Grievous Bodily Harm – a short story A rapist is disabled by women who were left to to defend themselves. There was a large crowd of women outside the court, blocking the road as they held up their banners, many of which simply proclaimed, “Send him back to jail.” Earlier in the day a queue …
The Sussexes with their Harry and Meghan saga may have bored some people stiff of late but their American hosts should beware. It could well be that the whole silly story was got up as a distraction by King Charles and his family. Once Meghan’s ambition has driven one of her children into the White …
A former student of mine attended the University of St Andrews. One evening, cycling on the pavement without lights, she turned a corner and knocked over a young man. They both found themselves sprawled across the pavement. Before she could get up her victim had got to his feet and extended a hand. “Hi, I’m …
After ten years in farming I trained, as a mature student, to teach English and continued my studies while I set out on a teaching career. From a headship in the maintained sector I moved, via the independent sector, to the world’s most expensive international school where I ran the English department and continued to …
LITERACY, THE IMPORTANCE OF READING AND ENGAGING YOUNG PEOPLE Read More »
Train Drivers – once popular Once upon a time this little girl would have had no trouble getting to her Granny’s Christmas party.
Always cheerful, always helpful. Always turn up. What a service. Many thanks.
On Saturday, August 27th, Janice Turner wrote in The Times of despair as burglary and car theft are all but ignored by local forces. The day before I had come across four police officers, talking amongst themselves outside a service station in west London. My attention had been drawn to them by the presence of some eight police …
Last week it was reported that car parking spaces are to be enlarged to take account of the growing size of cars and SUVs etc. No consideration seems to have been given to this further encouragement to build and drive even bigger cars, with all that will mean for urban road congestion, a reduction in the …
Introduction While tutoring a twenty-five year-old school “failure” I began to appreciate widespread concerns about the poor literacy standards of many young people in the UK. You can see the young man talking about his transition with a teacher who has used the book here. I am a former head teacher and English examiner for …
What, How and Why: a manual of better English – how the book came about. Read More »
Status for Teachers Whom do we trust with our children? In an emergency how willing would you be to leave a child of yours, a child of about eight shall we say, with a neighbour, someone you do not know particularly well and whom the child does not know? An adult perhaps about whom you …
