The Hereford Issue

A sex and relationship teaching resource used by St Mary's high school in Lugwardine is causing serious concern among councillors, reports the Hereford Times. 'A Fertile Heart' is used by the school as part of its sex eduction programme. It teaches that contraception is wrong, gay sex is wrong and that those in queer relationships should not marry. It also says that men were ‘created to initiate sexual relationships’ and women to be ‘receiver-responders’. Excuse me? That these attitudes exist in society is disgusting. That they are still being actively taught as fact in our schools is absolutely disgraceful. As a former St Mary's pupil, I remember being taught the same message 20 years ago. Sex education lessons were given by the anti-abortion charity, Life, and the versions of family and relationships they promoted were bigoted and outdated, even by 1990s standards. It doesn't sound like much has changed. It is wrong that schools are allowed to preach a religious d

How each councillor votes at meetings may soon be made public according to Sebastian Bowen, chair of Herefordshire Council. The councillor made the remarks in a recent meeting after complaints were made that secret voting damages the integrity of the council. The comments from Bowen are welcome. Herefordshire Council must publish councillors' voting records online. It is not good enough that members of the public should have to attend meetings in person to be able to see how their councillor votes on this issue or that. We must be able to hold our councillors to account.

Council tax is a dirty word. Everyone hates it, nobody wants to pay it. Or so it seems. Because despite the need for council tax reform, the concept is still sound. None of us is an island and we all use and enjoy the services and infrastructure our council provides. When we step out of our gate, we expect the roads to be maintained, the street lights to be working, and we expect the emergency services to come to our aid, should we need help. So we pay into the common pot, to share in the public services that make our lives better. Services like social care, waste collection and highway maintenance. Some we use for a short time and then never again, like schools. Others we may never need but are always there, free to use whenever there's an emergency, like the fire service and police. Our council tax provides us with a collective insurance policy. And what our tax money pays towards is, in effect, up to us. As a society we once took the decision that everybody who needs a home shou