This year in floods… to date.
(not satire – it’s David Cameron!)
This is David Cameron’s response to the flooding in a handy timeline:
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Erm … that’s it. So far.
I’ll let you know if he holds another meeting. Named after a snake.
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Related article by Tom Pride:
Cameron announces plan to reduce flooding by forcing it to work in Poundland
Cameron responds to floods crisis by holding a meeting. Named after a snake.
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Please feel free to comment .
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In the era of instant messaging and online chat, the modern suitor is only ever a ‘winky face’ and a click away from declaring his amorous intentions. All things considered, I’d say courtship has taken a distinctly unromantic turn.
Two hundred years ago, love tokens offered a far more enduring and emotive means of expressing devotion to a cherished person (often, but not always, a lover). Acceptance of the token generally symbolised a return of affection. One common practice was to personalise coins, usually by smoothing and engraving them with a message or romantic imagery; the time and painstaking effort that was clearly required can only hint at the emotion invested in the objects themselves.
The coins below, ranging between the 1770s and the 1820s, are particularly touching examples of the material culture of romantic love. The inscriptions of the first and third suggest that many were created to serve as a…
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What an excellent story and a tribute to the man.
There have been many well-deserved tributes to John Fortune, the esteemed satirist, who died yesterday. You can hear a podcast of his 2004 interview on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discshere.
This broadcast led to a memorable event for the WEA in the following year, as the Guardian’s FE Diary reported:
Fortunate coincidence
When John Fortune, a recent Desert Island Discs castaway, revealed that had he not got a better offer from Peter Cook, he would have ended up a tutor with the Workers’ Educational Association, Tim Arnold, an official with the WEA, grabbed his cue and contacted him. Fortune readily agreed to give a satire masterclass with WEA students during adult learners’ week. His subject at the event, on May 25 in London, will be the government’s approach to funding FE provision.
With touching good humour, John accepted a standard WEA tutor’s contract to teach the session…
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An excellent response to one man’s nonsense. Thanks for this.
This is a quick post, which I couldn’t help writing when I read what Michael ‘I’m not a racist but’ Gove has been saying about the teaching of history. Apparently, our Noble Educator claims:
“There’s children, including my own, who can’t remember, well perhaps didn’t even know in the first place, whether the Romans, Egyptians or the Greeks came in which particular order and whether or not the Vikings were their antagonists, protagonists, sons or daughters.”
One might begin by observing that there’s children, not including any I teach, who know that ‘children’ is plural and that the correct form is ‘there are children’. But that would be cheap sniping, and lord forbid we engage in any of that.
To be serious: I have a real difficulty with Gove’s statement. No doubt he would, if he were asked, claim it wasn’t a deeply considered statement, just an off-the-cuff remark, and…
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Exquisite, beautiful.
Is it true that G4S are diversifying into the hospitality trade with the idea of hosting convivialities at the source of manufacture?
That has to be a winner – even they couldn’t mess that up – surely?
(satire?)
Despite controversies over the Olympics and two separate ongoing Serious Fraud Office investigations, the coalition government has announced security company G4S is to take over all UK Christmas present delivery services from Santa.
The scandal-ridden group, which admitted its failure to provide enough staff for the London Olympics was a “humiliating shambles” and is now embroiled in Serious Fraud Office probes into both its contract for tagging criminals and its welfare-to-work contract, is to take over the Christmas Day delivery contract which has historically been provided by Finnish company Santa Claus.
G4S is expected to bring new technology to the delivery of Christmas presents across the UK, with a fleet of 20 specially-adapted brand new Peugeot Boxer vans with GPS replacing the more traditional magic flying reindeers and a team of 150 highly-trained unemployed workfare ‘volunteers’ ready to climb down chimneys and hand-deliver presents to every child in every…
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Deserves the widest possible audience, hence the reblog. Keep up the good work – I’d grade it but I haven’t yet got my head round whether it is the high numbers, or the low numbers, that denote a high level of attainment.
Mr Gove was not quite sure about Christmas.
There were some things he loved about Christmas. He liked the services. He liked the singing. More than anything else, though, he loved the Tradition. Mr Gove loved Tradition.
But there were some things he hated about Christmas. All that laziness. All that self-indulgence. And the schools, wasting so much time. Letting the children have too much fun, when they should be working hard. When they should be competing in the Global Race.
Mr Gove was thinking about all these things when he was having his dinner. Tradition, particularly. He enjoyed his dinner very much, though he wondered if he might have eaten too much Stilton afterwards.
When he went to bed, he felt a little strange. When he drifted off to sleep, it was a restless sleep, and he found himself dreaming.
Mr Gove shivered and opened his eyes.
Before him…
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Herewith, for the record and for the sake of fairness and balance, is the full voting record for Division No. 164, 18 December, per Hansard – with transcript of the debate.
gogwit
Taken from Hansard, 18th December 2013.
Adams, Nigel
Afriyie, Adam
Aldous, Peter
Amess, Mr David
Andrew, Stuart
Bacon, Mr Richard
Baker, Steve
Baldry, rh Sir Tony
Baldwin, Harriett
Barker, rh Gregory
Baron, Mr John
Barwell, Gavin
Bebb, Guto
Beith, rh Sir Alan
Benyon, Richard
Beresford, Sir Paul
Bingham, Andrew
Blackman, Bob
Blackwood, Nicola
Blunt, Mr Crispin
Bone, Mr Peter
Bradley, Karen
Brady, Mr Graham
Brake, rh Tom
Bray, Angie
Brazier, Mr Julian
Bridgen, Andrew
Brine, Steve
Brooke, Annette
Browne, Mr Jeremy
Bruce, Fiona
Bruce, rh Sir Malcolm
Buckland, Mr Robert
Burley, Mr Aidan
Burns, Conor
Burns, rh Mr Simon
Burstow, rh Paul
Burt, Lorely
Byles, Dan
Cable, rh Vince
Cairns, Alun
Carmichael, rh Mr Alistair
Carmichael, Neil
Carswell, Mr Douglas
Cash, Mr William
Chishti, Rehman
Chope, Mr Christopher
Clappison, Mr James
Clark, rh Greg
Clarke, rh Mr Kenneth
Clifton-Brown, Geoffrey
Coffey, Dr Thérèse
Collins, Damian
Colvile, Oliver
Cox, Mr Geoffrey
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Experience tells us that the phrase “…investigate seeking academy status…” more often than not takes the meaning that most of the groundwork for conversion has already been undertaken and that a decision, in principle, if not on paper has already been taken.
Assertions that no decision has yet been taken, often made by the governors, are – technically – accurate since the matter will not have been voted on by governing body at this point in time.
Parents have been given until 31st January to send in comments but no parents’ meeting has so far been arranged.
A group of concerned parents have set up ‘No to Colmore Academy’ to campaign against the proposal and to press the school for a fully accountable and democratic consultation. You can follow them on Twitter here or join the Facebook Group here.
Colmore parents are encouraged to contact the school to make sure it holds a parents’ meeting before the end of January.
The school emails are: enquiry@colmorej.bham.sch.uk and enquiry@colmore-inf.bham.sch.uk
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