Fox Hunting

I've always been totally opposed to Fox hunting...and like many people, dismayed that banning it has taken so long. The recent shenanigans in Parliament have caused a few folks to ask...Why the fuss about hunting when there's a war going on in Iraq?
Well... a lot of parliamentary time has been taken up...but...I see no evidence that that time could or would have been used to debate Iraq. Furthermore...one has to ask..why so much time was needed? I can do no better than quote League Against Cruel Sports chairperson John Cooper.........
"The elected House of Commons has 10 times voted overwhelmingly for a ban on the cruelty of hunting with dogs and each time the ban-supported by three quarters of the British public -was blocked by the unelected House of Lords"
Cruelty is insidious, it begins with childish curiosity... what happens if you pull the wings off a fly?...grows through playground bullying of those who are different....and step by step rises to the obscenities of Abu Graib . Not too far beyond that level lies the total de-personalisation of one's enemies and licence to torture or gas.............

Iraq's elections

I think we were totally wrong to invade. I am deeply suspicious of the Allies' motives and wouldn't be a teensy weensy bit suprised to learn that oil was involved somewhere...guess no-one else has thought of that eh? BUT I do so want the elections to succeed.............Those of us who opposed the war can't simply oppose everything the invaders do on principle.... some opponents of the war seem almost gleeful at the carnage and appear to gloat over the deaths of allied soldiers. This is as obscene as some of the behaviour of the conquerors. Where now? the old adage of " I wouldn't start out from here" seems really apt. Surely nothing but a bloody civil war and return to dictatorship would ensue if the "liberators" left immediately. If the elections can yield a vaguely representative government which can take Iraq forward and allow withdrawal of the alien troops.....then at least we can walk away with a modicum of dignity to contemplate one of the worst foreign policy disasters of all time at our leisure. Dream on eh? As they contemplate the selective bombing of Iran and N Korea...another Bay of Pigs in Cuba ... as the religious right gains in strength and power...as our own new education minister proves to be a follower of Opus Dei ..... Hell...Handcarts...To... and Going... spring to mind.

Democracy..?

Listening to President Bush, one would think he had a mandate....similarly Tony Blair. Bush got just over half the votes cast...Kerry got almost half.....Bush got ALL the power. In the UK, Labour have the support of roughly a third of the electorate...the Tories have maybe a bit more than a quarter and the Lib Dems a little less.....yet we know that adds up to a Labour landslide. How can that be fair? Is it any wonder voters are staying away in droves..? Proportional representation isn't some daft new idea...most of the rest of the world's democracies use it in some way. It would immediately solve the problem of restricted lists for women and minority ethnic candidates.
We need to yell for it NOW. Maybe it will take a smashing defeat for the Tories to put it (BACK...Mr Blair..Back) on the agenda?

Yet more...

Wednesday's Independent carried a revue of Evil Empire.....the untold story of British atrocities in Kenya.... so..seems like we've had a lot of practice.

Fat property profits slobber slobber..

For me.....there's something pornographic about the current crop of TV programmes urging people to buy into "up and coming property hot spots"
Why not buy a second home in Slovenia/Slovakia/Bulgaria/Croatia..?? You're bound to be able to outbid local homeseekers and snap up a village home for the price of a secondhand Ford Focus ..... THEN.....sell it on at a fat profit.....yummy. Or snap up a repossession back home...rip out the bathroom carpet and rent it out to a struggling couple with a nipper on the way...great. You could end up owning half the run down streets in your area in no time...then HEY...sell the feckin' lot and let Tesco build a hypermarket.

Reasons not to be cheerful.......

Sometimes it seems that the experiences of a single weekend can reflect all that is wrong with this ghastly world. On the macro scale ....the news bulletins inform me that US special forces are at work within Iran ready to take out selected targets....That Charles Graner has no regrets... I hear about hunger and misery...conflicts...suffering....global warming.... holes in the ozone layer..
meanwhile down at the local level..at the football match I heard about two men beating up (quote) " A Paki" and am informed that the visiting side have two "darkies" in the team.
I attend a social function and listen to how easy it is to buy cheap property in Croatia and make a fortune....how one can buy almost anything in the Phillipines for £5..... and finally how people who live in social/council housing are scum who are parasitical on(sic) the rest of us....and enjoy numerous foreign holidays and can afford to decorate their council houses with tacky Christmas lights....etc etc...at this point it was fight or flight...I chose flight.. but feel bad about it....a verbal fight would have been better..... so..where does one turn...? Where is "the Left"??? Blair..hah!
Remnants of a score of busted radical parties.... the church( been there)...? No... rationally writing up ones thoughts on a blog to share with....................? Probably no-one...just another pompous self important..attention seeking waste of time and space.... so..Merlot it is.

Harry the Hun

So..Bonnie Prince Hal thinks it's cool to go to a party dressed as a nazi.... a rare lapse by this otherwise happy go lucky fun loving...er..brawling ....er..drunken..fox hunting....useless toff .
Third in line to the throne too eh..? Who's ahead of him? Obviously not auntie Anne...she's a girlie...only lads get to be kinged...not uncle Eddie..or uncle erm..the other one..must be his pop.. Farmer Charles and big bro I guess.....although after his party costume indiscretion...it could well be great uncle Pinochet and cousin Goebbels . Pillock.

Apoplectic disbelief....

Defence counsel for Charles Graner says heaping people up naked is no different really from what cheerleaders do..??? AND...putting someone on a dog leash is a perfectly acceptable and normal method of restraint in correctional facilities...... yeah...in the same way that putting someone on the rack is..........just deleted a whole section here as it's too ghastly to attack with sarcasm.

Truancy rises..some thoughts

Truancy rates have risen 29% since 1997 ( Independent)
Traditionalists bemoan the erosion of discipline/order/parental control. They demand that parents ensure that young people attend.....some call for the re-introduction of corporal punishment...or lash out at so called young trendy teachers who fail to command respect.
However...it's worth asking...why does anyone do anything that they don't want to do ? What is the exact nature of control? It seems to me pointless to appeal to fear as a motive... go to school or something ghastly will happen to you.....this is patently untrue...both in the short term and the longer term. Kids are not daft and have a fair idea what school offers them and what currency it has in the open market in terms of jobs and income.
I have seen the original Careers Service for young people change over to the all encompassing Connexions Service....fundamental to this has been a sea change in attitude. Almost NO-ONE does anything now because they HAVE to...and we must learn to live with the fact. Any service...be it Connexions..the Library Service..the Youth Service...or School itself HAS to attract it's users. They have to be treated as customers and be provided with a service which is attractive to them...addresses their needs and is designed to be friendly and accessible to all. Incredibly...Connexions Centres now have music and Internet access and often food.....absolutely unthinkable for many offices a few short years ago. Then...Careers Offices( with honourable exceptions) had imposing libraries...asked callers to behave and keep quiet...confined them to the public waiting area...wouldn't dream of offering refreshments or music etc......Many young people came in because they had to...or faced losing benefits....Now, they are being encouraged to see Centres as there as a resource for THEM...not a centre of control. A massive change in attitude which some staff have struggled to understand...or deliver.
This change of focus has to take place in schools...or what would be left of them if Education were truly reformed. The challenge is...How do you keep the enthusiasm for going to school that Young People have at age 5 and which we progressively knock out of so many of them?

Tony's Teef

I guess this Blog will evolve....and after starting with some deep heartfelt thoughts about Education and Deprivation.....I now feel moved to comment on Tony Blair's teeth. At the press conference today...they appeared not to fit... could it be that he was visiting Egypt for cheap dentistry and could thus not hurry back until the new set were ready ? It's a thought....although maybe...just maybe..his mouth has shrunk?
Incidentally..at times he looked very very flummoxed and lost....the seemingly innocent question about whether he might spend a holiday in the area affected by the Tsunami to help it's recovery totally threw him.... likewise the one about a battle between Good and Evil.... the old smoothie seems to be on the way out??

Research...?

Spotted some interesting research findings on the net today which appear to fly in the face of reason.. certainly contradict my empirical evidence in some ways. The gist is that class size makes no difference to results in Primary teaching...larger classes may even benefit some subjects. Clearly worth reading in more detail. As I say...very interesting.
Richard

Easy as falling off a Bl.....

Struggling again...trying frantically to upload a better(?) photograph...and getting in a terrible mess...dear old Picassa keeps on sending them...but Lord knows where they're going... oh well...teeth gritted..legs crossed...toes curled...and try again eh ?
Richard

Richard from Norfolk 

Some beginnings....

I promised to talk about the English education system.... well... a few thoughts to get started:

When people look back in years to come..will they be able to credit the fact that we thought it reasonable to ask one teacher to deal with 30+ students at once..?

Since Ivan Illich...have we really come to grips with the difference between Education and Schooling....? Indeed...the difference between Education and Learning..?

Why do we have so many disaffected young people completely turned off by school?

Why are schools so big and so centralised..?

Is there no way to devolve education...split it into component parts...?
Imagine local learning centres full of computers where some students go to learn interactively, while others go to placements in commerce/industry...others head to the sports centre...while the rest go to "school" to socialise/integrate/discuss/think/interact.....

A programme tailored to each student's needs and wants would boost motivation...cut drop-out rates..and as a major by product..cut the amount of school-run traffic enormously....
Enough for tonight...but your thoughts and comments are welcome !
Richard

Good Morning..!

It all seemed so easy....then I tried reading the Help section and went very wobbly upon reading stuff that made no sense to me at all ! Anyway...I'll try to plod on and keep it simple.

One small step for....

...Thankyou Google...with absolutely no computer knowledge whatsoever...I am now typing my very first Blog message...wow!

I want to say a lot about the dreadful failings of the Conventional English education system.....about young people who are written off and all but doomed to fail. I work as an adult careers adviser and see so many highly capable..highly intelligent people whom the system has failed years earlier. I want to share some thoughts about how the system might work better....and about fascinating areas of research such as Learning Styles and their impact in the education system.
I hope that I can also write about so much more that interests me.....from the sublime( God?) to the ridiculous ( erm..God..Or Norfolk Volcanoes and their imminent eruption)
I look forward to floating my hopes, thoughts and dreams on the ether and seeing where they may drift ! Richard

My rather enigmatic ID photo !