Culture Wars and the World Cup
What is “British” culture? That is a topic I suspect we could debate for ever. Does it include a love of football? Yes, for many it does. How about that quintessentially English game, cricket? Does it include welcoming and extending a hand of friendship to asylum seekers and refugees? Or is it about having a […]
Holding Back the Waves
The 12th century chronicler Henry of Huntingdon tells us the story of King Canute the Great attempting to hold back the waters of the sea. Canute was indeed a great warrior king, succeeding in conquering and ruling over England, Denmark and parts of Norway. He was also reputed to be very humourless and vain. So […]
Useful idiots
My daughter went to a comprehensive school. She has not become Prime Minister yet, although I think she would make a better job of it than the current one. She did very well at school, well enough to win a place at Cambridge to read Divinity (i.e. what other universities call theology). Having come from […]
The lunatics take over the asylum
Nurse Ratched is dead, and few will mourn her passing. Actually in the real world the actress Louise Fletcher has died. She won an Oscar for her performance as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. If you’ve never seen this film you really should. It is a classic, set in an old […]
Corruption
Many years ago I was employed by one of the London Borough Councils in their Education Dept. to organise home to school transport for pupils who were entitled to it. This mostly meant making sure that children with profound physical and learning disabilities were taken safely to and from school. Our default mode was that […]