One of the things about the home education scene in this country that I find endlessly fascinating is the enormous discrepancy between the public and private faces of those who are sometimes seen as the leaders of the community; people like Mike Fortune-Wood and Alison Sauer, for instance. These people are as reasonable and pleasant as can be when people are watching, but as soon as they think themselves unobserved they will lie their heads off and even engage in conspiracies which veer very close to the criminal in order to suppress the views of those with whom they disagree.
I have written before of Mike Fortune-Wood’s attempts to close this blog down; either by telling lies about me, for example to newspapers, or, when that fails, by conspiring with others to have me arrested. Alison Sauer is cut from the same piece of cloth. Indeed, her behaviour is worse and she will stoop to anything in an attempt to stop people asking questions about her activities. It was suggested yesterday that the spate of comments advertising dumpsters for trash and garbage on here was sheer coincidence and that I was seeing a conspiracy where none existed. This is not true. This spamming was a direct consequence of my piece about Alison Sauer and how her business activities had caused the Department for Education to ban flexi-schooling. Is this a conspiracy theory? Well no, it is more a case of conspiracy fact.
Alison Sauer has a group of cronies with whom she chats late at night via the internet. These include Cheryl Moy from Doncaster, Sarah Eaton from Leicester, Kat Brown from Leeds and various others. I make no apology for naming names, for reasons that will become apparent. When Alison Sauer gets irritated with me, she appeals to these people, who then flood the comments here with aggressive messages. Alison says things like;
‘Do not engage in discussion and do not respond to anything he says’
The aim, you see, is not to talk about things, but merely to make coherent discussion here impossible. Sometimes, this tactic does not work and then stage two comes into play, which entails targeting my family. Here is an exchange between Alison Sauer and some of her followers. They are discussing me:
A number of things occur to one when reading this sort of thing. Why would Cheryl Moy want to know about my wife? Does she wish to talk to her about home education? Also, why would Alison Sauer wish to know my home address? When she finds it, why is she publicising it in this way? The answer to both questions is the same. The aim is to harass my family and try to stop me expressing my opinions on home education. I might mention that nuisance deliveries started to my home after Alison instigated this campaign and my email address became clogged up with a lot of nonsense. The advertising of dumpsters the day before yesterday was all of a piece with this and was also a direct result of Alison Sauer’s activities.
This then is the private face of some of the well-known figures in British home education. Although they attempt to portray themselves as being sensible types with whom local authorities and the Department for Education can deal professionally; in the background they are organising campaigns of intimidation and wasting police time with spurious allegations. No holds are barred when it comes to trying to shut down the voice of anybody who disagrees with them. This accounts in large part for the seemingly unified response to consultations on home education. Dissident voices are mocked and belittled and when that does not work, threats are made.
As for those who suggested yesterday that I was creating a conspiracy theory; well, what can I say? When a group of people I have never met begin to enquire about my wife, ask about my home address and talk of sabotaging my email, this looks less like a conspiracy theory and more like an actual conspiracy. What do readers think? Incidentally, clicking on Alison's name will enable you all to keep up to speed with her and some of her activities.