In a recent report on the need to protect younger pupils in secondary schools (The Times – Tuesday May 4th 2021) there are references to “behaviour management,” “educational technology training” and “controlled environments,” more appropriate for prisons rather than schools.Schools invite the trust of parents and with this trust goes the expectation that schools will keep children safe and …
Reported last week, the words of Tony Sewell, chairman of the government’s race review: “culturally African people transformed themselves.” On duty at my school’s front door I once refused admission to a young man who had not bothered to buy a ticket for a concert; he was black. He called me a racist and attempted …
It is perhaps telling that on St George’s Day I encountered the House of Commons Prayer, composed by the Speaker in the sixteenth century, Among other things it speaks of members, laying aside all private interests, prejudices and partial affections …. the public welfare, peace and tranquility of the realm, and …. the uniting and knitting together …
Reports during the current pandemic tell of people enjoying meeting others, face to face, and of their pleasure in simply exchanging greetings with another human being. We are re-discovering the importance of acknowledging strangers as fellow humans, there to help us if need be and for us to assist when they are in difficulty. How …
ITV News towards the end of March – two mothers in Croydon each living with two children in unbelievable council-owned squalor. Fathers not even mentioned – if only we could have had a look at their living quarters. These children do have fathers but how much are they doing to help provide for and bring …
A brightly coloured, illuminated helmet fastened to their heads, like a probationary tag, and a requirement that they travel daily to report to the nearest police station would warn off potential victims and would remind these men, and any onlookers, that they are pariahs. Other like-minded males would be discouraged and we would be saved the expense …
In nineteen-sixty an American exchange teacher spent a year at my school. On one occasion he stood in the doorway of the staff room and addressed the occupants. “Say, isn’t it about time you Brits got up to date and got yourselves a president.” There was a polite pause and then a reply drifted …
It is easy to burn a bridge with a box of matches or a determined celebrity. Harry will have to use all his skill to re-build bridges. Don’t leave it to Archie and George.
Last week The Times reported that an Italian court has allowed a woman to use frozen embryos despite the objection of the father from whom she is now estranged. (Woman, 43, wins the right World p.31 The Times March 1st 2021)Like other cases, some also involving artificial means to bring about the birth of a child, …
MY VERY GOOD FORTUNE An introduction to a book I am writing I am writing this as we approach Christmas 2020, not quite locked down but restricted and aware now more than ever of how important kindness can be. Kindness and love, not quite the same perhaps, but linked. It seems to me that kindness …
KINDNESS, CONSIDERATION AND FRIENDS – OUR DEPENDENCE ON THEM Read More »
