Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Oxford Union grovel to Nazis

The spirit of Chamberlain is alive in Oxford. The Oxford Union pick and choose who they honour. David Irving was imprisoned for voicing pro-Nazi views in Austria where it is illegal. Therefore the Oxford Union honoured him.

Many people, British subjects and British residents, have been locked up without charge or trial in Guantanamo. The Oxford Union studiously ignores them.

A wee bit two faced perhaps.

Incidentally if fascists "must be allowed freedom of speech" would you say the same of paedophiles? Should they be offered a platform as well? I know people disagree with their views but surely the same argument would apply to them? It is a fake argument.

And how much freedom do the liberal democrats expect to get in a BNP concentration camp as a reward for patronising Griffin?

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Socialism 2007



I attended Socialism 2007. It was a great opportunity to meet old friends and in particular to meet people campaigning against cuts in the NHS who are experiencing the same things we are in West Sussex.

My daughter, whose first Socialist Party event it was, reprimanded me for not teaching her the words of "The Internationale"!

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Nasty one Cyril

Sir Cyril Taylor GBE, chair of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust has advised the government that there are 17,000 bad teachers who ought to be sacked. It is surprising that Chris Woodhead isn’t suing him for identity theft as he made the self-same spurious claim ten years ago.



The figure is based on OFSTED assessments of teachers. This scientific evaluation is based on a ten minute glance at the work of a teacher who may have been teaching for ten or twenty years. Moreover OFSTED inspectors define lessons as “satisfactory” and by sleight of hand unelected individuals like Cyril translate that as “bad”. A few elementary lessons in the English language would not do him any harm.



I run a helpline for stressed teachers in West Sussex and half of the time the source of their difficulties is senior management who are themselves being bullied by “advisers” and politicians like Cyril demanding impossible targets.



His solution, to sack bad teachers and “go out and recruit fantastic teachers” shows what a fantasy world he lives in. Spend a couple of hundred thousand pounds on training a teacher and as soon as he or she has difficulties you throw them on the scrap heap. Then you replace them with “fantastic” – ie fantasy, mythical – teachers…. from Hogwarts presumably.

All teachers will encounter professional difficulties at some stage in their career and if they get help and support they can overcome them. They get that help and support from other teachers as a rule. Certainly not from people like Cyril. What are they for?