Snotty nosed drivers

I just had to post this one because I don't think I have heard anything more ridiculous since the concoction of mistruths lies and betrayal levied towards me and mine by those who sought to wreak havoc with our lives. Something which gladly, or sadly depending on who's side you are on did not happen. In fact we are alive and doing extremely well with more work than we know what to do with. This suits us both because it is the way that it has already been with us. We thrive on work and it is so nice to find like minded people in our sector who respect and appreciate us and are more than happy to syphon a shed load of it our way.

Any way the story.

Well here is some guy (Michael Mancini) who gets caught in a traffic jam. You know what it's like in those cases. Sometimes it gets so boring you begin to wonder what to do with yourself. Should you find something on a different radio station, put a cd in? Maybe get a butty out of the box? In Michael's case he decided to blow his nose, and what did he get for his troubles. Yes you have guessed 3 points and a £60 fine. Now before you get to thinking that he was free wheeling down a hill balancing the steering wheel between his knees whilst honking into his hanky you would be mistaken. Oh no! his vehicle was stationary with the handbrake on. However according to Strathclyde police this meant that he was out of control of his vehicle.



Michael himself thought the whole thing was a wind up at first. But when he told them he was not going to pay the fine he was told pay up or go to court. According to Mr Mancini he is willing to take it all the way, and good for him I say. Have you ever heard anything more ridiculous in your life. I hope it gets to court and gets laughed out of court. I hope the police officers (who clearly do not have enough to do and are worried about hitting their targets) are made the laughing stock of the force. I hope that common sense prevails and this gets squashed. Hope, but with my fingers crossed because this is just one more example of the rampant stupidity and bullying suffered by the decent citizens of this country.



It seems to me some stern words need to be said in Strathclyde cop shop along with timely reminders that if some coppers need a nanny running after them wiping their snotty noses perhaps they would be better suited to working in the world of the primary school teacher, they could make lots of playground friends and influence people with the threat 'I'm gonna tell on you...... GROW UP! GET A LIFE!

The fugitive - Episode three - not quite the end

In an a posting on THES Dr Howard Fredrics explained that a further reason for his exiting the country prior to his court hearing to answer charges of harassment were threats to the life of himself and his wife Lori by an individual who made anti Semitic remarks.

On January 6th 2010 the case heard at the Employment Tribunal was thrown out. The reasons are not widely known although it is highly likely that the case was thrown out on the grounds that it was brought vexatiously in the light of the harassment judgement pass down by Magistrate Judith Jewell.

Postings on THES indicate that there are opinions that Judith Jewell should have declared a conflict of interests and not sat in judgement of this case because of being of the board of governors of Roehampton uni which is partnered with Kingston Uni.

In any case this is one of them most bizarre stories at the opening of a new decade. That an academic, having travelled half way around the world to work in our of our Universities could wind up with a grievance for goodness know what placed against him (for not joining in with mobbing if you read the website www.sirpeterscott.com), is eventually dismissed from his job and then prosecuted for harassment on the strength of a website that brought to the attention of the public and the authorities goings on in Kingston University which surely demand further investigation.



A mans life and that of his family have been ruined purely because some people in academia don’t know how to laugh at themselves. Education has become big business and now the educators have armed themselves with some of the biggest guns in the legal profession and are levying law suits that would make the tobacco industry blush.



The whereabouts of Howard Fredrics are unknown, but I for one wish him all the very best for the future. I would like to think that this case would come so much to the public attention that there is national outcry and that HF is vindicated. However the malaise of apathy that is sweeping this country is unlikely to see this happen. Especially in the current climate where honest educators with integrity are being replaced by hoards of little yes men and women who don’t even know what the words mean and are prepared to tick any box warranted or not all in the name of paying the mortgage.

The fugitive - episode two - the charges

Howard Fredrics is still on the run from British police this morning after being convicted of the charge of harassment against Sir Peter Scott Vice Chancellor of Kingston University. In a series of articles and music tracks Dr Fredrics drew attention to goings on at the University that he felt was in the public had a right to know. One such article was a recorded message by a member of staff at the University urging students not to give poor grades for the Uni on the National Student Survey forms stating that if they did their degree would be devalued. Unfortunately this recording no longer appears on the website. Whilst employed by the University Dr Fredrics made a number of salient points about aspects of Health and Safety and also matters relating to validity of marking and verification of grades. It is clear from some of the exchanges between members of staff at the Uni that HF’s strongly worded (although accurate) emails caused some worries within the administration.

Dr Howard Fredrics failed to appear in Court on 22 December to answer charges that by virtue of operating a website, http://www.sirpeterscott.com since July 2007, he had breached Section 6 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. The Act, which was devised to deter stalking, was, in this case, applied for the first time ever towards the dissemination of musical works contained on the website. The case was brought by Sir Peter Scott who said that the website was intended to “embarrass and humiliate” him filed his claim to harassment after losing his battle to claim that the website Sir Peter…… was a trade mark and should not be used by HF. The WIPO dismissed his claim alongside a strong rebuke.

After the allegations by the V-C against Howard Fredrics the police conducted a thorough investigation and stated that the site contained nothing that could be construed as harassment and in fact contained no references to Sir Peter Scotts private life. Indeed the site is not about Sir Peter Scott at all, but is centred on factual events that have taken place at the University. Despite the police findings and advice the CPS decided that they would continue to prosecute and refused Dr Fredrics’ application of discontinuation.

On the day before the trial was due to be heard HF’s solicitors were forced to withdraw due to reasons related to a separate professional matter. This left him without legal representatives and despite his request the court refused to postpone the trial until a suitable legal team could be appointed and briefed. In Bullied Academics Blogspot this is cited as a breach of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. On the day of the trial Dr Fredrics was ill (his health having suffered greatly from this experience) and was unable to attend. The trial proceeded in his absence and without anyone to speak on his legal behalf. Dr Fredrics was found guilty and convicted of harassment. A warrant was issued for his arrest directly afterwards. No one knows where Dr Fredrics or his wife Lori are but it has become apparant that Lori Fredrics was able to join her husband during these last few weeks. The Times Higher Educational ran the story on the 7th of January and comments on the site point to accusations of bullying of staff from management in higher and further education. It seems that this has reached worrying proportions and challenges the prospect of academic freedom of speech. Question are being asked about the idea of whistleblowers being protected in the workplace under the terms of 'making a disclosure in the public interest'

Dr Fredrics tribunal meeting was held on the 6th of January 2010. In the next episode you will find out the reason why Dr Fredrics fled and the outcome of the Employment Tribunal

The fugitive – Episode one – In the beginning

This man is on the run from British justice. Would you like to guess the crime which he has been accused of? Did he murder a child in its bed? Did he extort money from some little old lady? Did he master mind a bank robbery? No, none of these things. Howard Fredrics is guilty of holding an opinion.
At least that is what British justice has meted out to him this past month. To understand how this all happened we need to go right back to the beginning. What I present here is no more than an abridged version of what has been happening in reference to this case and I recommend that you investigate further by taking a good look at a website called www.sirpeterscott.com while you still can, because it is quite possible that this site may well be removed in the future. For now let us begin at the beginning.

Dr Fredrics is a composer and sound designer, not the type of person one would normally associate with the acts of aggression he has been convicted of. He is well respected within his profession and has had a distinguished career in education in the USA for the past twenty years and more prior to his appointment as Senior Lecturer of Music Technology at Kingston University – London which is where the story starts.


In June 2005 11 members of staff at Kingston University were persuaded to file a collective grievance against Howard Fredrics. It would appear that this grievance was compiled in response to various questions raised by Dr Fredrics about some of the internal verification processes of the University. There was also the question of Dr Fredrics refusal to sign a grievance against another member of staff early in 2003. Howard was unhappy with the way this grievance was solicited and in fact asked questions about the legality of putting a grievance together in this way asking whether or not the University had contravened its own policies in handling the matter in this way.

Howard Fredrics was formally dismissed from his position as Senior Lecturer at Kingston University in 2006. It is not quite clear if the website www.sirpeterscott.com was born before or after Dr Fredrics dismissal. What is clear is that Dr Fredrics and other contributors to the site have not been shy about publishing facts about Kingston University which paint a very ugly picture of malcontent and misadventure. In an attempt in May 2009 to shut down the site Sir George Peter Scott (Professor) the vice chancellor of Kingston University appealed to the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation) on the basis that the name sirpeterscott was protected as a trade mark however the WIPO ruled that his complaint was not upheld and the ownership of the domain name remains with Dr Fredrics. Having spent four thousand pounds of tax payers money on trying to block the website you can understand Sir Peters disappointment at the ruling although the HEFC’s decision that this was an acceptable use of public funding must have softened the blow. However it didn’t stop there, and soon Dr Fredrics was about to received a summons to answer an accusation of harassment.

The bigger they are, the harder they fall on you

Actually thats a line from Dire Straits, which is a well used phrase that might well describe the state of our educational system in the UK at this present moment. However there is a light at the end of the tunnel and if we are lucky it might not be a City Express steaming towards us.

This recent article of a head teacher who seems to have fallen from grace might give the impression that something is actually starting to change within the walls of education. Yes! Investigated for bullying no less.

Surprise, surprise. We heap on the accolades, the beacon awards the golden girl monica and what do we find lurking beneath the peroxide blonde. You've got it. Just another plain old sociopath. One of the hard faced shiney suited ones. Someone who has to get to the top of the pile no matter who's face gets ground into the dirt for that to happen, allegedly. This young woman is under investigation from bullying her staff. What a surprise it must have been to have been escorted from her office after being given the job to raise another school from the doldrums after her great success with the first school.

It is music to my ears. I can think of a few people I would like to see frog marched from their offices for the same reasons. Take heed all you empire builders out there. Big brother is listening!!

New Website for Confidence Building

OMG! I can't believe it is almost six months since I last posted on this blog. In part that has to do with the fact that I have so much work on my hands that I haven't had the time to think about it. Right now I have contracts all over the midlands IVing. Eving. Teaching, Training Assessing and the like. In addition to my practice which is doing very nicely thanks.

I just wanted to let people know that I have launched another website. On this one you can access all sorts of materials relating to self development. They are all free so why not help yourself.

I will be adding more as I can build them. Look out for my new IT resources. You'll love them.

Speak to you soon

Strike kills woman in childbirth

Nobody can deny that life in Zambia is harsh, this is a country in which people often don't have enough to eat, leave alone tapping into an infrastructure that is geared around providing the best service possible. In recent months Zambia's medical staff went on strike for better pay and money.

Unfortunately this left one women giving birth on the street just outside of the hospital. Her family were so distressed by this event they sent a photograph of the baby, clearly in the breach position with its legs sticking out of her vagina while both mother and child struggled for life.

The recipient of this photograph a doctor forwarded the photo to the president of Zambia urging that the strike reach an amicable end quickly since it was costing lives. What do you think happened? Was she commended for her humanitarian act. NO CHANCE! This poor woman has been arrested on a charge of distributing pornographic images. Since when did giving birth become pornographic. Neither mother nor baby are experiencing any sexual gratification for the act. The photograph has been described a obscene, completely side stepping the issue that what is obscene is that any woman in this day and age should be forced to give birth in the street.

What sickens me about this event is that it is a 7 day wonder. After the press have done with it this poor Doctor is likely to be jailed for 5 years for committing an illegal act and the rest of us will forget about her. Another clear example of the powers that be using double talk to get themselves out of an embarrassing and tricky situation. I hope that common sense prevails and this woman is given an apology for the appalling treatment she is receiving and a commendation for trying to put an end to this despicable state of affairs.




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