Gogwit's Blog

Gove argues more schools should be like Hogwarts

Enjoyed this piece. Good satire, where the veil between truth and the representation is as thin and transparent as that between the living and the dead at Samhain. Thanks for posting.

Flibbertigibbet News

In what was seen as tacit admission that the public sector was falling behind on OECD’s International Defence against the Dark Arts tests, the Secretary of State insisted that schools should adopt a curriculum of ‘facilitating subjects’ such as herbology, arithmancy and ‘mocking the ginger kid’. By abandoning vocational BTECs and returning to the Ordinary Wizarding Level, he argued, the education sector could return to the ‘halcyon days’ of tuckshop with Nanny and ‘flying classes with Madam Hooch’.

As easy to get into as a Grammar school

Based on his own educational experience of having transferred from a state school into a private college, Michael Gove made a ringing endorsement of Scotland’s most prestigious independent school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. A spokesman for Department of Education said: ‘We can assure voters that the Ministry for Magic will not be siphoning off public funds to subsidize private schools. However there is…

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A world where women jog toppless

The film is whimsy: part amusing, part disturbing. Ultimately a satirical piece which addresses the idea that the display of power is often unpleasant. The gender role reversal theme is an interesting, though hardly novel, plot device. Gender discrimination is, possibly, the oldest form of discrimination; hence deeply ingrained and, perhaps, the most difficult to overcome. As enlightening as the film is the discussion responses to it on YouTube. That such anger and such violent responses have been made – and made publicly – is an eye-opening confirmation that criticism of such a deeply held, almost cherished, distribution of power is too disturbing and too threatening for some to consider. Thanks for this thought-provoking post.

BrainyBabes

It may not live up to the fantasy.

Majorité Opprimée (Oppressed Majority)

This tasteful, French short by Éléonore Pourriat highlights the nuances of gender norms we take for granted. With a satirical eye, she depicts at the emotional constraints placed on men and the sexual/intellectual isolation of women to show a world of complete role reversal.

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With or Without a Lover, This Valentine’s Day Is Yours!

Thanks for this. I’d always been under the impression that the Valentine’s Day card was the opportunity to declare, anonymously, the undying love and affection which would be the stuff of scandal, of tongues set wagging, were it declared on any other day of the year.
Am I sending such a message this year?
Why – blush – that would be telling!

Susie Lindau's Wild Ride

Those without a loved one to share Valentine’s Day have more in common with the tradition of sending Valentine’s Day cards than those with a lover.

I thought the Victorians began the tradition with their sentimental, flowery, lacy, and cupid adorned cards:

The couple meets at a soiree where the fine lady’s heart beats like a caged canary. The gentleman wears gloves and even with them worries he’ll leave a thumbprint on the greeting card. He escorts her to a small chamber not far from the ballroom. Her cheeks flush with the touch of his warm hand on her back. It sends a thrill of which she is not accustomed. He pulls the declaration of love from his breast pocket and presents it with a bow. She smiles, rips it open and gasps when she sees two naked cupids complete with jiggly bits dancing in the sky. Underneath are the words…

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Punishing Poverty: A review of benefits sanctions and their impacts on clients and claimants

Thanks for posting this research – an exposé on the real benefits agenda of the current UK government and a disturbing read. This needs a much wider audience, hence my reblog of it, hope others are reblogging.

Politics and Insights

Benefits sanctions are financial penalties that are given to people who are deemed to have not met the conditions for claiming benefits. The social security system has always been based on people meeting certain conditions – this has been true for all working-age benefit claimants, with sanctions applicable to those who fail to observe those conditions. This has been the case since its inception.

However, the Coalition changed the conditions and increased the application, duration and severity of sanctions that apply to those claiming Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) and extended the application of sanctions to those in the Work Related Activity Group of those claiming Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). Since 2012, benefit payments can be suspended for a minimum of four weeks and for up to three years where a person “fails to take sufficient steps to search for work”, to “prepare themselves for the labour market” or where they…

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Education Question Time

Good questions all and an excellent panel. If you are in the area on the Thursday 27th book up and go.

Lambeth NEU

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Here’s Cameron’s response to the flooding in a nutshell:

This year in floods… to date.

Pride's Purge

(not satire – it’s David Cameron!)

This is David Cameron’s response to the flooding in a handy timeline:

Erm … that’s it. So far.

I’ll let you know if he holds another meeting. Named after a snake.

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.

Please feel free to comment .

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How to tell her you love her, c18th style

The History of Love

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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John Fortune and the WEA

What an excellent story and a tribute to the man.

Lifelong Learning Matters

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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Michael Gove, A Idiot in History

An excellent response to one man’s nonsense. Thanks for this.

Jeanne de Montbaston

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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