Author: bravo22c

Another one I put up on MyT, which seems to be going reasonably well there – perhaps the trolls haven’t woken up, yet.

We are informed that a tax on the food we eat is being ‘considered.’  This at the same time as a rise in the rate of VAT to 20% is also mooted.  We are also informed that members of parliament have voted themselves an increase in pay while millions of the people who pay for that increase are suffering pay cuts, or cuts in working hours that reduce their income significantly.  Oh, Yes, and the same members of parliament are demanding that they travel, free, in First Class on the trains because, among other reasons, ‘there is not enough leg-room in standard class’ and, in standard class,  ‘ it is not safe for a woman travelling alone at night.’ Still interested?

School admissions: more parents facing ‘fraud’ investigations

In a report, Ian Craig, the Chief Schools Adjudicator, said many parents were employing “quite bizarre” tactics to cheat the system.

Some councils already carry out their own doorstep inspections of parents to ensure information on application forms is accurate.

But they claim that attempts to crackdown on cheating is being undermined by the lack of proper sanctions, other than taking away the place.

Dr Craig was asked by Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, to draw up a list of suggested new powers to clampdown on the problem.

So, let me get this straight.

• In the brave new world of new labour, some schools are failing pupils.
• Parents want their children to go to schools which will not fail them, so they game the system.
• We are going to ‘give new powers’ to the bureaucrats to hunt these parents out, then disrupt their childrens’ lives by taking them out of schools that are not failing and sending them to schools that are failing – along with those children already condemned ro the failing schools.

Am I being obtuse, here, or is the solution not staring these dogma and bureacracy-driven apparatchiks in the face?

Fix the freakin’ schools!

Problem solved.

Couldn’t sleep laast night, and it wasn’t too cold 🙂

more pics

Once upon a time, I told a lie.  Not a white lie.  Not one of those little untruths we somethines use to grease the wheels of the daily round.  A big lie.  A dark lie.   A lie to try to conceal a mistake that could have had fatal consequences. read the gruesome deatails

Let’s try those again 😦

I am a big fan of alliteration 🙂

Looking  North from my office in the South-western suburbs.

See more pictures

Still transferring my blogs, and I’ up to this one, so, since I had a bot of a bad hair day today, I thought I’d re-cycle it 🙂

What is the point…

…… of clingfilm that doesn’t cling? Or cereal wax packets that resist all efforts to open them until you exert so much force that they burst open and spray cereal all over the kitchen? And why can no-one produce an airport luggage trolley which goes in the direction you push it easily, and every time? These are the real mysteries of life. Why can’t IKEA have their assembly instructions for flat-pack furniture translated directly into English instead of having it done in Bahasa first? Why is it that things that say ‘Open Here’ never do and screw-tops don’t? Why am I doomed to go through life pushing doors marked ‘Pull,’ and why are the toilets always at the other end of the building from me? Why are my car keys always in the last place I look, and my glasses always in the car when I’m in the house, and vice-versa and my umbrella always at the other end of the journey when it’s chucking it down? And, most of all, why me?

This may be a bit rambling – the discussion on the OU blog set off a couple of thoughts.

First thought; talent. It would seem reasonable to say that people are talented in different areas. Such a statement seems to raise no controversy when talking about footballers, tennis players, ballet dancers, opera singers, carpenters, mechanics, engineers, or any other physically expressed talent. It would also seem clear that the great majority of people can be brought to a basic level of competency in most things – for example, my early training in the Army was as a tank crewman, so I am reasonably competent with a hammer, a screwdriver and an adjustable spanner, (as well as a 12-pound sledgehammer and a crowbar.) It also seems to be the case that most people, given the opportunity and instruction, can be brought to a higher level of competency in some things. It is, however, equally clear that some people have the basic equipment which allows them to excel in one – or more – particular thing – Andy Murray, Dame Kiri Te Kawana, Auguste Rodin, Michael Phelps – I can play tennis, sing, make models and swim, but… Continue reading “Talents”

Thought I’d write a bit about life, the universe and everything. Been knocking abround this old world for close on sixty years and, though I moved out of the slow lane many years ago, I can’t say that I really live in the fast lane, apart from the odd time when I pull out, cruise along at speed for a bit, then drop back again 🙂 Continue reading “Life in the Centre Lane”

Later that same night.

The avatar photo was taken at the Company Chinese New Year bash in Hong Kong.  Earlier that year I had taken a course of singing lessons – a little late in the day, some might think, but, hey, what the hell!  I try to set myself the task each year of learning something new – not just the little things we all learn each day, even at my semi-advanced age, but something substantial that takes some effort and will help to stop my brain turning to porridge.  Easy enough when I get a job in a new country; learning the language will fill the bill, but for other years I like to try something different.   Anyway, that year it was singing.   Continue reading “My avatar”