The Daily Rant

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Ejookashun, ejukashun, education. Just went to see the film Kidulthood. Tells a story of inner city kids. It was, frankly, scary. Now I think most people who go to see it will probably dismiss it as a bit exagerated....however although it was almost by mistake that I ended up seeing it, it struck a chord. Now I had a private education for the most part and certainly never went to an inner city school. Funnily enough the film was set literally outside my front door and portrayed the school my partner went to. She used to regale me with stories of the goings on, and to tell the truth I thought she was exaggerating......until I met her friends etc and was faced with incontrovertible evidence.

For many years I would pontificate about kids and schools etc without having the slightest clue about what many kids have to go through these days. What is it like to spend your school days literally being frightened for your life? Yes pooh, pooh and all that but what if someone you know is carrying a blade or worse and you know they don't like you? What if there's a group of kids don't like you and set out to make your life hell? I remember when I was at school a girl having her jaw and nose broken by another group of girls and how shocked I was.....it wasn't even at my school, but this kind of thing is commonplace in some schools these days ( or common place just outside the school where it doesn't count then etc). The nastier things are just unbelievable.
It's not just in the school it's what happens between peers outside of school too.

Over the last few years I've increasingly become an advocate of banning private education in some form. I understand that many parents work very hard and feel they have no alternative but to educate their children privately and simply want what's best for them, and I think that's laudable and do not wish to judge them in any form, of course not. The reason my feelings have moved in the way they have is because I can see little alternative in order to create a level playing field and give all kids a chance. We have a suppos-ed labour government screaming about education and investing in kids, and yet what do they do? Send their kids private or wangle them into some top performing school!!! As parents I think that's entirely appropriate. However as politicians it is despicable and what message are they sending?? And this is my point....private schools are a get out clause for those who can afford it and means the rest get left further and further behind. If the people who are meant to be guiding these institutions to a better place are not faced with sending their kids to one, then naturally I think the pressure on them is lessened and thus the issue moves slightly down the agenda.

Let's be honest governemnts have consistently played double standards with education. Not just this government but all recent governemnts in this country. yes more money is being spent now perhaps but on what? On paperwork and bureaucracy for the most part. Teachers are being made increasingly impotent and given less and less leeway in how to teach. Standards are falling -YES they are. Exams are hardly exams any more. TB sets ridiculously high targets for numbers at university and drop out rates are at an all time high with university officials claiming entrants are simply not capable of undertaking the courses. Employers are now saying also that graduates are not of the calibre required.

For me the proof is in the pudding. Teachers hold a crucial place in society, and yet are still underpaid. There's a shortage of teachers, why? Because it's an extremely tough job in what is often a very tricky environment....and for not the greatest rewards. When you are continually being undermined by those who are supposed to support you it is very difficult to do the job for the love of it. My feeling is pay teachers more, have more of them, ensure schools have playing fields etc, make schools safe so have plenty of non-teaching staff around too. Stop the snobbery and understand that different kids have different skillsets. Appreciate those with a less academic skillset as much as those with and offer an education in suitable subjects and strive to ensure that all have a at the very least a minimum standard of reading and writing. As for having schools of excellence...well why not? As long as these a representative across the board - not just for academics.

Once all this is done then start worrying about giving exams to kids in nursery school or plucking some arbitrary number out the clouds for numbers who should be at "university". When I went to University there were polytechnics and tech colleges as well which all produced graduates with differing skill sets, some academic some more pragmatic some vocational etc. All human beings and worthy of respect. To me it was huge snobbery to turn all these different colleges into universities. All had very different functions each equally important. Hey but that's just me, TB obviously felt differently and felt that unless you went to an institution of a certain name and staus and earned a certain amount and wore a white shirt then you were some inferior being. Oh but then he would wouldn't he - after all he benefitted from a private education and is obviously superior.

Call me a cynic....announcing a seperation right now? Hmmmmm......read the small print...just for a short time....draw your own conclusions...

Now TB has brought g(G)od into the equation. Storm in a teacup? Personally I don't give a hoot if he believes in g(G)od or not - that's his choice. But one has to ask if this is more a reflection on HIS judgement, TB's that is. I mean given the fragile state of relations with parts of the global Muslim community and that TB saw fit to invade a foreign territory and that "crusade" was seen as an apt word to describe this invasion by the US President and, and, and......actually scrub all the above! What is more pertinent to me is that I, yes me, think that he should be more worried about how I judge him. I am part of the electorate after all. It is supposedly the electorate that gave him the power to make the decision to drop his bombs. Now, even if I didn't vote for him, he is still supposed to be representing me and my needs - at least on a foreign stage. Oh, but no, he answers to g(G)od not to "the people"!!!! It does begin to make sense though. This is why he went to war in the first place depite the fact that the majority of the population was against it (not to mention the UN) - because he heard little voices in his head and he felt that he was answerable to them!!!!!!

Now admittedly I have difficulty with the whole notion of g(G)od...but I don't try and force others to follow my view or insist that believers are mislead or whatever. However when I hear the elected "leader" of my country proclaiming to set his stall around what, I believe, is a mythical figure then not only do I feel insulted but also somewhat alarmed.

Further it brings up,what for me are, worrying thoughts vis a vis faith schools etc and TB's push for more and more of the damned things . Now these I do find offensive. Let's brainwash little peeps into believing in g(G)od as we see him/her/it and allow them to believe that without the fear of you know who, they'll grow into evil monsters. Maybe kids can have an education about all religions and if they feel the need to join one then let them as they grow. Don't send them to a single faith school so that they can become brain washed and entrenched in their own view of g(G)od and later grow up to run their country and then go to war with another sovereign state safe in the knowledge that they are not answerable to anybody but the g(G)od!!! Where does that leave the growing numbers who don't believe in g(G)od or believe in a different god!!!

My cat thinks I'm God (when I feed her).....hmmmm....mebbe that's why she poops in the neighbour's garden......

Him-Darling, would you mind signing this?

Her-Of course not darling, what is it?

Him- Oh nothing, I'm just remortgaging the house to the tune of £400k

Her- Super,does my bum look big in this?

Just a quickie. I read today that Ruth Kelly is preparing a paper proposing that prospective employers in the schooling industry....err, that'll be head teachers then, face a penalty of 5 years in jail for not checking references correctly. This is being done to set parents minds at rest. Does this mean that the self-flagellating, closer-to-GOd-than-the-rest-of-you one herself will be facing a stiff sentence? Is it not her department that has singularly failed to monitor and implement policies preventing paedophiles working in our schools? 3 words bad,rubbish, rid!

Excuse me......anybody seen TB of late? So we now have a lame duck PM. It's official....he's gone. Now I know that abrogation of responsibility has been the corner stone of this Government, but can somebody please explain to me exactly what is being achieved by having a dinosaur rattling around number 10? I mean we know he's going, he really went a long time ago, there's been rumour after rumour since he got in about a rift with Gordie and now his time is up...what he's staying for?. WHY? why why why why? Is there some record he's going for? Has Gordie realised that actually he's ruined the economy beyond belief, bird flu might be real, databases on gun holders and paedophiles are beyong governmental simpletons, hypocracy and lethargy are rife? Perhaps slimy old Gordie has had a doh! moment and realises the chalice he has coveted is actually little more than a pig trough! Or maybe TB is going for some kind of record....nah!! This Government has been thoroughly discredited on all fronts ....they have failed the health service, education,education, education, foreign policy, law and order, immigration etc etc etc....Remember the Tories of old and quangos and dishonesty....can somebodt tell me the difference? I mean Mandleson and Blunkett were both given numerous chances. We have an arms procurement minister that would probably be facing 25 years in a US jail if some allegation against him were ever proved, not to mention incumbent ministers now having totally seperate finaces from their spouse despite signing the dotted line.

So now the govenment has reversed its policy on water meters. Hmmmm....they themselves described it as a life tax but a handful of years ago!!!! And what of the water companies? Do not tell me we are in a drought due to lack of rain!! Not in this country...please!! Perhaps we can look at the efficiency of water collection and distribution as a root cause!!

Enuf enuf.........

So Abu Hamza is a bad man and got 7 years....out after a couple. The whole world is up in arms one way or the other. Freedom of speech is at stake and the press say they should have the right to write what they want. Islam and the Muslim world has been offended by the printing of cartoons that are pretty insulting. So where to now? Further polarization of the global society is ongoing. Our "leaders" seem at odds as to what to do. Mudslinging abounds. The papers were wrong. Some of the militant protests by some Muslims were equally appalling.

I don't know what the answer is. What I do think is that we, in the West, need to make sure our side of the street is clean before we start taking the "moral' highground. I'm not sure that this out pouring of anger is entirely due to the "cartoons", though they are certainly part of it. Remember that Islam transcends political and country borders. Looking back, even in recent history, the West's dealing with the Middle East have been pretty heavy handed. Our dealings with the Palestinians and the Israelis do appear to be pretty one-sided. The formation of Iraq, the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, the failure to protect Muslims in Bosnia et al - and all this is not to mention some of the intricacies in our oil dealings. There are countless other examples of what could be taken to be "Western" interference etc.

Now what strikes me is how peeved I get some of the time at Western leaders. Bush and Bliar constantly irritate me. Yet they have not "invaded" my land and, Bliar at least, has been elected by my own people. How would I feel for example if say, Pakistan or China, for example, tried to tell my country it could not pursue a nuclear programme? Or maybe if Russia invaded because they beleived Bliar was a facist dictator...errr....hmmmm....maybe not such a good example! I get angry enough with Sepp Blatter sticking his nose in over the football and would quite happily give him a piece of my mind!! If he had been constantly interfering over the last 50 or 100 years or more, and in such an infuriatingly heavy handed way I might well be moved to give him a bop on the snout!! Would my action be justified? No, probably not. Would they be understandable? Yes sir!!! (I think anyway!!)

I'm not trying to condone the loss of life or the rioting etc over these cartoons. All I'm thinking is it is so easy to sit back an condemn it wholeheartedly and then not look to the lessons to be learned. It's not as if Christianity has not been through the same thing. Pre Descartes peeps were quite often damaged for even thinking of studying humans in a scientific manner!! Like I say I'm not trying to condone, but I do think we should do all we can not to create a breeding groung for the extreme elements. Perhaps the press might even stand up and occasionally do a positive story on Islam!

So Abu Hamza is a bad man and got 7 years....out after a couple. The whole world is up in arms one way or the other. Freedom of speech is at stake and the press say they should have the right to write what they want. Islam and the Muslim world has been offended by the printing of cartoons that are pretty insulting. So where to now? Further polarization of the global society is ongoing. Our "leaders" seem at odds as to what to do. Mudslinging abounds. The papers were wrong. Some of the militant protests by some Muslims were equally appalling.

I don't know what the answer is. What I do think is that we, in the West, need to make sure our side of the street is clean before we start taking the "moral' highground. I'm not sure that this out pouring of anger is entirely due to the "cartoons", though they are certainly part of it. Remember that Islam transcends political and country borders. Looking back, even in recent history, the West's dealing with the Middle East have been pretty heavy handed. Our dealings with the Palestinians and the Israelis do appear to be pretty one-sided. The formation of Iraq, the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, the failure to protect Muslims in Bosnia et al - and all this is not to mention some of the intricacies in our oil dealings. There are countless other examples of what could be taken to be "Western" interference etc.

Now what strikes me is how peeved I get some of the time at Western leaders. Bush and Bliar constantly irritate me. Yet they have not "invaded" my land and, Bliar at least, has been elected by my own people. How would I feel for example if say, Pakistan or China, for example, tried to tell my country it could not pursue a nuclear programme? Or maybe if Russia invaded because they beleived Bliar was a facist dictator...errr....hmmmm....maybe not such a good example! I get angry enough with Sepp Blatter sticking his nose in over the football and would quite happily give him a piece of my mind!! If he had been constantly interfering over the last 50 or 100 years or more, and in such an infuriatingly heavy handed way I might well be moved to give him a bop on the snout!! Would my action be justified? No, probably not. Would they be understandable? Yes sir!!! (I think anyway!!)

I'm not trying to condone the loss of life or the rioting etc over these cartoons. All I'm thinking is it is so easy to sit back an condemn it wholeheartedly and then not look to the lessons to be learned. It's not as if Christianity has not been through the same thing. Pre Descartes peeps were quite often damaged for even thinking of studying humans in a scientific manner!! Like I say I'm not trying to condone, but I do think we should do all we can not to create a breeding groung for the extreme elements. Perhaps the press might even stand up and occasionally do a positive story on Islam!

So the top cop has accused the press of being institutionally racist. Guess what....the press deny it. And what's more he's wrong in his views on Soham. And he's not been in the job a year yet. And he shot a Brazilian electrician in Stockwell (or he told somebody to or something). And the proof is Damilola, Stephen Lawrence and Anthony Walker. See three examples therefore the press is right. Hmmmmmmm.......wotcha think? I think it's absolute, mind-boggling, unbelievable, inconceivable, total and utter hogwash. Look it's business. Whether it's ITN or The Guardian or the sun the majority of their customers,in absolute terms, are white. So their reports are going to reflect that. They want to sell copy. The proof it's institutional? Well it's in the denial. They don't even admit the logic of the business to themselves. And who loses? The "minorities"......how often do you see wonderful stories of Muslim kindness? How many stories to the papers carry of Muslim terrorists or "Mad mullahs" in comparison to their proportion in society.

If you are white and middle class and living in the countrified home counties - do you feel safer walking along a street at night if a white man walks towards you or a black man? What do you think it is that makes you feel this way??

Come on....realisticly society is institutionally racist....not just in this country but everywhere.....be it South Africa or Libya or Ireland.The media undoubtedly are part of this. But you know what....we are so shamed that we cannot even bear to look at it. My belief is that somebody who is "institutionally racist" is not necessarily beyond help and therefore evil. Perhaps they are just simply ignorant and a victim of their environment? Let's face it, being racist is in itself an admission of ignorance. Now if you commit a racist crime you deserve the full punishment of the law. Perhaps for those otherwise "nice" people who are unknowingly(or maybe institutionally) racist, black or white, then a bit of exposure to individuals from other cultures would help. Things are changing I believe/hope and we are more aware than we were, and I think all bigotries are and should be less tolerated than they were

Anyway back to my point. I find it almost hystreical that the press are so indignant about being accused of being institutionally racist. You are ! Face it! Learn from it and stop retreating into you bunkers of self-justification!!!!!!!!! Using Damilola, Stephen Lawrence and Anthony Walker to prove otherwise smacks of the line "Ooooh but some of my best friends are black!" (Gay,Differently abled,foreign or whatever).