PHILIP PULLMAN - PULLMAN TO BOYCOTT SCHOOLS OVER U.K. PAEDOPHILE LAWS

PULLMAN TO BOYCOTT SCHOOLS OVER U.K. PAEDOPHILE LAWS

THE GOLDEN COMPASS author PHILIP PULLMAN has vowed to stop undertaking school visits in Britain - because of the U.K. government's "sinister" new laws to ensure adults entering classroom are not paedophiles.
The writer, whose His Dark Materials debut was transformed into a blockbuster starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, regularly visits schools across the U.K. to encourage young people to take up creative writing.
But due to new laws set down by Britain's government, anybody who wishes to make school visits must pay $96 (£64) to sign up to a vetting list to ensure they are not on the child abusers register.
And Pullman, along with legendary illustrator Quentin Blake, has threatened to boycott all schools over the new system - insisting it makes youngsters view every adult as a potential threat.
He tells BBC Radio 4, "Why should I have to pay £64 to a government agency to give me a little certificate to say that I am not a paedophile?
"It's actually rather dispiriting and sinister. It's the assumption that anyone who comes into contact with children for any reason whatsoever is up to no good and likely to be a rapist or a murderer and has to be checked out in advance to show that they're not.
"It will encourage children to believe that no adult will ever approach them other than to prey on them or do them harm."