Maximising Perks or Unethical?

As you're no doubt aware, unless you've been stuck in a nuclear bunker and disconnected from the world the past 3 months, scandal has hit our fair shores in the form of government 'corruption'. A bastion of democracy with a rich history and the rise of parliamentary powers over monarchy by the common people only to now find itself revealed for what it has become - a self serving collection of elected officials.

The BBC did a survey where they found half the population thought at least half of the MP's were corrupt and most had lost faith in the officials that are supposed to run the country but I'm left wondering... are people really surprised?

I had always known that wherever there is a system, people will try and game it to their advantage. From simple things like loopholes in a supermarkets voucher policy, it is only a matter of scale as you go up the tree. Was there anyone really unaware that officials would try and get away with as much as they could? Or is the real anger that it's been bluntly exposed?

The MP's get a second home allowance and have many purchases repaid, some of which do truly feel inappropriate. I work and earn a factor less than MP's yet I pay for my own food and bills, should these people get their food and bills paid for by my tax money? But are they to blame for asking for a rebate or should the system be questioned for allowing them to do so?

Rather than question the integrity of the MP's, I would rather voice my anger at the system for allowing this to happen because in all honesty, I can see myself doing the same if I was in their shoes.

Remember... power corrupts and try not judging others without questioning yourself first.

Faith Misplaced?

Once again, this topic was started in the car journey to/from work... is there any topic that we don't cover?!

Several of my colleagues have young children and a number of them have sent their children to faith schools and the question was should kids be sent to a school based on the educational standard and in a mixed cultural/religious environment or a single faith based school which would tend to have a limited demographic.

Arguments put forward were that, irrespective of which faith, kids were brought up with morals and in better behaved culture but a counterpoint was that these kids would have a limited growth being around only a certain type of people and stunted development as 'kids just don't get to be kids' and are uncannily angelic.

My background was going to a Roman Catholic school and I can compare my junior school to one 2 blocks away which was a normal mixed state school and the difference was remarkable. We were in uniform, better behaved and performed better in exams. On the other hand, I had to attend all the Christian religious ceremonies, including several masses and even eating the wafer representing the body of Christ... despite being of a different religion!
Due to the confusion caused amongst children of other beliefs, other faith schools have opened up to cater for the different needs but are children going to these schools not having the best childhood?

One of my friends went to a mixed school and he claimed that he preferred it as from a young age he was in a multi cultural society and although it was less behaved, the lessons learnt from the social aspect was irreplaceable. Kids should be able to be kids and if they don't get to any trouble, they're not having a fun time. They should learn the boundaries of their behaviour and learn early on how to deal with situations like bullying, being with girls (some faith schools separate the genders) as well as understanding different cultures and becoming more tolerant.

If you have kids, where would you send your children? Or where have you already sent them and why?