Empire Youth

The Ministry for War and the Colonies has been accused of rewriting history over Iraq. Fancy that. The National Union of Teachers has registered objections to a lesson plan, commissioned for the Ministry by a private company, Kids Connections (not Kid's Connections, not Kids' Connections, not Kids, Connections; education, no doubt, R Them) which specialises in "working with schools to provide marketing solutions that children, teachers and parents have both contributed to and approved". The lesson plan is "aimed at stimulating classroom debate about the Iraq war"; whether, for instance, our boys are doing a wonderful job under difficult circumstances, or whether they might be better employed arresting hoodies and running prison camps here at home. Concerning such secondary matters as the legality and consequences of the war, the lesson plan resolutely protects the youngsters' innocence. The National Union of Troublemakers wrote to the Secretary for Human Resource Configuration, Ed Balls, who assured them that "my department does not promote or endorse specific resources or methods of teaching for use in schools", and passed the parcel to the Ministry for War and the Colonies. A spokesbeing for the Ministry said that the lesson plan was, like ID cards, "completely voluntary" for the moment. "We have consulted widely with teachers and students during the development of these products and feedback from schools has been extremely encouraging," he added. "Teachers and students found them to be valuable and fun resources for applied learning." This certainly sounds like a marketing solution.

The National Union of Traitors is also worried because "armed forces recruitment fairs in schools glamorise the job by citing exotic countries that recruits will visit but fail to mention that they may be required to kill people". I suppose it is just possible, in the present educational climate, that some children may not have heard that the armed forces kill people; but why glamorise the job more than absolutely necessary?