Kids aren’t daft! If a ‘pupil’ is bald and 40, he’s not a child
WHEN a school in Coventry was told that a 15-year-old asylum seeker was joining in Year 11, those in charge just accepted it.
But thankfully, kids aren’t so daft.
Particularly as their new classmate is balding, looks about 40 and has no birth certificate or passport.
Yet when a female pupil privately questioned his age and the photo later got distributed on Facebook, the girl’s mother was called in amid concerns that her daughter’s actions were “bullying”.
For now, the pupil, who is believed to be West African, remains at the school, which says it has now verified his age without revealing how.
But you don’t have to be Miss Marple to remain suspicious.
Particularly as it bears all the hallmarks of the “15-year-old boy” — thought to be Iranian — who spent six weeks in GCSE classes at Stoke High School, Ipswich, in 2018 before another pupil posted his photo on Snapchat with the caption: “How’s there a 30-year-old man in our maths class?”
Others dug deeper and shared old photos on Facebook of the 6ft 1in “boy” sporting a full beard and chest hair while swigging a beer.
Naturally, a number of parents grew concerned but when one father complained, he says the teacher “threatened that all the parents who were jumping on the bandwagon could face legal action because complaining about the pupil was a criminal offence.”
Even when a teenage girl complained that the man “bombarded” her with texts, she was told by the school’s, er, “safeguarding officers” that she shouldn’t worry because there was nothing “sinister” about the messages.
But, surprise surprise, he turned out to be a fully grown adult masquerading as a child and was swiftly removed. Compare and contrast this to the story of Iranian Amir Naseri, who genuinely was 15 when he arrived alone in the UK.
He spoke for the first time this week about his perilous journey of 3,000 miles — crossing mountains, being shot at, falling out of a dinghy into treacherous waters and servitude to criminal people-smugglers.
Unlike the poor souls who perished while trying to cross the Channel yesterday morning, Amir eventually made it to Britain where, quite rightly, he was granted humanitarian protection and fostered by “Alexis and Ron” who, he says, offered him the love and support he’d never known back home.
Together with his social worker, Dawn Gadd, they guided him to get a solid education and, now 23, he has a degree in architecture from Kingston University and is starting a master’s degree.
And, as a thank you to the university and the country that took him in, he volunteers with a scheme to help under-privileged teenagers apply for higher education.
In short, he’s a remarkable young man and whichever school he was placed in, no doubt the other pupils and their parents welcomed him with open arms.
This isn’t about demonising asylum seekers in search of a better life — it’s about those in authority understanding that, sometimes, goodwill can be abused and their primary concern should be the children — whether it’s those arriving or those already here.
And placing a potential male adult in their midst — with zero knowledge of his background or character — is failing in that duty.
Christmas rebellion
WHEN a BBC stalwart like Victoria Derbyshire openly admits that, if strict Covid rules are still in place at Christmas, she plans to break them by having the grandparents round, you just know that a significant chunk of the country are quietly rebelling too.
As I said a few weeks ago, those in charge have lost the room.
But regrettably, they still have the power to impose lockdowns on businesses and lose billions from the economy.
Support…but not in public
CANADIAN stylist Jessica Mulroney has posted a cryptic Instagram message four months after being accused of using her “white privilege” against a black social media influencer.
She writes: “Thank you to our true friends for sticking by us . . . Silver lining: We finally know the a**holes who we thought were our friends.”
It’s believed that Meghan Markle is in the former camp, having reportedly remained supportive to her behind the scenes.
Good for her. Though one could argue that the truest of friends are those who stand up to be counted in public too.
Caroline’s got grit to be a hit
A NEW study has concluded that our “get up and go” tends to, er, get up and go when we hit our 50s.
In other words, we find it hard to get motivated and the mere thought of taking on a new task is more challenging.
Tell me about it.
A couple of years ago, I was suddenly seized with the urge to learn the guitar.
But, between work, kids, husband, elderly mother, friends and dog, I managed just two lessons before “life” took over and the world was deprived of “Jane Jett”.
According to the study’s co-author, we still have passion for such things, but no longer have the grit of youth to drive us towards achieving it.
“As soon as you end up in your 50s, a shift happens,” he says. “The connection between passion and grit becomes almost non-existent.”
Actress Caroline Quentin, now 60, says she always wanted to be a dancer.
Seeing her sob with unbridled joy after her first dance on Strictly is a reminder to us all that we should dig deep and find the grit to do something we genuinely love – before it’s too late.
Tender side of Rotten
AS the brash frontman of the Sex Pistols, Johnny Rotten wilfully swore on live television and was once described as “the biggest threat to our youth since Hitler”.
Now 64 and known by his real name, John Lydon, he’s promoting his new book I Could Be Wrong, I Could Be Right, and talking movingly about his wife Nora living with Alzheimer’s.
“She doesn’t remember faces or situations, but her personality is still there and that’s the person I loved over 40 years ago,” he says.
He’s her full-time carer and does all the cleaning and cooking, particularly as she’s accidentally set fire to their home twice.
“But I’d die of sadness without Nora,” he adds.
Whisper it, but when it comes to love and commitment, the man who once advocated anarchy in the UK is an admirable traditionalist at heart.
Jack put in the blender
CORONATION Street star Jack Shepherd has been called out by his ex-fiancée after giving an interview to a celebrity magazine about his “blended family”.
Lauren Shippey has two children by the 32-year-old actor, who talked about himself and his new girlfriend home-schooling his kids during lockdown.
Lauren retorted: “We’re about as blended as a breeze block in a cement mixer.
“I’m speaking out now because Jack has used his celebrity status to give an interview which portrays a false image of how he behaves. Jack didn’t see his children for almost four months.”
Ouch. This reminds me of the time, many years ago, when a famous, divorced actor did a photoshoot and interview involving his young son who was visiting him for the weekend.
I wrote that the lad might prefer to spend quality time in private with his dad, and received a strongly worded legal letter in which the celebrity threatened to sue me.
A few days later, my phone rang and the woman on the other end introduced herself as the boy’s mother.
I expected an ear-bashing, but instead she said: “I’m just calling to congratulate you on your piece about my ex-husband. It was absolutely spot on.”
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A Hancock second
A ZEPTOSECOND is the smallest unit of time ever measured, at 0.000000000000000000001 of a second.
That’s one trillionth of a billionth of a second – and has been used to calculate how long it takes for a particle of light to cross a hydrogen molecule.
Or, in layman’s terms, the time it takes me to switch channels as soon as Health Secretary Matt Hancock comes on.
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