World Scouting Jamborees – the name being derived from “jambo”, the Swahili term for “hello” – of which there have been 21 since 1920 the latest held in the Uk in 2007, may be coming to an end. The new ISA (Independent Safeguarding Authority) requirements may well mean that Jamborees in the UK are no longer able to go ahead.
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 …

There are some things so stupid that no-one, no matter how thick, should ever utter. One of these things has been uttered today:

“Compulsory volunteers”

The concept of compulsory volunteering has actually been raised as what, one would assume, is a serious idea. Obviously eithout any real actual thought on the oxymoronic concept of making people volunteer.
And who is the idiot “genius” who has come up with this idea? Why, our Prime Minister, of course!

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has pledged to ensure every young person has done 50 hours of voluntary work …

Via the excellent, amusing, and ever-entertaining Tory Bear, I’ve come across what CF seems to regard as social action:

As part of the National Social Action day in Richmond, kindly being hosted by the Richmond Borough Conservatives, one of the many projects you can visit on the 20th is the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust in Barnes. On arrival you will be treated to a free guided tour of the centre, including a talk about the work and wildlife within the area, and then taken to an area of marshland …

This week is Volunteers Week.
Volunteering is massively important, both to society and to individuals. Society as a whole benefits from it because those in need can be helped without government and taxes getting involved. Individuals – both those who receive and give – benefit from the contact and experiences.
Just think what we could accomplish if everyone gave up just a few hours of their time every now and then. We could leave this world a far better place. Don’t think that money is the answer. It’s not. Most charities don’t …

I have some good news and some bad news.
Good news: I am now a warranted Assistant Scout Leader [having been on a provisional warrant for the last few months] after completing the required training modules. Now I’m working my way towards my Wood Badge.
Bad news: There will be no posts* this weekend (inc. bank holiday Monday) as I am on a Scout camp. Unfortunately, it seems like it’s going to rain. All weekend.
 
* or at least not many – depending if I have the time to wrote a couple before …

Dad’s Army is going to be here to save you.
Gordon Brown wants tens of thousands of Britons to join a new Dads’ Army-style volunteer force to help the Government tackle threats to national security…The new force, called a new Civil Protection Network, will be based on the local Neighbourhood Watch schemes.The Prime Minister said he wanted to see “improved resilience against emergencies” from floods to terrorist attacks.This would take “not the old Cold War idea of civil defence but a new form of civil protection”. (The Telegraph)
Volunteering in Britain is …

The number of volunteers in Britain has fallen by a quarter in the past decade. I’m not overly surprised by that, even if a quarter is a large number. But I don’t think that it can possibly be claimed to be directly the government’s fault for failing to support them.
Volunteers don’t volunteer because the government does or doesn’t support them – they volunteer to do some good in their community or elsewhere. They volunteer to help others in some way. What the State thinks matters little to them.
Instead, it is …