The Blog
1 February 2010I used to want to be an astronaut. I also, aged 10 and a half, thought very seriously for a whole afternoon about becoming a Bond girl. At other points in my primary school education I just wanted to get full marks in my spelling test. Unfortunately a new scheme formulated by Hays recruitment agency and supported by the Government will crush these hopes: realism will replace fittingly childish career aspirations and CV composition classes will substitute time otherwise spent furthering reading and writing skills.
27 January 2010This week, the Financial Times (FT) predicted that Germany’s economic recovery ‘may be stalling‘, a seriously concern for Europe’s largest economy. And in the UK, figures released yesterday by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) revealed that the UK economy is only limping out of its deepest recession in modern times (the economy grew only 0.1%… [Read More]
26 January 2010Few artefacts better epitomise England than its cathedrals. It is precisely because they do that their current parlous condition so aptly symbolises the state of national disintegration over which the present government has so artfully presided during this past twelve years.
22 January 2010Apparently children who are down with the latest literary lingo are bang on with their understanding of the English language. Research published by the University of Coventry earlier this week rather unhelpfully concludes that “children’s use of textisms is far from problematic.”
21 January 2010It was a depressing moment when this news story made the front page of the BBC website ‘ Pupils forced to listen to Mozart’. The head of West Park School in Derby, Brian Walker, punishes his students in detention by making them listen to classical music, “featuring Elgar, Mozart, Verdi and Bach.” They are often… [Read More]
20 January 2010The earthquake in Haiti 8 days ago wreaked untold pain, and the international community is right to exert every effort to help those affected by the tragedy. The EU has announced that it will send €430 million of humanitarian aid (the 2 biggest contributions coming from Britain [€25 million] and France [€20 million]).
19 January 2010‘We haven’t done enough in the past to support dads… All the evidence is if fathers are properly engaged and involved… then… they’re supportive to their children, they do all the things which then lead to better child outcomes.’ Question: Guess who said that?
18 January 2010As the greasy smell of soggy chips and nondescript chicken wafts around the overflowing bin full of mangled newspaper, you may mistake the entrance to my classroom for the local kebab shop. And that’s only for starters. For many pupils, a greasy-fingered session of identifying nouns is promptly followed by feast of lurid, sugary snacks.
14 January 2010You can tell the Tories are being advised by Richard Thaler, the famed ‘nudge’ economist. It’s now, apparently, part of their life and blood. Public health, after the latest health policy announcement yesterday, may just as well be called ‘nudge’ health. Here’s the idea. Point one. Cash for public health initiatives will be separately identified… [Read More]
On Monday 11th January, Baroness Catherine Ashton faced a 3 hour hearing in the European Parliament (EP) to confirm her recent appointment as the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs. Following her “grilling” by MEPs, one witness commented: “her answers necessarily had the sense of newly-learnt policies”.
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