Been bereft of an internet connection at home since Saturday. Hopefully we'll be back on-line by tonight.
Bankers are saying they are going to move out of the UK and pundits are complaining that the UK will lose its pre-eminence as a financial centre. Well, if the benefit of being a prime financial centre is occasionally having a budget deficit the size of a minor solar system, then another country is welcome to the financial services sector.
Japan Airlines (which shares many of British Airways’ structural problems) is about to declare itself bankrupt. Meanwhile British Airways staff are about to vote for a strike. The words turkeys, voting and Christmas come to mind.
Suicide bombers are once more in the news in Afghanistan. Any religion whose sacred texts can be used to justify death-dealing extremism is not worthy of being followed. In the secular world (at least in the UK) one cannot justify death by using an extreme version of the secular legal system, precisely because the legal system does not allow extremes. A religion is no more than a code of behaviour, and hence a spiritual legal code. If that code can, in any way, shape for form, be used to justify evil, then it should be banned. That means the banning of all Abrahamic religions.
A couple of days ago the Boy Cameroon came up with an election pledge that under a Conservative government only the brightest university graduates would be allowed into the teaching profession, and they would be paid commensurate with salaries in the private sector.
Firstly, teachers are not badly paid – I should know, I was married to one for the best part of 10 years.
Secondly, having a bright mind does not automatically make one a good teacher. I have known some very bright teachers whose ability to enthuse their pupils was akin to that of a slug. As stated in a post from last week, nine tenths of education is encouragement. The best teacher I ever had didn’t even have a degree.
Thirdly, the link between the ability to control a classroom of 30 odd teenagers and the academic achievement of the person exercising such control has not been demonstrated, let alone proven.
Yet more ill-conceived and populist crap from our political classes.
4 comments:
Maybe (if they win the election and instigate this piece of lunacy) they should combine it with one of Labours, equally pathetic, ideas and have their teachers with degrees accompanied by ex-servicemen fast-tracked into the system. At least that way they shouldn't have too many problems with the control aspect - and they get to reduce the unemployment figures too!
Best teacher I ever had, had no degree (and very little formal education owing to the war) but knew exactly how to encourage learning. Thanks Dad.
Spiv: I ahve a better idea - a Taliban suicide bomber posted to every school. At the first sign of unruly behaviour - BOOM! The promise of several dozen virgins would turn him into a hair-trigger.
Chairman, I was wondering as you are going through the religious fortnight you might be in the know if the bible has any text that can be used to justify death-dealing extremism? There must be some juicy stuff in there somewhere?
Cots: I presume you're using a heavy dose of irony there.
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