But there is one bill in this that is a good bill, and one that must become law as soon as possible: the Flood and Water Management Bill.

Why? Because this bill contains legislation to allow water companies to operate concessionary schemes relating to surface water drainage, rather than obey the guidance from Ofwat recommending that water companies change the way they charge for surface water drainage to a ‘site-area’ basis (instead of the previous ratable value) that would put many Scout Groups and other voluntary organisations out of business.

Cub Scouts have been to the House of Commons to protest against this rain tax (after originally being refused admittance), and it resulted in this being included in the Flood and Water Management Bill.

If this bill is not passed and water companies charge Scout Groups the rain tax, groups will go have to stop. All the money raised in Scouting goes to providing the best experiences we can at an affordable price so that boys and girls from all economic backgrounds are able to participate – if the water bills go up exponentially, in line with Ofwat’s guidance, this would change. And we don’t want it to.

Scout leaders want to be able to provide the best Scouting experience to all boys and girls between 6 and 18 (and 18-25). We can’t do that unless the Bill passes into law – and the sooner the better.

This is because Jamborees naturally rely on a large amount of support from Scout Leaders from across the world – and these leaders won’t have been through the ISA system. Which would make them unable to help with young people, as they would be assumed to be paedeophiles.

Because that is what this ISA system does. It assumes that everyone is unsuitable to look after young people unless they have had a check by them. Unsuitability is assumed unless proven otherwise – a complete reversal from the presumption of innocence, and an assumption that does nothing but harm both young people and adults.

We should, and must, ensure that all adults who want to be in charge of young people are suitable to do so. But we should not assume that people are unsuitabel unless this has been proven – and there are plenty of on-the-ground checks as well, at least within the Scout Association.

Jamborees should not be prevented in the UK because foreign leaders have not been checked by the ISA. These are people who have already proven themselves to be suitable adults – they are, after all, Scout leaders!

If John Bercow does not overturn this ban, he will have failed his first real test as Speaker. And he will have encouraged the demise of democracy in this country.

But Bercow must have read my post – because he has overturned this ban. The Cubs may not be able to vote now, but they will do in the future. If they have a message that they want to get across to their elected representatives – after all, MPs are still their representatives, even if they cannot directly vote them in. Yet.

Bercow has shown that he does have a backbone and that he believes in demicracy. By allowing this demonstration, he is encouraging young people in this country to be politically active.

But lets not forget the reason the Cubs want to protest in the Commons in the first place: the threat to Scout Groups through the massive increase – it could triple in many cases – in water costs due to Ofwats decision to allow (and force) water companies to charge not just for the amount of water used but also for surface water run-off.

This could cripples Scout Groups across the country, and force many to close down or increase their subscription chages – estimates of the increase sugest that it may cost groups up to a quarter of their annual budget just to pay their water bill. Hardly the best use that money could go to.

Which annoys me is the fact that MPs are always saying how they want to listen to the “yoofs” – but whenever they have the chance, they never do so. Martin Slater hit the nail on the head when he said:

All constituents, regardless of age, should be free to lobby their MPs.

They should indeed. They may not be able to vote yet, but they will do in the future. If they have a message that they want to get across to their elected representatives – after all, MPs are still their representatives, even if they cannot directly vote them in. Yet.

The job of MPs is to listen to the people, whatever age they may be. And to encourage everyone to get involved in the political process. These Cubs want to get involved and make their voice heard. MPs should be enocuraging them, not denying them that chance.

If John Bercow does not overturn this ban, he will have failed his first real test as Speaker. And he will have encouraged the demise of democracy in this country.

An advert showing a scout leader as a nerd without friends was pulled by a phone company after complaints from the Scout Association…

The association said it had been “deluged” with complaints from members over the ad, which shows a scout leader as grumpy, balding and with glasses…

On Monday Phones4u apologised, pulled the ad, and said no offence was meant. (BBC)

Of course, being a Scout Leader, this is the sort of thing that annoyed me a lot, as I wrote over on my Scouting Blog. It is now an ex-ad. Which is a very good thing.

But it still won’t help Phones4U – having pissed off the 100,000 adult and 400,000 youth members… not really a good result for an advertisement. I certainly won’t be visiting Phones4U any time soon.

The manifesto asks the EU Parliament to achieve six main goals over the next five years:

• Empower Volunteers
• Better Social Inclusion of Young People
• Strengthen Global Partnerships for Development
• Remove obstacles to Scouting
• Make employability of young people a priority in European Union (EC)
• Integrate young people in shaping Europe

Admirable aims, all. Especially reoving obstacles to Scouting, which says:

Removing administrative and bureaucratic burdens to voluntary activities and functioning of volunteering organisations must become part of all EU initiatives on “better regulation”. Legislation cannot be developed with only professional actors in mind; the European Union must leave space for common sense and civic activities by citizens.

If only! But, unfortunately, I would be very surprised indeed if the EU took any notice of allowing people to use common sense.

Hopefully, most MEPs will at least browse this manifesto and try and bring some – if not all – of the goals to fruition.

The Scout Association have announced that the person taking over from Peter Duncan to become the 10th Chief Scout is adventurer Bear Grylls – the youngest ever Chief Scout.

This is brilliant news. Bear (real name Edward) is a great role model, and represents the true principles of Scouting – focused on the basics of outdoor adventure and having fun. He will be a great ambassador for Scouting, not only as he has spent a good number of years in the movement as a young person – as a Cub, Scout and Venture – and gaining the basics of the skills that he has put to good use since, climbing Everest and in his survival TV shows.

As a Scout Leader myself, I am pleased to note that he has spent his first media appearances publicising the need for new leaders within the movement. We have loads of young people who want to join, but have to go on to waiting lists because of a lack of leaders – we need another 6,000 leaders to have a place for all those potential Scouts!

He’s started well – and hopefully he will get even better!

This year my group is leading the parade and providing the main part of the service in the church – our theme being “international scouting”.

But why do Scouts celebrate St George’s Day? Because St George is the Patron Saint of Scouting. Baden-Powell chose St George as the Patron Saint of the Movement because:

St. George was typical of what a Scout should be.

When he was faced by a difficulty or danger, however great it appeared, even in the shape of a dragon – he did not avoid it or fear it but went at it with all the power he could … That is exactly the way a Scout should face a difficulty or danger no matter how great or how terrifying it may appear. He should go at it boldly and confidently, using every power that he can to try and overcome it, and the probability is that he will succeed. (source: PDF)

And on this day each year, we re-new our Promise

The sun is out and shining. A perfect day for a parade.

Throughout my life, taking measured risks has proved of great interest to me. There have been times when taking some form of risk was the only way to overcome an obstacle and giving up would have been the only alternative.

Another way of putting it – as with many avenues of life, it’s only through taking a bit of a risk that you reap rewards – think about some of the most inspirational leaders in our society, all will have taken a few gambles on their journeys to success.

What concerns me is the growing negative connotation with the word risk; we have got to make the clear distinction between recklessness and taking risk. In the right place, taking risks can be very positive.

It is vital that young children are taught to understand and manage risk from an early age. In many ways, this type of teaching is just as important as core subjects such as maths and English.

He is absolutely correct. Risk taking is essential to growing up; knowing when to take a chance and how to manage risk. After all, even the head of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents thinks that children should be allowed to hurt themselves!

That is precisely the sort of benefits that Scouting brings. We give them the opportunity to experience risk in managed situations, the ability to understand and alleivate risks to themselves and others. Through Scouting, children learn through their experiences, by doing.

Everything Scouts do is fully risk assessed and are as safe as necessary; risks are minimised where possible. But they get the opportunity to do activities such as climbing, hillwalking, abseiling, hiking and the like which otherwise they simply wouldn’t.

Knowing about dangers and how to manage them is essential if we want the next generations to be able to do more than give up when faced by something risky in the real world.