change their bad behaviour, Ed Balls announced yesterday.
The Children’s Secretary set out £400million plans to put 20,000 problem families under 24-hour CCTV super-vision in their own homes.

They will be monitored to ensure that children attend school, go to bed on time and eat proper meals.

Private security guards will also be sent round to carry out home checks, while parents will be given help to combat drug and alcohol addiction.
Around 2,000 families have gone through these Family Intervention Projects so far.

But ministers want to target 20,000 more in the next two years, with each costing between £5,000 and £20,000 – a potential total bill of £400million.

Ministers hope the move will reduce the number of youngsters who get drawn into crime because of their chaotic family lives, as portrayed in Channel 4 comedy drama Shameless.

Sin bin projects operate in half of council areas already but Mr Balls wants every local authority to fund them.

He said: “This is pretty tough and non-negotiable support for families to get to the root of the problem. There should be Family Intervention Projects in every local authority area because every area has families that need support.”

But Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said: “This is all much too little, much too late.

“This Government has been in power for more than a decade during which time anti-social behaviour, family breakdown and problems like alcohol abuse and truancy have just got worse and worse.”

Mr Balls also said responsible parents who make sure their children behave in school will get new rights to complain about those who allow their children to disrupt lessons.

Pupils and their families will have to sign behaviour contracts known as Home School Agreements before the start of every year, which will set out parents’ duties to ensure children behave and do their homework.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/115 ... t-families

They do it in Yurop so it must be a good idea to have here as well.

[Lamrock]

Da fuck? Calling this ridiculous is a gross unstatement. What is it with Britain and having cameras everywhere?

[benji]

So you'd just let these families continue to spiral into drug/alcohol/etc. abuse? And these children continue to not do their homework, misbehave in class, not go to bed at the accepted time nor eat proper meals?

[shadowgrin]

I never knew Big Brother was such a hit show in England.
You can't go up against someone with a name like Ed Balls, it shows he has some cajones to do what he wants to implement.

[el badman]

Silly brits.

[PiksS]

u scared me for a while there benji, u should have changed the topic title to "...monitoring bad people in their homes"....but yeah, brits are a bunch of weird people, the most absurd thing they have is the TV licence politic!...oh well 2 more years for me to stay there and finish up my degree

[benji]

As long as you don't do something the government doesn't like you're not a "bad person" they have to monitor.

At first they came for the... /cliche

[Andrew]

As long as you don't do something the government doesn't like you're not a "bad person" they have to monitor.

At first they came for the... /cliche

That's the obvious concern here, the possible (inevitable?) expansion of the project to Ninteen Eighty-Four proportions. While confined to "problem families" I suppose it's well-intentioned though.

[TheOriginalCandyMan]

You guys seem to act like the government is supposed to be perfect and never corrupt
WRONG!
Almost all governments has used this type of technology in the past
Currently the US government uses satellites to observe other countries and even our own
And we still use wiretaps and all that shit
"And we are the country with the most freedoms"
Point is.....government will watch us no matter what, whether you like it or not

[shadowgrin]

Mmmkay...I think you missed the point.

[Andrew]

You guys seem to act like the government is supposed to be perfect and never corrupt
WRONG!

I don't think anyone was trying to make that claim. I think a lot of people are aware that governments and politicians are far from perfect, but that doesn't stop people questioning decisions that they make or being concerned about this or that.

[jettdaking!]

i just saw the movie " THE ISLAND" by super-hot Scarlett Johannsen, and it just burned me whenever i see how the government is so secretive.

[Al Ka Pwn]

Paying for camera's and people watching what's going on and then telling people that are living wrong that they are living wrong, doesn't sound like the best solution. Talking to people and their children to help them understand life and their place in it would be my solution.

[Andrew]

Presumably that's not enough in the most extreme cases though as whatever is said at the counselling sessions (or whatever label we might give them) could be easily ignored or disregarded shortly after they're back at home and behind closed doors. Given the expense, I'd certainly hope it's a last resort, worst case scenario measure.