Educational Nonsense

I listened in astonishment this morning to a discussion on radio in which it was suggested seriously that colleges of further education could offer a cheap way to obtain a degree. Have they lost their marbles completely? I have had a considerable amount of experience with English colleges of FE, as a client and as an occasional lecturer. I have yet to find one that impressed me with its standards, or to find many lecturers who knew or cared much about their subject. If the educational establishment thinks that already sceptical employers will take degrees from FE colleges seriously, they are on the wrong planet.

Prostate check-up

A man goes to his doctor for his physical and gets sent to the Urologist as a precaution. When he gets there, he discovers the Urologist is a very pretty female doctor.

The female doctor says, “I’m going to check your prostate today, but this new procedure is a little different from what you are probably used to. I want you to lie on your right side, bend your knees, then while I check your prostate, take a deep breath and say, ’99’.

The guy obeys and says,”99”.

The doctor says, “Great”. Now turn over on your left side and again, while repeat the check, take a deep breath and say, ’99”..

Again, the guy says, ’99’.”

The doctor said, “Very good”. Now then, I want you to lie on your back with your knees raised slightly. I’m going to check your prostate with this hand, and with the other hand I’m going to hold on to your penis to keep it out of the way. Now take a deep breath and say, ’99’.

The guy begins, “One … Two …Three”.

My Hope

The Telegraph carried an interesting article today by Liam Halligan on the international economy. A similar article appeared in yesterday’s Le Figaro. It appears that the American decision to go for another dose of ‘quantitative easing’ (pumping more money into the economy) has set the cat amidst the pigeons. Germany, China, Uncle Tom Cobley and all, are upset by the prospect of the dollar becoming cheaper and making their own currencies a handicap to exports. China in particular is upset because of the effect on its massive holdings of American paper.

Though humour was not the intention, Halligan’s piece made me chuckle at certain points. For instance, ‘…China gave the States a public tongue lashing. Measures to cap trade surpluses would “hark back to the days of planned economies”, said Cui Tiankai, who will be one of China’s lead negotiators in Seoul.’ This is rich coming from a prominent figure in the country most active in practicing state capitalism, or neo-mercantilism, as some have called it.

Later in the article, the sentence ‘This is not the way liberal capitalism and free trade is supposed to work.’ also made me smile. In truth, liberal capitalism and free trade never has worked as it is supposed to. The performance has never matched the rhetoric in its favour, with not a single major economy having developed on its basis.

My hope is that this latest crisis and America’s response to it will at last drive home the realisation that the belief in ‘liberal capitalism and free trade’ is a disaster for the West. Voices in America are already raised against the philosophy among the intelligentsia and academics, but it needs to become a no-no at the political level before change takes place. Hopefully, the politicians’ instinct to save their skins may just trigger it off.