Does anyone agree that there is a need for forum space to mention all those things that are of interest in the short term but, would not necessarily sustain a half a dozen or a dozen comments.
For example: Yesterday was the last day of the Six Nations rugby competition. Only of interest perhaps, to few on these Forums. I’d like to have placed a reminder but couldn’t find the last Six Nations subject, so didn’t bother.
Another example: Lord Neuburger, President of the Supreme Court mentioned that it was desirable that people should not be prevented from venting their often frustrated opinions on contentious issues for fear of condemnation. He thought that commentators who were opposed, were inhibited by the prospect of disapproval, from discussing rascism, homosexuality, ordination of females etc.
My Six Nations snippet was that it was a generally good result. Ireland won (by points difference) the Six Nations title from England. England won the Triple Crown and France was beaten ! Result.
By: John Green - 26th June 2015 at 20:38
“is about to be” Ranks as a qualification.
No date or time attached or verification that the changeover has taken place or begun.
Semantics did you say ?
By: charliehunt - 26th June 2015 at 20:08
“The BBC Trust – the body that runs the BBC is about to be consigned to the dustbin of history and replaced by the new boss, OFCOM.”
Quoted verbatim and as clear a statement of fact as I could imagine.
By: John Green - 26th June 2015 at 19:05
I didn’t write that it had been confirmed.
By: charliehunt - 26th June 2015 at 17:51
Firstly it has NOT been confirmed and secondly, if it was to be confirmed I am not convinced it would be any better. I don’t recall Labour’s reason for replacing the Governors with the Trust anyway but I was not aware they had performed poorly for the previous 50 years or more…
By: John Green - 26th June 2015 at 17:40
Well, it’s about time or, is it a change for the better ?
The BBC Trust – the body that runs the BBC is about to be consigned to the dustbin of history and replaced by the new boss, OFCOM.
The principal role of OFCOM will be to ensure ‘impartiality and value for money’ in the future operation of the BBC. Not before time some would say.
It is to be hoped that the famed ‘left wing bias’ of the BBC will be soon a thing of the past
Perhaps we will also see better management of the Beebs huge budget and a reduction in the size of some the overly generous pay structure and pay-offs to departing executives.
I never thought the day would dawn.
By: John Green - 26th June 2015 at 13:18
So what exactly is my ‘limited vision’ then?
Presumably you’re going to tell me that my vision is more limited than ‘all right-wing politics good, all left-wing politics bad’…
…or was that ‘four legs good, two legs bad’? :rolleyes:
P.S: I will regard any failure to correctly outline my ‘limited vision’ (of which I will be the sole judge) to be an indication of your left-wing political leanings as only an excellent result will convince me of your right-wing credentials. So do try hard! 🙂
I can’t even begin to follow that rubbish !
By: John Green - 26th June 2015 at 13:16
#341
When you’ve no ammunition much less a target, hit on the inconsequential !
I’m severely prejudiced against that left wing propaganda comic.
By: Creaking Door - 26th June 2015 at 00:56
…what I’m really suffering from is an intolerance to people with limited vision such as yourself…
So what exactly is my ‘limited vision’ then?
Presumably you’re going to tell me that my vision is more limited than ‘all right-wing politics good, all left-wing politics bad’…
…or was that ‘four legs good, two legs bad’? :rolleyes:
P.S: I will regard any failure to correctly outline my ‘limited vision’ (of which I will be the sole judge) to be an indication of your left-wing political leanings as only an excellent result will convince me of your right-wing credentials. So do try hard! 🙂
By: trekbuster - 25th June 2015 at 23:14
been too impressed with you as an unapologetic frontman for all that he detested about the condition of State education
I am no apologist, nor a frontman for anything at all. Just because you disagree with what I have commented on in the past seems to have given you a very warped perspective of my position. Oh, by the way, your argument might have more persuasive if you had spelled his name correctly, it is Chris Woodhead. Perhaps you were confusing him with Mary Whitehouse?
Personal insults in my experience are often thrown when the person realises they have lost the argument and have nothing left to offer.
By the way, your analysis of a Telegraph analysis of an article by David Blunkett in the Guardian is wide of the mark of what he actually said, it is much less of a hagiography than you suggest. I recommend you read the original article:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/23/chris-woodhead-former-ofsted-chief-died-inspection
Creaking door has hit the nail on the head #339
By: John Green - 25th June 2015 at 23:11
Thank you for being so solicitous. Yes, I might be suffering as per your comment but, what I’m really suffering from is an intolerance to people with limited vision such as yourself, who either can’t or won’t see the wood for the trees.
By: Creaking Door - 25th June 2015 at 21:56
The question always posed but never answered is: Why is excellence in practically everything always associated with the political right and failure always associated with the left?
Don’t talk rot!
I think you may be suffering from a conflict of perception; excellence is excellence because you associated it with the political right and failure is failure because you associate it with the political left?
By: Creaking Door - 25th June 2015 at 21:46
…sitting in on job interviews their child is undertaking…
You’re kidding! What is the world (well, Britain) coming to? :rolleyes:
By: charliehunt - 25th June 2015 at 19:51
Well I am not sure that your original contention is true. I think the waters are muddier between left and right than between socialism and capitalism.
By: John Green - 25th June 2015 at 19:07
Not quite on the money there !
I referred to the political right — not to be confused with capitalism – and the left. Capitalism may well be of the ‘right’ but it could, equally if not unusually, be of the left. Even the ‘left’ like to turn a fast buck.
By: charliehunt - 25th June 2015 at 18:49
A bit simplistic but socialist aspiration for equality for all naturally tends towards mediocrity whereas capitalist aspiration for the best to succeed will naturally reward merit.
I accept that that oversimplification can be easily dismissed as just that. But I think the basic tenet holds true.
By: John Green - 25th June 2015 at 17:42
If he had spoken to you, he perhaps would not have been too impressed with you as an unapologetic frontman for all that he detested about the condition of State education.
The Stalinist Tendency rules. Don’t admit to anything and keep taking the money.
Allison Pearson in todays D. Tel. makes some pointed comments about the past and still present condition of State educatiom. She mentions that David Blunkett – surely a leftie hero of yours, Trekkie – wished that he had given more support to Mr. Woodhead’s policies. Blunkett described Woodhead as a ‘towering figure’.
Chris Woodhead’s estimate that there were 15,000 useless teachers in the State system was, accorfing to Blunkett, an underestimate
The question always posed but never answered is: Why is excellence in practically everything always associated with the political right and failure always associated with the left ?
By: Meddle - 24th June 2015 at 21:47
“Parents are clueless narcissists” Discuss
Yes. Parents beyond a certain social strata seem to, in my opinion, treat children as an interesting project in need of some project management, and more simply as a flagpole from which to broadcast their own vicarious achievements. I think this starts with parents that detail their infant child’s every bowel movement on Facebook. I encounter many parents who imagine that I am little more than an extra in a film about their child’s life, as said child barges in front of me, or runs into me on a bicycle, or generally cannot sit still and ruins an otherwise peaceful meal for myself and my partner. The Gaelic school down the road from me seems to attract these ‘Sanctimommies’ whose precocious brats have their every need and want catered to. Ironically something like 33% of the pupils at this school have English parents… make of that what you will.
What do you mean your child doesn’t study Italian on Monday evening, go to Jiu jitsu on Tuesday, Yoga on Wednesday, Rugby on Thursday and runs a half marathon before breakfast on Friday? Do you even love your child?
At the same time the world has to be endlessly sanitised because, god forbid, these children don’t win everything they take part in or happen to hurt themselves doing something stupid and reckless. When I hear about parents moving house to wangle their kids into the catchment area of a ‘better’ school (John Green would remind us that they are all crap) you do wonder if it is because the parents love that child or just wish to get a higher scoring Top Trumps kiddo. It used to be rare for parents to be as readily involved with their child’s progress as a human being, but I’ve heard in recent years of parents phoning up universities to complain about their child’s marks and to insist on sitting in on job interviews their child is undertaking. My father has encountered the latter in person, and that child (age 23) never got the job. In my workplace I heard about the mother of an unsuccessful candidate phoning to ask for feedback (which they didn’t get) and then bitterly complain about my place of work discriminating against her daughter. In turn the daughter had submitted a rambling 20+ page covering letter detailing everything they had done from infancy onward (and perhaps was written by the mother).
By: charliehunt - 24th June 2015 at 09:49
I am sad for his family and friends and no one would wish anyone to suffer such a disease. Was I sad when he left OFSTED? it won’t surprise anyone to know I was ambivalent about it, a number of his policies had merit but as a personality he left me cold. His admittance that he had had an affair with a former pupil and that sexual relations between staff and stdents could be “experiential and educative on both sides” rather removed his moral high ground for me on a personal level, he did not resign when this was revealed. Could you imagine that happening today?
I met him once and he was not what the Italians would call simpatico. It may well have been because he was becoming unwell.
That’s all fair, I think. Personally and morally he probably did indeed fall short. As an educationalist I found much to respect in him.
The relationship between schools and parents and the relationship with their children, as far as their schooling is concerned, is a minefield. Not sure where to begin……:)
By: trekbuster - 24th June 2015 at 09:41
“Parents are clueless narcissists” Discuss
By: trekbuster - 24th June 2015 at 09:05
I am sad for his family and friends and no one would wish anyone to suffer such a disease. Was I sad when he left OFSTED? it won’t surprise anyone to know I was ambivalent about it, a number of his policies had merit but as a personality he left me cold. His admittance that he had had an affair with a former pupil and that sexual relations between staff and stdents could be “experiential and educative on both sides” rather removed his moral high ground for me on a personal level, he did not resign when this was revealed. Could you imagine that happening today?
I met him once and he was not what the Italians would call simpatico. It may well have been because he was becoming unwell.
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