Author: Boadicea

What do you know!

Yesterday evening, our grandson and his girlfriend came to dinner. The young lady is one of the modern breed of youngsters, who are perfectly at ease with everyone – she must be it’s the second time she’s come to visit us in two weeks!

She is a teacher – and how refreshing it was to hear her say that she insists on good spelling and grammar – and how it annoys her that so many of her students don’t even know what the capital of Queensland is, let alone that Paris is the capital of France.

We in Oz do not have Winston the Dog Advertisement, but I have often wondered, when seeing it on UK TV, how many youngsters know who the ‘Real Winston’ was…

I found this article in today’s Daily Mail, and thought “Hurray” at last someone is speaking out…

Just when are we going to insist that ‘facts’ are more important than opinions.

Skills

Low Wattage’s comment on his post ‘What does a redneck do with a golf cart’ about the value of learning to play golf, reminded me of an article in yesterday’s DT that only one in five children can tie a reef knot.

The article laments the lack of certain skills, such as tying reef knots and mending bicycle punctures, and claims that acquiring these skills is imperative for ‘later life’.

I can tie a reef knot, cook a meal, use a compass and, whatever Bearsy says, I can also read a map – but I’ve never needed to mend a bicycle puncture (I do know the theory!), never had to erect a tent (the thought of camping sends me into a panic!) and never climbed a tree in my life…

It strikes me that a lot of skills that are seen as ‘absolutely essential’ for later life are probably not necessary. The most important thing we need to teach our young is how to find the information they want when they want it. And that, according to this article, is precisely what the youngsters, with their ability to ’embrace the new technology’ are able to do.

Dare One Hope?

This article in the DT seems to give hope to those who would like to see the UK out of the political union with EUSSR.

As one of those who was conned into voting to remain in the Common Market by promises that there was no hidden political agenda, I have been appalled by the fact that my vote has allowed, as this article says, the EU to become a kind of occupying force in the country of my birth.

As to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury’s comment:

Sadly, Eurosceptics on left and right fail to understand Winston Churchill’s central insight that sharing sovereignty strengthens influence and isolation weakens us.

Winnie must have been turning in his grave like a whirlwind during the last few decades while modern-day politicians have given away what he, and so many others, fought to retain… the sovereignty of the UK.