General Chat

I agree with Paul (Chunky) and think the whole thing has been blown out of proportion. Does this constitute 'news', or is it just an opportunity for the media to have a go at a minister. Hypocrisy? Perhaps, but do we really expect it never to occur? The press are very fond of shouting the odds over things like this, whilst they are guilty of hypocrisy all the time.

The only hypocrisy is this government trying to 'pretend' that state schools can offer facilities for special needs children. My friend, who has an autistic son, is suing the local authority for the cost of having to send his son to a private school because they were not able to provide the necessary support.

If they didn't try to 'pretend', there would be no grounds to sue. Where would your friend be if the government only provided the basics or even nothing at all. While I have every sympathy for your friend and his autistic child, I think we're treading on dangerous ground if we try to have a society that requires the government to meet every percieved need. 'Statutory requirements' are many-edged swords. Please don't misunderstand me here - I'm sure that there's far more to your friend's situation that be said in a paragraph. I'm making a very general point here.

Very true Teresa, thanks, Caz xxx

Thank you for all the replies, its nice to see an interesting debate on here.