We hear much at present about gangs recruiting adolescents who have been expelled from school or who are truanting from school. These are the foot soldiers of the criminal gangs behind knife violence and drug dealing. They are often relatively innocent parties whose lives are ruined. Yesterday a friend reminded me how he had taken …
Batty English examinations – Sunday Times, April 7th Expecting ten and eleven year-olds to answer these questions is like expecting a candidate for a driving license to explain the dynamic forces that work on a vehicle in motion. It is worse than “batty”: even were candidates coached sufficiently to provide correct answers to these …
Batty English examinations – Sunday Times, April 7th My response was published in the letters page today, April 14th: Expecting ten and eleven year-olds to answer these questions is like expecting a candidate for a driving license to explain the dynamic forces that work on a vehicle in motion. It is pointless. These tests involve …
In effect we are no longer members since the process of leaving the EU was triggered by the referendum two and a half years ago. Matters can no longer be the same now between the UK and the EU. How would we expect the EU to treat us now should we say that we have …
Release a dangerous dog onto the street and prison awaits. How much more dangerous is a teenager? The government is to require schools, hospitals and social services to monitor and report young people suspected of involvement with knife crime. What is required of parents? Who brings these troublesome young people into the world? Who has …
The recent spate of knife-crime which seems to drag in young people, and the resulting concerns that something should be done about young people who simply cannot keep away from trouble reminded me of some young people I met a few years ago. I was researching ideas for a novel and the British Army kindly …
Three months ago someone obtained access to the contacts in my Yahoo account. The messages that were sent in my name were so badly written that my friends realised immediately that they were hoaxes. I changed my password. A few weeks later the account was dead and Yahoo have done nothing to help me despite …
In a schools supplement in last week’s Spectator three contributors reminded readers of parents’ responsibilities, to ensure that their children receive an efficient education. For children to receive an effective education they need to be prepared to work and co-operate in school. When parents fail then their children need to be distanced somehow from …
I am a loss as to why twenty-two young men at Aston Villa had to trouble the constabulary recently when one of their number was assaulted by a spectator. Once the intruder was under control their match should have been held up only for as long as it took to confiscate the assailant’s clothes and …
Adolescents find themselves waiting to abandon childhood and direction by adults for the supposed freedoms of the adult world. When they become impatient they sometimes damage themselves was well as others. With successive raisings of the school-leaving age, this stage in their lives has been prolonged and the difficulties associated with it have increased.There are …
