Reflections

Don't you believe it!

It may be strange but I have never actually been able to hold any religious belief. Even as a child, I can remember at the age of ten spending church services with my eyes shut trying to levitate just to see if I could (till I got spotted!). Nothing changed over the years -in fact this grew stronger.

I probably read too widely, as we all did in the days before the net.

Over the years I have read extensively on religion and belief systems. It is clear that man has a deep urge to believe there is something bigger out there and that when we die that is not the end. I had a great time at uni when I had the space and time to read and explore these things, but came to the conclusion that to believe one needs a faith and a willingness to commit that I simply cannot find.

Now I look around and see that so much conflict and hatred is ascribed to various religions (as if that was something new..) and wonder how much we have really evolved.

We cursed heretics, burned witches, beheaded those of other faiths and launched crusades, for what?

Conflict in Northern Ireland was (and sadly still is) depicted as between two faiths, Israel & Palestine is viewed in terms of religion, conflict in Europe is viewed as Muslim versus Christianity, no they are all conflicts between freedom and repression. That's all.

At the heart of much of religious debate it seems to me is the issue of control. There's a general tendency in mainstream religions to set rules of behaviour for the faithful. Some, such as the Ten Commandments or many of the sentiments in the Gospels, are general advice for civilised living. Some people even like to get naked and dance around stones (at least that one sounds more fun...).It all gets weird when we get on to proclamations about diet- would any Deity worth worshipping really have a big deal about bacon, eating shellfish or beer, come on? Get a life guys!

Equally, I really don't care if religious leaders are men or women, or who they sleep with- as long as they are consenting adults.

Sadly, we move from weird to sinister when it comes to sayings or interpretations of these which attempt to rule on sexuality, the role and place of women and ways of dealing with 'unbelievers'.

I do not believe such attempts at control of others' behaviour has any place in our society.

Britain is a nominally Christian country with an established Church, led by our Queen. It's the culture I grew up in and feel at home with. Most of us don't go to church, many like me do not believe at all. Still it permeates our culture and many aspects of our lives. Hymns we learnt at school, Bible readings are referenced in much of what we read and say. A Carol Service always brings a tear to my eye and I did find some comfort from the funeral services for my parents. Doesn't mean I am a believer, simply this is my heritage and hinterland.

I feel that this is now under threat and it disturbs me, it a way more strongly than may seem logical.

The doctrines of  'multiculturalism' and 'moral relativity' which dominate much of our public life and discourse are at the heart Councils celebrating 'Winterval',  FFS!- damn it! It's just not right.


In Britain today Islam appears to be used to excuse all sorts of unacceptable behaviour. The authorities seem petrified of accusations of racism. So allegations of grooming and sexual abuse are ignored for fear of giving offence. FGM happens under our noses, Sharia courts rule up and down the country, but oh no, we mustn't criticise or investigate, 'It's a cultural thing, we don't want to offend' .

NO!! It is not 'racist' to criticise unacceptable or criminal behaviour, it's your civic duty.

If criminal acts are uncovered then so be it, it's a crime. If it's a crime then prosecute and convict if guilty, simple as that.

You are welcome to believe in what you will, as I  say in my biog: I don't want to live your life, you don't live mine. So have your beliefs, but do not attempt to impose your views on me or anyone else.

You think what you want, I shall too.

If you find this post offensive, then sorry but please leave my TL, cheers!

Don't vote, it only encourages them?

So, did you hear we have elections next week? Yes, you may have seen the odd Tweet with PCC in it, if you're really lucky you may even have had a leaflet or two through the letter box. There hasn't been much publicity despite it being a Government initiative 'cos they decided against the usual free mailings for the candidates.

What's it all about and why should I care? Well PCC apparently stands for Police & Crime Commissioner. We're being asked to vote for who is going to set the tone of policing in our local forces but it looks as if an awful lot of people aren't going to bother, and that kinda upsets me.

Democracy ain't all great but it's better than any alternative I've heard of and a lot of people died and suffered so we could get it.

Just a bunch of aging politicians looking for a cushy number though? Sadly in some cases yes, which makes it even more important to check out the candidates and do something positive! The new PCCs will not be giving day to day directions to their forces but they will be a voice, elected locally to determine local priorities.

If, like me, you'd rather your local coppers cracked down on the evil little scroats making everyone's lives hell rather than sitting in their cars with speed guns, it's a chance to say so. If you think the police should stop acting like social workers and start supporting householders then do something next Thursday!

We may not get what we want but if we don't vote we can't complain afterwards.

So who are you voting for? This is one of those elections where you have two bites of the cherry: first and second preference. This time I'm actually going to give my first preference to UKIP. Never voted for them before but they do seem to have moved on from being a single issue party (though you need to change the logo guys!). I took the time to check their policy on this and liked what I read. Here's a couple: Zero tolerance of anti-social behaviour, more officers on the streets. You can find the rest on the web.

I don't think we can trust the usual old parties to deliver on this one, so why not try something different?

You're welcome to disagree, that's what it's all about but I've made my mind up and will be going for the Kippers, I'll be doing the same at the next Euro elections too, unless we've had our referendum by then! - Go on Dave, you know you want to?

Hope this doesn't come across as too ranty, but I think it's important. Oh, and the blog title? It was an old anarchist slogan I remeber form my student days, says it all really.

Thanks for reading.

Competition -at it's best?

Hey, remember the summer? 'Course you do, sport, sport and sport! London at its best and hundreds of the world's best athletes straining every sinew, giving everything they had just to be that fraction of a second, those few millimetres better than the rest. You couldn't miss it whether you were lucky enough to get a ticket to one of the venues or just shouted at the TV.l

Many said it was inspiring, a lesson in life for the young but was this reflected when the annual crop of exam results came out later? Sadly, of course not.

Sport is very simple: it's about being the best on the day, full stop. It's the same at a job interview, you may not be the actual best applicant but your performance at the interview is what counts.

The exams our schoolchildren take work to a different system. In the old days of O Levels and (unreformed) A levels grades were set at fixed percentages. The top 5% of marks got an A, the next 10% a B and so on. Very simple but actually inherently unfair unless the sole pupose of the exam was for selection. As any exam paper will vary slightly over the years in terms of difficulty, the pass marks varied too.

In a year with a hard paper the pass mark for an A may be 68/100, in another with questions which proved easier to answer it may be 71/100. 'Fair enough' you might say. But what if your child scored 69 and got a B and you knew that on last year's paper that would have been an A?

Not so fair now, is it?

This changed with the advent of GCSEs, which took a new approach, essentially setting a standard. Mark schemes become more complex and comprehensive, awarding points for specific items in an answer and if you got those items you got the points. Fairer all round, no? This would show what soemone actually knew not just their relative position in their year group.

Guess what? Problems soon emerged. teachers caught on to the new system (helped by guidance from the exam boards of course).  They taught their pupils what to look for and what to say in answers and so GCSE grades and pass rates rose year on year until this one. Ministers took praise for ever rising school standards while employers and university tutors struggled to deal with the rising tide of the innumerate and illiterate with 'good GCSE passes' who could barely  string two words together or calculate a percentage discount.

But this year it all fell off a cliff.

Pass rates declined and there was a huge furore over the GCSE English results.  The full story behind  is yet to emerge and with pending legal action it's best not to go much further. Suffice to say that no doubt those in charge will escape blame.

Is there an answer? Well the key question must be: What is this exam for? If it is for selection, whether to a degree course, further study or employment, then a return to simple ranking may be an answer. But if we want to know was my child's teacher any good? If we want to know does he or she have a good grasp of the knowledge and undertsanding of this subject, then we have to accept that an absolute measure will always rise over time.

Last thought. The driving test is a straightforward test of knowledge and skills. If you can demonstrate them on the day, than that's it. You pass. There are no quotas or limits.

What's your view on this comment below please.

Thanks for reading

Lessons learnt

After our children’s health the thing that’s most important to parents is their education, so why is it all going so wrong? I’ve worked in the exam industry (and it is an industry) for 25 years now so can speak from an inside perspective.

The rot started in the sixties and became endemic through the seventies and eighties as teacher training courses churned out teachers committed to anti-elitism and left wing values. Not that this was by all chance,  some months ago I came across a paperback of the era charmingly entitled 'teaching as a subversive activity', says it all really.

Labour's policy of mass immigration and multiculturalism in the nineties brought more decline via the route of moral and cultural relatism. If no culture could be seen as superior or better in any way then nothing could be criticised.

There were attempts to push back but the grip of the unions and the education establishement, sometimes referrred to as the 'Blob' for its capacity to resist all attempts to change it, was too strong.

So goodbye to grammar, 'proper' english and correct spelling and hello to ever rising GCSE pass rates. Competitive sport was either banned or discouraged; children told to stop a yard before the finish line and then holding hands jump over together. What a perfect introduction to the real world that was.

Despairing parents gazing in horror at their local 'sink' comp moved or bankrupted themselves going private.

So when the coalition came in and Michael Gove began his reforms the Blob rubbed their palms in glee at  the prospect of a new challenge.

But it has worked out differently this time. Gove is serious and correctly pushed through the most radical proposals in the early stages of  the parliament. Academies are becoming the norm, Free schools, Studio Schools and University Technical Colleges are open across the country. Outside the control of local authorities, free to set their own pay rates and teaching days they are beginning to make a difference to hundreds of young lives.**

Reforms have started in the failed public exam system and for the first year since their introduction GCSE pass rates stopped rising. There is a long way to go and the Blob is as strong as ever. So I'm only cautiously optimistic.

But it's a long overdue start and that's worth remembering.*

**Caution, sadly these reforms only apply in England; Wales still languishes under the socialists. The result of this can be seen in the ever declining standards of literacy and numeracy that are reported year on year. Scotland of course has had its own education system since the Act of Union.


*If anyone reads this then my next post will be on the real story behind this summer's GCSE scandal.