Bullying and workload - Coronation Street hits the target

Coronation Street has a storyline about a teacher being bullied by senior management. It rang a few bells for me. 

I ran a helpline for stressed teachers and SMT were often more of a problem than the most ‘challenging' pupil. My advice to Brian in Corrie or anyone else who recognises his plight? Ring the union: you shouldn’t have to face this alone. The relentless piling on of workload and the consequent health problems are 100 percent a union issue.

And well done Corrie, 10/10 for relevance to the problems of #workload and #bullying.

Classroom Teacher Manual- advice for teachers from teachers

Universal Credit

Universal Credit has not been a universal success.

Universal Credit replaces:

• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• Income Support
• Child Tax Credits
• Working Tax Credits
• Housing benefit.
• 
  

However people have had to wait months to get the money. In general these people are not in a position to live on daddy's money for a month. The government simply didn't think of that. That is how out of touch they are.

Then there is the fact (verified by www.learnmyway.com) that "Universal Credit is an online service so you need to be able to use computers and the internet."

They also state that users will require a mobile phone, an email address and a bank account. Not everyone has all these things. How someone who is receiving no money is supposed to get a mobile phone is a question which is not answered.
Sanctions are part of the government initiative to create a 'hostile environment' for the poor. Sanctions vary but potentially they can be harsh. 

And what kind of crimes can you be sanctioned for? "If you are judged to have used offensive language in person, on the phone or in writing, it could be seen as failing to meet your claimant commitment. This could leave you at risk of sanctions.If y

The longest sanction is for 3 years. This would be because of serious failure to meet commitments 3 times in one year. And how you live on nothing for three years? Do the Tories look like they care?

Usually, sanctions will apply until you carry out the action you have been sanctioned for plus one week.

http://www.learnmyway.com provides useful information. A French solution - (going out on the streets and bringing down the government) is also an alternative.

Unite has a campaign against this farcical system on behalf of members like myself who are not in employment. I have a pension. Plenty of people do not.

1. Abandon the long waits for claimants to receive money.
2. Allow people to apply for Universal Credit in a jobcentre, not just online.
3. Provide people with better help when the system fails them.
4. Pay landlords directly to stop people getting into rent arrears and losing their homes.
5. End benefit sanctions for all claimants.

A Thatcherite is dead

@BBCBreaking baroness Trumpington will be mourned by Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grub. Nobody else mourns a Thatcherite. 

Idoku trick

I am no expert on sudoku but a useful trick with the i sudoku is shown here.

Whatever number is at the z location in the bottom square will be the same as the number labelled z in the centre square and vice versa.

 With the x/y numbers, whichever numbers are in those positions in the lower square will be replicated in the top square. This trick cuts both ways. If a number cannot be at one z location it cannot be at the other z location.

Likewise, if a number cannot be at either of the x/y locations in the top square it cannot be at those locations in the bottom square.

Look at the idoku. The central line of nine squares contains the same numbers as the i shape. The rule of idoku is that the numbers one to nine must be in the letter i on the sudoku

The number at z in the bottom square precludes any of the small orange squares in that larger square from being that number. It also precludes three of the orange squares in the central square and the solitary orange dot in the top square.

I hope that is clear.

Tim Loughton MP

Tim Loughton MP fines anyone at the DfE who begins a sentence with the word, "So". So what?

According to Wikipedia:
"So is an English word that, apart from its other uses, has become increasingly popular in recent years as a coordinating conjunctive opening word in a sentence. This device is particularly used when answering questions although the questioner may also use the device."

So perhaps Loughton could put that in his pipe and smoke it while relaxing in his bath?

Amazon reviews

OpenDyslexic font

I have begun the process of putting my books into OpenDyslexia Font. This font makes it easier for people with dyslexia to read. It is a pity that blogger do not include it.

Amazon were unable to do this so I resorted to Lulu self-publishing. My page is here

Amazon reviews

Lest we forget

In the First World War over 16 million people died. The war killed almost 7 million civilians and 10 million military personnel.

For the generals and the politicians it was a great war. For everybody else it was great that it was over. 

Nobody can appear on the BBC without wearing a poppy of some description but this is sheer hypocrisy.  Of course any personality on BBC could give money to a good cause without making a song and dance about it.

The BBC also avoided mentioning the words of the longest surviving World War 1 veteran:
"The politicians who took us to war should have been given the guns and told to settle their differences themselves, instead of organising nothing better than legalised mass murder" - Harry Patch, Britain's longest surviving WW1 veteran. Died 2009 #RemembranceDay2018 


The money from sales of poppies provide welfare predominantly for war veterans. In other words the poppy fund subsidises the work the government ought to be doing. Politicians don't die in war but they send better people than themselves to die or be horribly injured. The politicians then appear in public wearing their hypocritical poppies too. 

The Russian revolution put an end to the first world war but the BBC can hardly be expected to mention that!

Amazon disappointing

I changed "Death in Durrington" to OpenDyslexic Font. All went well until I tried to preview it on Amazon and found they had changed it back to a conventional font.

The response from Amazon was disappointing

Hello,

I understand your concerns about using Open Dyslexic font and the conversion result.

Please note, some dyslexic readers may prefer the Open Dyslexic font. This font is available globally and works for reflowable book formats only.

This font is available for readers to select on IOs and eInk devices, but it is not currently available on Fire tablets or other devices and I'm sorry at this time we've no workaround for this issue.

Although at this time there is no option for this, we'll be sure to consider your feedback as we plan for further improvements. Please be sure to check our forums periodically for updates:

Lethal White reviewed on Goodreads

Lethal White by Robert Galbraith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I enjoy detective fiction and this book does not disappoint. There are mysteries to be unfolded and misdemeanours to be avenged. The central characters of Robin (also the name of Batman's assistant!) and Strike are very good. At times they add humour to the situation no matter how dark the crimes.

Much of the plot revolves around the greatest hive of scum and villainy, I refer of course to the House of Commons. The problem with politicians is that what with sexual abuse, dodging taxes, dodgy sources of income and fiddling expenses - it is really hard to work out which of their disgusting behaviours is the subject of blackmail. Too many to choose from!

One thing which I found disappointing was a retro sixties party with anarchists, Maoists (Maoists!) and Trotskyists. On the one hand, it took me back a bit but it was supposed to be contemporary. The author has never had to know the difference between Maoists and Trotskyists but it is still disappointing to find a writer one admires making such crass errors.

Overall, however, read this book. You will enjoy it.

View all my reviews

Open Dyslexic

Julian M Miles, the science fiction and flash fiction writer advised me (and any writer) to give a dyslexic font a chance with any book. The font makes it easier for people with dyslexia (Eddie Izzard to give a famous example) to read your work.

I intend to use it with Death in Durrington first.
(as you can see, it is not easy to use in blogger but I am working on it!)

Banter

Work colleagues often indulge in banter and it can make the job more bearable. However when someone is in a position to fire you, nothing they say is ‘banter’. 

 

Olivia Petter's article in the Indy here shows how the term is used as a "get out of jail free" for racist and sexist bullying. 

 

Trade unions have to deal with issues of workplace harrassment day in and day out. Those without the protection of trade unions are most at risk of bullying of any kind. 

It is also hard to see how gagging orders are anything to do with banter.

Southern Book Show

Anticipating a backlash

I wrote the following letter to the Worthing Herald in response to a right wing fanatic who advocated caning and birching children as a way to keep the little blighters in line.

If you oppose child abuse, you can write to the Worthing Herald letters@worthingherald.co.uk

"I do not know whether Francine Stephenson's charming suggestion that
children should be beaten is based on research or she sucked it out of
her thumb. Since she cites no research we can assume the latter. I was a
teacher for 32 years. During that time, I did not work for a school
where children were beaten.

"I can assure Francine Stephenson that the children who were worst
behaved were the ones who were beaten by their parents. This suggests
that her theory does not hold water."

-----

My experience when I was a pupil was that the school bully was regularly outside the deputy head's office waiting for a caning. Did he stop being a bully? No. What we got was a bully with a sore backside.

I am still waiting for the evidence that beating children is a good idea. In 1986 it was outlawed in state schools. Until 1998 parents could still pay good money to have their children beaten in nice private schools.

Some relevant stories are

"Beaten for Jesus"
"Abuse in Boarding Schools" 
"The School of Hard Knocks"

 

Y A L E

A speaker at a college annual dinner was a man from Yale. He started out by spelling the name of the institution and then continued,
"Y stands for Youth!"
He spoke for 15 minutes about "youth."
"A stands for Achievement!"
He spoke for 15 minutes about "Achievement."
"L stands for Learning!"
He spoke for 15 minutes about "Learning.".
His audience were looking surreptitiously at their watches.
"E stands for Excellence"
He then spoke for a further half hour about "excellence."

The Master then rose and, thanking their guest, he also expressed thanks to God that their distinguished visitor was not from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Then he sat down.

 

Classroom Teacher Manual

The Apprentice - look at tomorrow's capitalists and laugh

Lord Sugar’s theatre of cruelty known as “The Apprentice” has returned to the screens in another series. In the third episode the teams were set up to fail by being given the task of creating doughnuts for a high class market when none of them knew a doughnut from their elbow. They had to learn to produce doughnuts without any training. The results reflected this lack of expertise.

On display also were two styles of management. One has a Project Manager who gives orders and the sole contribution of the team is to fulfil the PM’s dream. This is Lord Sugar’s preferred method and only works if the project manager is infallible. The flaw is obvious. When Lord Sugar was appointed “Enterprise Czar” by Tony Blair his fallibility was all too clear. Questioned about the banking crisis his famous on-screen response was “Oh Gawd”.

Tom Bunday, on the other hand, had a style of management which involved getting his team onside and consulting them about the task. He praised people who achieved instead of denouncing them as “a bloody disgrace” if they made a mistake.

Since the premise of the show is that team members stab each other in the back this attracted criticism from his own team members who insisted he was “not taking decisions.” And Lord Sugar made it perfectly clear that capitalism does not work like that.

 

So although the premise of the show is nonsensical it does provide some interesting insights into the capitalists of yesterday and tomorrow.

As a lesson in making doughnuts however it falls down somewhat. 


Death Agony of Capitalism

Books on Amazon

 https://www.amazon.com/Durrington-Detective-Agency-Derek-McMillan/dp/1986339424/ Durrington
 Durrington Detective Agency 12 stories with fiendish detective puzzles for the eponymous agency.

https://www.amazon.com/Death-Durrington-stories-Detective-Agency/dp/1987659627/
Death in Durrington - more stories from the Durrington Detective Agency

(I would welcome any suggestions for a name for the next book. Must contain the word "Durrington" and preferably be alliterative!)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075V4VBP2 Death Agony of Capitalism. Leon Trotsky's prescient political program written in 1938 but still relevant today

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1723528064 The Mirror of Eternity, second edition. In dreams and reveries you can go to any place and time faster than the Tardis.#mirrorofeternity
#scifi #fantasy #dreamscape

https://www.amazon.com/Salt-Wars-Mirror-Eternity-2/dp/1508590354/ Salt Wars, a myth of the foundation of Salzburg - the city of salt. #mirrorofeternity #salzburg #scifi #fantasy #dreamscape

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1507599099 The Miranda Revolution. Can a mother's love help bring down a brutal dictatorship? #mirrorofeternity #revolution #scifi #fantasy #dreamscape

https://www.amazon.com/Mirror-Eternity-Mr-Derek-McMillan/dp/1522916938/ Defending the Sangreal #mirrorofeternity #sangreal #arthurian
#scifi #fantasy #dreamscape

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N456K2M Domain of dreams. Stories of the #mirrorofeternity #scifi #fantasy #dreamscape

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Derek-McMillan/e/B009FUXHWY Author Page

 

Swank

What would you do with £60,000?

High Court Judges are in line for a whopping £60,000. There are numerous articles in the press but here is the link to the Independent one

Everyone in the public sector has had "pay restraint" but nobody is telling the judges to show restraint. They are already thought of as remote from the people they judge. Even the way they dress sets them apart from the human race. This will just put an additional barrier between them and people on an average wage.

There is allegedly a problem in recruitment and a bribe of £60,000 is supposed to cure the problem. Teachers, medical staff and the police (etc. etc!) are not being offered this bribe. 

The government can wash their hands of the whole matter and say that an independent review body came up with this one. The problem is the government can pick and choose which independent review bodies they listen to. Will they listen to this one? If so it is their choice.

One more reason to get rid of this ramshackle apology for a government.

Bakers win case over refusal to make "gay cake"

The success of the Ashers bakery in the "gay cake" case was made possible by the finance of the Christian Institute, a Christian charity. As a Christian I am deeply offended that a charity does not have more pressing needs than to further a cause which is opposed to the most basic Christian principle of "loving your neighbour". 
 

#worthingflash

Click here to go there

#worthingflash the story so far

The fairy who didn't have wings

Crackers

10 Loves and 10 Hates 

Deadly Horoscope

Angelo's Letter

Tables Turned

Laughing Larry 

Prey 

The Best of Pies, the Worst of Pies 

Earwigging 

Aliksander Chess

Done like a Kipper

3-across

Party Games

Storm Catcher

Losing Coral

Heaven's Gate

Tough Enough

Grandad's Crabmeat

McStrike

https://waronwant.org/media/FFS410 The McStrike is an inspiration. Low paid workers are fighting some of the most vicious employers on the planet.

You can help. This is the link to show support.
Donate to the strike fund
McDonalds 
Wetherspoons

McSolidarity forever!

New writer for Worthing Flash - we have reached Northampton!

Welcome John Sheirer to Worthing Flash. http://worthingflash.blogspot.com/ John Sheirer lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, with his wonderful wife Betsy and happy dog Libby. He has taught writing and communications for 26 years at Asnuntuck Community College in Enfield, Connecticut, where he also serves as editor and faculty advisor for Freshwater Literary Journal (submissions welcome). He writes a monthly column on current events for his hometown newspaper, the Daily Hampshire Gazette, and his books include memoir, fiction, poetry, essays, political satire, and photography. Find him at JohnSheirer.com.

GPs unhappy with provision of Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Tories think it is fine.

Mock the week

Dara O'Briain has a weekly rant about Labour supporters complaining of BBC bias. 

I suspect that Labour supporters are not fussed about a satirical show being satirical. The problem is the news programs which have almost universally adopted the Blairite hate campaign against Jeremy Corbyn. 

Andrew Marr was practically alone in trying to report accurately on the NEC retreat over the examples which had been tacked on to a definition of anti-semitism. The examples have been used by the Netanyahu government to forbid any criticism of Israel. 

BBC news has persistently construed opposition to Zionism as "anti-semitism". 

Every time Labour is ahead in the polls the news refers to this as "disappointing". 

Bog-standard Blairites like Alistair Campbell seem to be constantly giving their opinions - as if anybody cared.

And an attack on Jeremy Corbyn is an attack on all socialists

Python moves in a mysterious way.

Consider (or run) the following program:

family = ["Paul", "Nick", "Niall", "Peter", "Michael", "Liz", "Beth"]

print (family)

print (sorted (family), "is defined as the list sorted")

print (max (family), "is defined as max of the list")

print (min (family), "is defined as min of the list")

#one way to make a list

for family in ["Paul", "Nick", "Niall", "Peter", "Michael", "Liz", "Beth"]:

print (family, "is a family member")

#add rafa and theo

family = ["Paul", "Nick", "Niall", "Peter", "Michael", "Liz", "Beth"]

family=family+["Theo"]

family=family+["Rafa"]

print (family)

print (max (family), "is defined as the new max of the list")

#to be continued

Peter was the max of the family until Theo and Rafa came along!

I am more interested in manipulating strings than numbers. One of the exercises is to write a program to solve quadratic equations. That would be like writing a program to do crosswords or soduko so you have no fun!.

Amazon Author Page

Tobias Ellwood

I hate Tories. I think it's in the genes.

However Tobias Ellwood tried to do something useful. That makes him unique among Tories.

Amazon Author Page

The moon magazine

Did you know that the United States spends more on its military than the next ten nations combined? 

With just 4% of that budget, or $30 billion/year, the UN estimates we could end world hunger. With 20%, or $150 billion/year, we could give every person on Earth safe drinking water and sanitation—simultaneously slashing disease and infant mortality rates and boosting productivity. 

Might providing food, water, and sanitation to the people of the Earth not provide better security than threatening them with ever more horrific weapons?

In fact the article is full of "did you know" moments. Here is another:

U.S. elections are the worst among Western democracies and ranked 52nd, out of 153 countries worldwide in the 2016 Perceptions of Electoral Integrity index. The Perceptions of Electoral Integrity study measures things like how difficult it is to vote; how reliable the vote collection and counting methodology are; how much influence money has in determining outcomes; etc.

There are other possible measures of democracy, of course. Unfortunately, the United States doesn’t fare as grandly as we imagine in any of them. The British-based Legatum Institute ranks the United States 18th overall in “prosperity” and 28th in “personal freedom.” The U.S.-based Cato Institute ranks the United States 24th in “personal freedom” and 11th in “economic freedom.” The Canadian-based World Freedom Index ranks the United States 27th in a combined index of “economic,” “political,” and “press” freedoms. The CIA-funded Polity Data Series gives the U.S. democracy a score of 8 out of 10, but gives 58 other countries a higher score. Finally, researchers at Princeton and Northwestern University conclude that the United States is more accurately identified as an oligarchy, “in which the wealthy elite largely determine government policy,” than a democracy. No doubt most citizens would agree.

Amazon Author Page

#whiterthanwhite

The gutter press has highlighted the case of a police officer who was disciplined ostensibly for using the phrase "whiter than white". Predictably they called this "political correctness gone mad." The story elicited a knee-jerk response from the far right on social media.

This story is deliberately trivialising the issue of racism in the police force. The number of deaths in custody is at a ten year high. Those who died were disproportionately from ethnic minorities.

The Sun and the Mail decided that death in custody
was not a story. The "whiter than white" one was front page material.

The term "whiter than white" could be used quite innocently or ignorantly but in the context of policing it is designed to raise a snigger from officers who understand full well the intention behind it. According to the BBC black people are four times more likely to be beaten by Met police officers than white people.

The story is here

Socialist Reviews 

#supportpeoplenotcuts

West Sussex County Council has announced that from next year they plan to cut their entire Housing Related Support budget, a decision which is likely to mean the closure of every homeless shelter in West Sussex and the loss of support for many vulnerable and elderly residents at home.

This will cost money down the line when the homeless victims of this callous policy develop social and health problems which the Council is legally obliged to deal with.

They blame central government for their disgusting cuts to homeless services. Tory Council blames Tory government. Beelzebub accuses Satan? 

Thank God, Labour are fighting back with a campaign  #supportpeoplenotcuts Charities cannot make up the inevitable shortfall although we know they will do their level best. With the Council stabbing them in the back it will not be easy.

Socialist Reviews