Wacko!

A survey conducted by TES has received massive publicity. It shows 49
percent of parents supporting corporal punishment in schools. The more
significant finding which the tabloids did not cover was that more
than eighty percent of parents opposed cutting education spending. I
can't imagine why the gutter press was not interested in that one!
I have taught successfully without the use of corporal punishment for
32 years. It is many years since corporal punishment was allowed in
British schools and in many cases the people who are condemning the
'feral youth' of today did not actually get caned themselves.

A sign of the times was when a Sussex private school wanted to utilise a
loophole in the law and carry on caning (sounds like a good film
title). They found the only place they could purchase canes was a sex
shop which could also have provided whips and bondage gear. When this
got into the papers they thought it was not quite the image they
wanted to portray to the public.

The most difficult of the pupils I have taught have been beaten by
their parents. And a fat lot of good it seemed to do them.

This does not surprise me. My brother was caned on his first day at
secondary school for fidgeting. His school had substantially more
physical punishment than mine yet by any standard the behaviour at his
school was worse. Perhaps the culture of bullying was passed down from
teachers to pupils. I saw the school bully at my school outside the
head's office on numerous occasions. Did he cease being a bully? No he
became a bully with a sore backside.

If anyone chooses to suggest that my classroom must be a haven of
licensed wrongdoing, do spend five minutes there before drawing such a
rash conclusion. After all I would have sought an alternative
occupation if things were like that - you know an OFSTED inspector for
example :)

The caning issue is being used as a diversion from the real problem in
education: a problem correctly identified by parents who
overwhelmingly oppose the cuts. Gove and co really do want to turn
back the clock: unqualified teachers in dilapidated schools for the
poor and only the best for the rich. Of course many of the old
Etonians in the cabinet will have felt the cane. And it cannot be said
to have improved their behaviour one jot.

Colonel Blimp's Academy

One of Gove's more hare-brained schemes (and there is a lot of
competition) is to have a free school run by army officers with no
training in education. This will teach the 'feral youth' to behave of
course.

Let us remember James Collinson, 17, Geoff Gray, 17, Sean Benton, 20,
and Cheryl James, 18. They all died from gunshot wounds in unexplained
incidents at Deepcut Barracks. Altogether there were 100 allegations
of sexual abuse and bullying at Deepcut. The police investigation was
deeply flawed because the military closed ranks.

The Commons Defence Select Committee report accused the Army of
failing in its handling of bullying.

The Adult Learning Inspectorate said the armed forces' own data showed
about one in 10 military personnel suffered bullying or harassment.

"Much of this is condoned as 'traditional', even though it is
officially forbidden," it said.

"The newest recruits, women and people from minority ethnic groups are
particularly vulnerable."

Still Gove will claim this is all in the past and couldn't possibly
happen in the future. To quote Mandy Rice Davies, "he would say that
wouldn't he?"

So send your children to Colonel Blimp's Academy. It'll toughen them up.

Come to Socialism 2011

Click here to find out more

Big Issue Big Society hypocrisy

Walk down any high street in this country and you will meet a homeless
person selling the Big Issue. If you want a living indictment of the
kind of society millionaires like Cameron defend you need look no
further.

And what is this? The current Big Issue is edited by David Cameron!
John Bird, who set out wanting to help the homeless now has them
forced to peddle the most disgusting Conservative Party propaganda. If
his name does not appear in the New Year's honours list - there just
ain't no justice!

In an editorial Bird lavishes praise on "the big society" in which
individuals can take the place of the state in helping out. Yet of
course this very magazine shows what is wrong with this approach. The
homeless are at the mercy of the whims of a philanthropist. If those
whims include grovelling to the Tory Party then the homeless have to
grovel. Refuse to sell the magazine and you don't eat tonight.

And one final question. If Cameron or Bird go into hospital will they
be happy for a volunteer to walk in off the street and operate on
them? If so I am prepared to give it a go. Where's my scalpel?

Reports of Murdoch's death have been exaggerated

While Murdoch was impersonating Uriah Heep on his 'umble
Commons appearance, reports of his death were appearing on
The Sun website. Apparently he was not intending to 'do a
Maxwell. In an ironic move, Hacker Murdoch had been hacked!

The 'hacktivists' responsible have now released email
addresses and mobile numbers of the 'know nothing'
executives of News International. It really would be pushing
the boundaries of hypocrisy for Hacker Murdoch to insist
that the full force of the law be used against them.

And that is exactly what he has done. Obviously the humble
pie disagreed with him

Murdochgate

"‘Murdochgate’ is Britain’s Watergate. In politics, as in nature, the ‘butterfly effect’ operates. A seemingly small event – the famous metaphor of the flutter of a butterfly’s wings – can begin a chain of events resulting in massive unforeseen consequences.

In the case of the Watergate break-in, it led to the discrediting and downfall of Richard Nixon, the President of the most powerful nation on earth, the US. Cameron and his corrupt, rotten government deserve the same fate today. Watergate exposed the rottenness at the heart of the US administration and threatened the social system it was based upon, capitalism. "

Read more

Defend the NHS

North Sussex and Surrey Trades Council launched a Coalition
to defend the NHS at a meeting on 06 July 2011.

Oliver Coxhead was elected as Chair
Derek Isaacs was elected as secretary.

Derek Isaacs was one of the first people to have his life saved by the new NHS in 1948. He had a playground accident
climbing the fence and was later taken to the hospital with an abcess which was growing inwards and would have
threatened his life.

However his mother didn't have to beg to a group of hard-nosed charity commissioners. The treatment was free for
the first time, so he was among the first of hundreds of thousands who owe their lives to the NHS.

People of sixty were old in 1948. The NHS has given us a new lease of life and that is why it is worthwhile for all of us
to defend it.

The government talks glibly about "reforms" of the NHS. In fact they propose to cut public provision and privatise
health care. The contents of your wallet will determine your treatment, not your medical need. You might as well say the German Air Force "reformed" Coventry.

The Coalition to defend the NHS will be meeting at St Johns Church Hall in central Crawley and the meetings will be
advertised on the blog.

To join the coalition contact crawleyagainstthecuts@yahoo.com
It could be the fight of your life.