I was born on Winston Churchill's last birthday, he died two months later. I have always been aware of his presence in my life, how could I not be? Born on the same day as a man who effectively saved Britain from capitulating to become a Vichy State as Lord Halifax would have had us do. Although some do not believe in astrology, and I have to say I take it with a large pinch of salt, I would say that I share many of the qualities of Winston. I am a romantic, particularly in the notions of history and it's importance to our future, I am obdurate, a more stubborn person you are not likely to find, I am a Maverick, I will not tow the party line for the sake of a quiet life I chose to do what is right, and overall I care. I care passionately about the people around me and the world in which we live. However I am also bestowed with some of the characteristics of my Grandfather, the man who brought me up. He was a proud union man a man who believed in the equality of the person and the right of the common man to succeed and enjoy the simple pleasures of this word. He was more Orwellian in his thought process and he showed me the true sense of humanity.
The reason for today's blog? Simon Schama's History of Britain, "The Two Winstons" He talks about the way in which two completely opposite camps Churchill and Orwell came together to fight for democracy at our darkest time. His belief in the unlikeliest of allies shows me something of today that needs to be addressed in the time of darkness that we approach.
And why are we in a time of darkness? Is it the Euro? Is it North Korea? No not really it is the travesty of what has been unfolding admidst the corridors of power since the present Government took power. The way in which our democratic state has been returning to the prewar status quietly and behind the scenes is defining of Great Britain's fall from greatness. Has Halifax finally won the day? Have we allowed, sleepwalked even into, an Orwellian world where the future is controlled by the state? Were we so naive as to let this happen and can we do anything about it?
Well I for one am willing to stand up. I believe in civilised society, I believe in democracy, I believe in equality of thought, feeling and person. I believe in the human race's ability to overcome injustice and to improve and grow.
We must keep our National Health Service, we must protect those who are unable to protect themselves, we must seek to educate in an open and honest way teaching our children , and adults alike, to be free thinkers and expansive in thought, and we must seek to help the vulnerable, poor and desperate. This weekend we celebrate in the Christian world the festival of Easter, the day one man supposedly died to cleanse us of our sins.
I am not religious however if Jesus truly was the Son of God and he truly died on the cross to be the Savior of mankind then what would he have thought of Great Britain today?
Saturday 30 March 2013
Thursday 28 March 2013
What happens when someone in power lies
What exactly does happen when someone in power lies?
Well we all know of what happened to Chris Huhne but I'm not talking about political power for a change as we know that some politicians are born liars but professional or academic power?
Lets take the example of a social worker who makes things up or lies to cover up mistakes? What would happen to them surely there are safeguards in place? Well in professional practice that would normally be true. The General Social Care Council has powers to remove a social worker's registration in a similar way that the General Medical Council can strike off a medical practitioner or the General Teaching Council has the power to disbar a teacher.
However what happens if there is a power imbalance, what if we are talking about an academic organisation who employ qualified social workers to teach and supervise students. What if the qualified person in power lies?
This commentator has a great dilemma here for it has come to this commentator's attention that this is happening with one particular organisation, or should I say one part of one academic organisation within the UK that has the ability to award Social Work degrees. Complaints have been made to that organisation with apparently no response. In fact the individuals concerned seem almost untouchable yet these are people who hold the future of social work practice in their hands. Students are suffering and this has to be wrong.
Let's make no bones about it Social Workers are up there with Tax Inspectors, The Police, Politicians and DSS officials as been one of the most hated groups of people in our society. However the reality is that there is some truly excellent work being done under difficult and at times almost impossible situations. Yet it is these little bad apples who go unnoticed for years that lead to the problems.They destroy lives and they demonise people yet always seem to come up smelling of roses. And the dilemma is how to remove the good from the bad without affecting future growth ?
But remember roses grow from manured earth! But you can always take out the manure and roses will still grow!
Well we all know of what happened to Chris Huhne but I'm not talking about political power for a change as we know that some politicians are born liars but professional or academic power?
Lets take the example of a social worker who makes things up or lies to cover up mistakes? What would happen to them surely there are safeguards in place? Well in professional practice that would normally be true. The General Social Care Council has powers to remove a social worker's registration in a similar way that the General Medical Council can strike off a medical practitioner or the General Teaching Council has the power to disbar a teacher.
However what happens if there is a power imbalance, what if we are talking about an academic organisation who employ qualified social workers to teach and supervise students. What if the qualified person in power lies?
This commentator has a great dilemma here for it has come to this commentator's attention that this is happening with one particular organisation, or should I say one part of one academic organisation within the UK that has the ability to award Social Work degrees. Complaints have been made to that organisation with apparently no response. In fact the individuals concerned seem almost untouchable yet these are people who hold the future of social work practice in their hands. Students are suffering and this has to be wrong.
Let's make no bones about it Social Workers are up there with Tax Inspectors, The Police, Politicians and DSS officials as been one of the most hated groups of people in our society. However the reality is that there is some truly excellent work being done under difficult and at times almost impossible situations. Yet it is these little bad apples who go unnoticed for years that lead to the problems.They destroy lives and they demonise people yet always seem to come up smelling of roses. And the dilemma is how to remove the good from the bad without affecting future growth ?
But remember roses grow from manured earth! But you can always take out the manure and roses will still grow!
Wednesday 27 March 2013
Oh Mr Beeching
So today is 50 years since the publication of the Beeching report that signaled the death of many a station and railway line in this country. It is also a warning to the future.
Beeching was wrong, the Government of the time was wrong, Governments since have been wrong. The railway network was a lifeblood to many small places throughout this Kingdom. Roads do not have the same arterial flow no matter what people may think. Roads are capillaries motorways are arteries and as it stands there are only a couple of dozen major arteries in the UK. The railways gave us hundreds if not thousands. Resorts like Brighton, Blackpool,Bournemouth, Torquay, Great Yarmouth, Margate and Southend would never have grown had it not been for the railways. Small villages became connected to major cities, people became free to move the country had life.
Why a lesson to the future?
Well for Beeching read Lansley, Hunt, Duncan-Smith, Gove, May, Cameron and Osborne and all those in Government today who would cut the lifeblood from our country.
The NHS is the next to go, it will soon be a monument to all that was great about Great Britain. I think Scotland may have the right idea get out while they can. I wouldn't blame Wales if they felt the same way because to be quite frank this bunch that rule our country would sell them off if they could.
I hear food vouchers have been mooted again by Count Ian von Bismarck instead of cash benefits. Why not just make people on benefits shave their heads and walk around with high vis jackets saying scum on the back because that is how people will treat them.
Don't believe it? I had a friend at school who received free school meals because his family couldn't afford to pay and word got round. I remember mothers at the school gates cackling about his family and how poor they were and how they resented that a child was being fed by free meals when they had to pay. It still rankles me today how people could do that to a child yet the same will give ten pounds to Comic Relief to relieve them of their guilt because that's a poor child in Africa.
I am telling you clearly the same will happen all over again.
It is time the good people of Britain stood up and stopped this country sleepwalking to an early grave. The middle class need to get over themselves because once the poor are gone who do you think is next !
Take a lesson from Beeching making cuts in the wrong place at the wrong time does not make the tree grow stronger It kills it!
Beeching was wrong, the Government of the time was wrong, Governments since have been wrong. The railway network was a lifeblood to many small places throughout this Kingdom. Roads do not have the same arterial flow no matter what people may think. Roads are capillaries motorways are arteries and as it stands there are only a couple of dozen major arteries in the UK. The railways gave us hundreds if not thousands. Resorts like Brighton, Blackpool,Bournemouth, Torquay, Great Yarmouth, Margate and Southend would never have grown had it not been for the railways. Small villages became connected to major cities, people became free to move the country had life.
Why a lesson to the future?
Well for Beeching read Lansley, Hunt, Duncan-Smith, Gove, May, Cameron and Osborne and all those in Government today who would cut the lifeblood from our country.
The NHS is the next to go, it will soon be a monument to all that was great about Great Britain. I think Scotland may have the right idea get out while they can. I wouldn't blame Wales if they felt the same way because to be quite frank this bunch that rule our country would sell them off if they could.
I hear food vouchers have been mooted again by Count Ian von Bismarck instead of cash benefits. Why not just make people on benefits shave their heads and walk around with high vis jackets saying scum on the back because that is how people will treat them.
Don't believe it? I had a friend at school who received free school meals because his family couldn't afford to pay and word got round. I remember mothers at the school gates cackling about his family and how poor they were and how they resented that a child was being fed by free meals when they had to pay. It still rankles me today how people could do that to a child yet the same will give ten pounds to Comic Relief to relieve them of their guilt because that's a poor child in Africa.
I am telling you clearly the same will happen all over again.
It is time the good people of Britain stood up and stopped this country sleepwalking to an early grave. The middle class need to get over themselves because once the poor are gone who do you think is next !
Take a lesson from Beeching making cuts in the wrong place at the wrong time does not make the tree grow stronger It kills it!
Wednesday 20 March 2013
Education matters for more than a lifetime
I am an educator, a psychologist, a human being but most importantly a father.
Yesterday I became extremely concerned at the psychological state of my young son. He is eleven , nearly twelve so his hormones are starting to fly around his body in preparation for puberty and in many respects he is likely to be up and down at the moment. However his state of being yesterday was beyond the norm.
Now he has had several challenges with school and due to being physically attacked by a teaching assistant at the age of four and a half it took until Year 5 before he was integrated back into the schooling system. This is something I have blogged about previously so will not go any further into that here. What I would like to concentrate on is what has happened to cause yet more distress and what is turning a bright articulate child into someone who is again becoming disillusioned with the educational system.
He has already had challenges with his Spanish teacher, an old fashioned beat them around the head type teacher, and those were addressed with his head of house however I have now discovered that his Geograpy teacher, someone known for hating teaching Year 7, threatened in front of the class to break his thumbs.Now although I did not witness this my son is no liar and I have been in turmoil as how to proceed forward.
You see the Neanderthal in me wants to take this guy out and show him that force will be met by greater force but the psycholgist and teacher in me tells me that that is not the right way to handle things. I know the higher brain functions will kick in and override my Neanderthal yet I don't want to be seen as a neurotic parent or a grass of any kind because I am neither of these things. Something clearly has to be done though for not only the sake of my son but because of other children too.
My first concern is that the school will deflect the issue, my second concern is that the teacher will target my son but my overriding concern is that my son is missing out on his education. And that is ultimately what this is all about. The schools in the Trowbridge area are all pretty poor. They may fool OFSTED but I am a parent who is also an experienced teacher and I know how you can fool the inspectors as I've seen it happen time and time again in many establishments. The tick box culture that we live in is all about perceived accountability not about education and it belittles the learning process at all ages.
Learning is a human right and should not be interfered with by outdated ideas in what is right and wrong about teaching. Teaching is something that evolves as the human species evolves, as the need to learn different skills evolves, or so it should be. Good teachers are often destroyed by a system that allows bad teachers to get away with bad practice. For it is the bad teachers that cause the child, or adult, to resent the need for learning. The good teachers then often have an impossible task of turning around the learner so as to empower the individual into loving the learning process all over again. And I say all over again because inately we are a species that wants to learn from the moment we have a nervous system and higher function.
So what will I do? I'm not entirely sure still. I have been reflecting on the challenge all through the night and deep into this morning which I why I decided to blog in the hope it would clarify my mind set. I know I have to speak to the school and I know I have to support my son. The trick is to make sure that there is a win win scenario for everyone involved.
Including the Neanderthal who still thinks he is a teacher
Yesterday I became extremely concerned at the psychological state of my young son. He is eleven , nearly twelve so his hormones are starting to fly around his body in preparation for puberty and in many respects he is likely to be up and down at the moment. However his state of being yesterday was beyond the norm.
Now he has had several challenges with school and due to being physically attacked by a teaching assistant at the age of four and a half it took until Year 5 before he was integrated back into the schooling system. This is something I have blogged about previously so will not go any further into that here. What I would like to concentrate on is what has happened to cause yet more distress and what is turning a bright articulate child into someone who is again becoming disillusioned with the educational system.
He has already had challenges with his Spanish teacher, an old fashioned beat them around the head type teacher, and those were addressed with his head of house however I have now discovered that his Geograpy teacher, someone known for hating teaching Year 7, threatened in front of the class to break his thumbs.Now although I did not witness this my son is no liar and I have been in turmoil as how to proceed forward.
You see the Neanderthal in me wants to take this guy out and show him that force will be met by greater force but the psycholgist and teacher in me tells me that that is not the right way to handle things. I know the higher brain functions will kick in and override my Neanderthal yet I don't want to be seen as a neurotic parent or a grass of any kind because I am neither of these things. Something clearly has to be done though for not only the sake of my son but because of other children too.
My first concern is that the school will deflect the issue, my second concern is that the teacher will target my son but my overriding concern is that my son is missing out on his education. And that is ultimately what this is all about. The schools in the Trowbridge area are all pretty poor. They may fool OFSTED but I am a parent who is also an experienced teacher and I know how you can fool the inspectors as I've seen it happen time and time again in many establishments. The tick box culture that we live in is all about perceived accountability not about education and it belittles the learning process at all ages.
Learning is a human right and should not be interfered with by outdated ideas in what is right and wrong about teaching. Teaching is something that evolves as the human species evolves, as the need to learn different skills evolves, or so it should be. Good teachers are often destroyed by a system that allows bad teachers to get away with bad practice. For it is the bad teachers that cause the child, or adult, to resent the need for learning. The good teachers then often have an impossible task of turning around the learner so as to empower the individual into loving the learning process all over again. And I say all over again because inately we are a species that wants to learn from the moment we have a nervous system and higher function.
So what will I do? I'm not entirely sure still. I have been reflecting on the challenge all through the night and deep into this morning which I why I decided to blog in the hope it would clarify my mind set. I know I have to speak to the school and I know I have to support my son. The trick is to make sure that there is a win win scenario for everyone involved.
Including the Neanderthal who still thinks he is a teacher
Sunday 10 March 2013
Of painful recollections
Mother's Day is always difficult for me. That's something I may have said before yet I feel I need to say it again and again until I come to terms with why it is difficult for me.
You see Mother's Day is the day I lost my dad. He died whilst I held him and it still hurts. Obviously today wasn't the exact day he died however it is the day that will always remember him dying. I miss him, really do. Not the nasty drunken dad that made mine and other people's lives hell, but the gentle caring man that was there when my youngest son held his hand on our final New Years Eve together.
For those of you who read my other blog http://alcoholdebate.blogspot.co.uk/ you know how much my father's drinking has influenced my life and how I have challenged many of the preconceptions about alcohol and alcoholism however my father did so much more for me than he will ever know. And of course so did my mother who also is no longer with us. In fact I am the oldest surviving member of my family the Patriarch as so to speak.
As parents they did the best they could for me. I see that now as a father myself. They had many faults, both of them, but they did have good qualities that are often forgotten especially because people remember the bad days. I hope that my children will come to realise over time that I have many faults but I have always done the very best for them that I could at all times. My children you see mean the world to me. I have watched them grow into young adults and my youngest grow into a confident young boy and I m so proud of everything that they do. I will always support them the best that I can and to the best of my ability no matter what they may do in life. I hope though that they understand that above all though that I love them.
Now some may say I'm being a sentimental fool talking like this but know that I never really connected with my parents the way that I think they hoped I would. I was always struggling with my over possessive mother, particularly when I started having girlfriends, heck she actively sought to play one off against the next at times. I remember when I was at Liverpool and my parents came to visit one day my mother said to my the girlfriend Zara, I'm so glad that he's got you, yet behind the scenes just as with Karen before, she was trying to engineer the relationship to fail. I mean what kind of mother doesn't want her son to be happy? When I eventually married (neither of the above I may add) there was constant pressure on me from my mother and constant sniping about my wife (although in the end that was the one that my mother probably called right). It was inevitable that we would fall out in time I guess. But not being with her when she died was a moment that I'm not sure I can ever forgive myself for even though it was 23 years ago this year. I should have been there rather than a hotel room in Dorchester where I was staying for the night because of work.
I will always love my parents for they were my parents and for what they helped me become. I will not make the same mistakes they made with me with my children I hope, just probably different ones. And I hope in years to come that they will forgive me for I am only human
You see Mother's Day is the day I lost my dad. He died whilst I held him and it still hurts. Obviously today wasn't the exact day he died however it is the day that will always remember him dying. I miss him, really do. Not the nasty drunken dad that made mine and other people's lives hell, but the gentle caring man that was there when my youngest son held his hand on our final New Years Eve together.
For those of you who read my other blog http://alcoholdebate.blogspot.co.uk/ you know how much my father's drinking has influenced my life and how I have challenged many of the preconceptions about alcohol and alcoholism however my father did so much more for me than he will ever know. And of course so did my mother who also is no longer with us. In fact I am the oldest surviving member of my family the Patriarch as so to speak.
As parents they did the best they could for me. I see that now as a father myself. They had many faults, both of them, but they did have good qualities that are often forgotten especially because people remember the bad days. I hope that my children will come to realise over time that I have many faults but I have always done the very best for them that I could at all times. My children you see mean the world to me. I have watched them grow into young adults and my youngest grow into a confident young boy and I m so proud of everything that they do. I will always support them the best that I can and to the best of my ability no matter what they may do in life. I hope though that they understand that above all though that I love them.
Now some may say I'm being a sentimental fool talking like this but know that I never really connected with my parents the way that I think they hoped I would. I was always struggling with my over possessive mother, particularly when I started having girlfriends, heck she actively sought to play one off against the next at times. I remember when I was at Liverpool and my parents came to visit one day my mother said to my the girlfriend Zara, I'm so glad that he's got you, yet behind the scenes just as with Karen before, she was trying to engineer the relationship to fail. I mean what kind of mother doesn't want her son to be happy? When I eventually married (neither of the above I may add) there was constant pressure on me from my mother and constant sniping about my wife (although in the end that was the one that my mother probably called right). It was inevitable that we would fall out in time I guess. But not being with her when she died was a moment that I'm not sure I can ever forgive myself for even though it was 23 years ago this year. I should have been there rather than a hotel room in Dorchester where I was staying for the night because of work.
I will always love my parents for they were my parents and for what they helped me become. I will not make the same mistakes they made with me with my children I hope, just probably different ones. And I hope in years to come that they will forgive me for I am only human
Wednesday 6 March 2013
Musing from a spotless mind
To mark my 15000 tweet I said that I would blog and the title of that blog was suggested by one of my tweefriends (Is there such a word? I don't know but there is now!) The challenge was what would I muse on?
So after some serious thought I've decided to look at several things that are doing the rounds at the moment. After all blogging is about recording moments in time as well as feeling rather self satisfied because you have actually sat down and put pen to paper (or rather finger tip to keyboard).
Magna Carta, is that some kind of ice cream?
In 1215 at a place called Runnymede King John signed a piece of paper that would enshrine some fundamental rights to our people
"No Freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or be disseized of his Freehold, or Liberties, or free Customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or any other wise destroyed; nor will We not pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful judgment of his Peers, or by the Law of the land."
In 1642 Parliament and the King declared war upon each other because the King had decided that he was above the law of the land. It led to the end of the Monarchy as Britain had known it since pre-Norman times. It was the largest single realignment of power in this country since Harold had his eye put out. It was effectively a changing of the guard and a strike for democracy and the rule of the people and their representatives.
In 1939 this country stood alone against a tyrant that would bring the world to the edge of collapse. Once again we stood for freedom. And throughout my childhood there was constant fear of nuclear attack because we again were at the front of the war for democracy.
And now in 2013 we roll back to 1215 pre-Magna Carta. Why? The use of secret courts.
This government, as the previous one would like that our dirty linen not be washed in public. It would like that we Joe Public were not aware of the nasty little things that go on behind closed doors in the name of national security. Or better put in yours and my name!
The idea of bringing in secret courts is as abhorrent to this commentator as it should be to every free man, woman and child in this country who cherishes democracy. It should be condemned to history like the rack, the Spanish Inquisition and the gallows.
We rally against Syria, Iran and North Korea for their total disregard to their citizens yet are we any better?
We are supposedly a democracy and we are supposedly free. How can that be when the State is seeking to deny us of knowledge or of a fair trial? That is no better than dictatorship and isn't that what we fight so readily against? So are we heading for another Civil War? I hope not and I would not suggest ever taking arms up against a democratically elected body. However if we are fundamentally going to change the whole focus of our Justice system surely we the public have a right to our point of view don't we?
This is serious folks it could easily be you in the dock and these powers make it virtually impossible for you to fight against.
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=20659
The Death of an Icon
The National Health Service is one of the greatest icons that the world has ever seen in a drive for civilisation. It is a proud achievement that a country as small as the United Kingdom could lead the way in how we look after our sick and needy. And today it is headed by a man who will not resign even though he admitted he was complicit in the deaths of hundreds through neglect. It's a bit like welcoming back Josef Mengele and saying run our children's homes for us Herr Doktor.
Why won't the new Nazi's in power do anything about this? Is it because they are in cahoots with Nicholson? ( I no longer use the phrase Sir David because a knight should have honour) Does he know something that we don't?
And you may think that I am being disparaging by referring to Cameron et al. as being the equivalent of that heinous regime the Third Reich however all evidence is to the contrary at the moment. Sick and disabled are being maligned, rights are being eroded and the NHS something they swore to protect has been effectively put up for sale to the highest bidder. And when people die then those responsible get to keep their jobs and smile into their pensions.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/nhs-privatisation-plan-stopped-health-1734326
The NHS may not be perfect and it can be improved but do you really want to be wondering if you will be able to afford medical treatment should the need arise? Block this now and prevent the greatest travesty of our generation taking place. Defend the NHS, defend the right to healthcare.
I'm only being human
The Home Secretary has decided along with the other members of the coven that run our country that we will pull out of the Human Rights Act.
Now I can understand why people hate the Human Rights Act when it allows certain individuals to preach hate however there are fundamental rights that we all have that should be respected regardless and this Home Secretary would have us in sack cloth and ashes again
True democracy is defending the right of someone to say something that you would disagree with and vehemently oppose with your last breath.
And if we kill the Human Rights Act what if a new Marx or Engels came forward would we be able to hear their views or would be restricted by the State to what is good for us?
Sorry did I hear you say Goebbels or was that No Balls?
Suffer the little children
As an educationalist I am concerned that the propaganda that is been spouted about raising standards is really all about return to Victorian brainwashing. It is intrinsically a move made by Government, any Government who wants to be seen to appealing to worried parents about children getting on in life.
Watch this short video from Sir Ken Robinson and RSA animations. Maybe it will challenge your thought process about how we learn and why we are controlled in that learning.
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_changing_education_paradigms.html
Gove is an education minister that doesn't understand learning and how to make a better future for all of us. We can't predict what will happen in 5 years now yet we are educating children with methods that are hundreds of years old for a future in 60 years. How can we possibly know that that will work? Even Einstein or Hawking could not be classed as that clever!
Change the Paradigms improve the possibilities
It's tough up North
Rebecca Meredith is regarded as on of the top 20 public speakers in the world apparently yet the Cambridge student came in for a right ear bashing up in Glasgow
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2288148/Cambridge-debating-stars-left-tears-sexist-heckles-looks-prestigious-student-competition.html
Now Miss Meredith you really need to develop a tougher skin. Glasgow is a tough audience, even the fleas on the rats have bodyguards up there. I know I've lectured up there they don't take prisoners. The thing is though if you really are as skilled as your write ups suggest then surely you wouldn't run off stage crying at the heckles of a man who had obviously left his guide dog at home. And he must have been blind because let's face it you are pretty and you are good looking. I've debated in Varsity championships and have won may a trophy in years gone by but remembering one debate in Liverpool in the 80's I recall what Austin Mitchell said about following Matthew Parris.
" I feel like a cross between a man with herpes and HIV, an incurable romantic"
Now I didn't like Austin Mitchell but he enthralled me by that speech and he changed my mind about him. The secret to surviving a heckling audience is to either turn them round in your favour or buy a book called
Stand Up Put Downs by Rufus Hound
There's one or two good ways of shutting up idiots in the audience that way. Even shuts up the odd hardened Glasweigian.
And Finally
There's a phrase that has become close to my heart and something of a catchphrase to me particularly on twitter. And the reason for that? Well I just hate it when there is trouble and strife about and want to make sure I leave people with a positive thought.
So to end this blog just remember
Live your life with passion and above all........
peace and happiness to you all
So after some serious thought I've decided to look at several things that are doing the rounds at the moment. After all blogging is about recording moments in time as well as feeling rather self satisfied because you have actually sat down and put pen to paper (or rather finger tip to keyboard).
Magna Carta, is that some kind of ice cream?
In 1215 at a place called Runnymede King John signed a piece of paper that would enshrine some fundamental rights to our people
"No Freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or be disseized of his Freehold, or Liberties, or free Customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or any other wise destroyed; nor will We not pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful judgment of his Peers, or by the Law of the land."
In 1642 Parliament and the King declared war upon each other because the King had decided that he was above the law of the land. It led to the end of the Monarchy as Britain had known it since pre-Norman times. It was the largest single realignment of power in this country since Harold had his eye put out. It was effectively a changing of the guard and a strike for democracy and the rule of the people and their representatives.
In 1939 this country stood alone against a tyrant that would bring the world to the edge of collapse. Once again we stood for freedom. And throughout my childhood there was constant fear of nuclear attack because we again were at the front of the war for democracy.
And now in 2013 we roll back to 1215 pre-Magna Carta. Why? The use of secret courts.
This government, as the previous one would like that our dirty linen not be washed in public. It would like that we Joe Public were not aware of the nasty little things that go on behind closed doors in the name of national security. Or better put in yours and my name!
The idea of bringing in secret courts is as abhorrent to this commentator as it should be to every free man, woman and child in this country who cherishes democracy. It should be condemned to history like the rack, the Spanish Inquisition and the gallows.
We rally against Syria, Iran and North Korea for their total disregard to their citizens yet are we any better?
We are supposedly a democracy and we are supposedly free. How can that be when the State is seeking to deny us of knowledge or of a fair trial? That is no better than dictatorship and isn't that what we fight so readily against? So are we heading for another Civil War? I hope not and I would not suggest ever taking arms up against a democratically elected body. However if we are fundamentally going to change the whole focus of our Justice system surely we the public have a right to our point of view don't we?
This is serious folks it could easily be you in the dock and these powers make it virtually impossible for you to fight against.
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=20659
The Death of an Icon
The National Health Service is one of the greatest icons that the world has ever seen in a drive for civilisation. It is a proud achievement that a country as small as the United Kingdom could lead the way in how we look after our sick and needy. And today it is headed by a man who will not resign even though he admitted he was complicit in the deaths of hundreds through neglect. It's a bit like welcoming back Josef Mengele and saying run our children's homes for us Herr Doktor.
Why won't the new Nazi's in power do anything about this? Is it because they are in cahoots with Nicholson? ( I no longer use the phrase Sir David because a knight should have honour) Does he know something that we don't?
And you may think that I am being disparaging by referring to Cameron et al. as being the equivalent of that heinous regime the Third Reich however all evidence is to the contrary at the moment. Sick and disabled are being maligned, rights are being eroded and the NHS something they swore to protect has been effectively put up for sale to the highest bidder. And when people die then those responsible get to keep their jobs and smile into their pensions.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/nhs-privatisation-plan-stopped-health-1734326
The NHS may not be perfect and it can be improved but do you really want to be wondering if you will be able to afford medical treatment should the need arise? Block this now and prevent the greatest travesty of our generation taking place. Defend the NHS, defend the right to healthcare.
I'm only being human
The Home Secretary has decided along with the other members of the coven that run our country that we will pull out of the Human Rights Act.
Now I can understand why people hate the Human Rights Act when it allows certain individuals to preach hate however there are fundamental rights that we all have that should be respected regardless and this Home Secretary would have us in sack cloth and ashes again
True democracy is defending the right of someone to say something that you would disagree with and vehemently oppose with your last breath.
And if we kill the Human Rights Act what if a new Marx or Engels came forward would we be able to hear their views or would be restricted by the State to what is good for us?
Sorry did I hear you say Goebbels or was that No Balls?
Suffer the little children
As an educationalist I am concerned that the propaganda that is been spouted about raising standards is really all about return to Victorian brainwashing. It is intrinsically a move made by Government, any Government who wants to be seen to appealing to worried parents about children getting on in life.
Watch this short video from Sir Ken Robinson and RSA animations. Maybe it will challenge your thought process about how we learn and why we are controlled in that learning.
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_changing_education_paradigms.html
Gove is an education minister that doesn't understand learning and how to make a better future for all of us. We can't predict what will happen in 5 years now yet we are educating children with methods that are hundreds of years old for a future in 60 years. How can we possibly know that that will work? Even Einstein or Hawking could not be classed as that clever!
Change the Paradigms improve the possibilities
It's tough up North
Rebecca Meredith is regarded as on of the top 20 public speakers in the world apparently yet the Cambridge student came in for a right ear bashing up in Glasgow
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2288148/Cambridge-debating-stars-left-tears-sexist-heckles-looks-prestigious-student-competition.html
Now Miss Meredith you really need to develop a tougher skin. Glasgow is a tough audience, even the fleas on the rats have bodyguards up there. I know I've lectured up there they don't take prisoners. The thing is though if you really are as skilled as your write ups suggest then surely you wouldn't run off stage crying at the heckles of a man who had obviously left his guide dog at home. And he must have been blind because let's face it you are pretty and you are good looking. I've debated in Varsity championships and have won may a trophy in years gone by but remembering one debate in Liverpool in the 80's I recall what Austin Mitchell said about following Matthew Parris.
" I feel like a cross between a man with herpes and HIV, an incurable romantic"
Now I didn't like Austin Mitchell but he enthralled me by that speech and he changed my mind about him. The secret to surviving a heckling audience is to either turn them round in your favour or buy a book called
Stand Up Put Downs by Rufus Hound
There's one or two good ways of shutting up idiots in the audience that way. Even shuts up the odd hardened Glasweigian.
And Finally
There's a phrase that has become close to my heart and something of a catchphrase to me particularly on twitter. And the reason for that? Well I just hate it when there is trouble and strife about and want to make sure I leave people with a positive thought.
So to end this blog just remember
Live your life with passion and above all........
peace and happiness to you all
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