Will the Scots throw in the towel?

I will miss the Scots, bottling out of the Union. They have been good friends, keeping the rest of us on our toes. I’m sad that many of them want to throw in the towel; if they can’t hack a Westminster government what hope for the rest of us?

Examination results – this absurd obsession

Once again we are witnessing our annual mindless convolutions over the approach to adult life of sixteen and eighteen year-olds as examination results are published. The media circus, and the commentary of self-important “educationalists” is about as significant to national life as the European Song Contest. This happens because it is far, far easier for …

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Why we Brits like Aussies – Happy Birthday, Sir Peter Cosgrove

Quote received today, Sir Peter’s 68th birthday, from a radio interview a few years ago. A lady interviewed him concerning guns and children. This is a portion of an ABC radio interview between a female broadcaster and General Cosgrove who was about to sponsor a Boy Scout Troop visiting his military headquarters. FEMALE INTERVIEWER: So, …

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Teachers – don’t strike – just ignore government stupidity

This morning on Radio 4 an NUT spokesman said that one reason for today’s teachers’ strike was the increased imposition of bureaucracy. This, he claimed, reduces the time which teachers can devote to teaching children. Fine, if these things do detract from education, we should ask why teachers undertake them in the first place. Rather …

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Suárez – give him dentures

A gum shield was suggested yesterday by The Guardian’s football correspondent. A gum shield might just manage to fall out during a game: dentures could be handed over to the ref, with great ceremony, at the start of each game.

Head teachers to fine ineffective parents? Have teachers learnt nothing?

How on earth would head teachers impose fines? How would they check whether parents are reading regularly to their children? How could schools continue with the pretence that some parents really want an education for them, rather than a cheap child-minding service – an easy way of carrying out their statutory obligation to ensure that …

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