The Excellence of Marriage It has been said often times before ‘That being married may have its pains But being single has no pleasures’ For after all Marriage is full of its Own treasures: Such as friendship founded on mutual trust No matter the weather, unable to rust; Such as selfless unconditional love That will bond two lives into One holy dove; Such as companionships deepest moments Often without needing words, just that sense; Such as sharing in all the woes and jo...

Ok. Here is the problem: I like to smoke a pipe. The Uk Government has now banned smoking in all public enclosed places. The import taxes on tobacco are high. The range of pipe tobacco i can buy in UK, whilst Ok, is meagre in comparison with the USA. Even to the extent that some pipe tobacco actually manufactured here in the UK is not available here...but is in the USA!! (Tobaciana Esoterica). Even in the apparently consumer friendly times the internet is not much of a help either. I sho...

So this week the New Conservatives have distanced themselves from grammar schools. It is their version of abandoning Clause Four! But wait….they fully endorse the Blairite “Academies” and indeed have announced that they want to increase the spread of them if elected to the Reichstag (Ed ;sorry, House of Parliament) at the next Putsch (General Election). Now, im not one to be cynical, but academies have all the ingredients of grammar schools! As far as I understand it after 3 years Acad...

Sir, do you think religion should be taught in schools? I was at that moment quite happily embarked upon noting the causes of the first world war and so said to the child to hold his thought for later when it would be very good to discuss...but not now. It got me thinking though. Not so much about education and religion ( a perennial debate I will come bact to at some later stage) but about whether I am religious or not. What does it mean to have faith? To live a life that is regulated or in...

Ok, like I know that the National Curriculum is full to bursting already....but I have to wonder about that subject which, incidentally was voted for on a recent BBC Radio 4 poll, should be at the heart of all studies that any human being undertakes: philosophy. My fourteen year olds did not even know what it was. Not one(pardon the pun) idea. Yes they knew the word...but what does it mean? Im not advocating a serious perousal of the discipline. More like at KS3 and KS4 some introductio...

So, here I am at last, sitting in a classroom after having been run ragged by the rampaging barbarian hordes which society politely calls 'students'! But this Blog is not to do with the present as such. No, in fact it is retrospective......... You see I have not always been an 'educator'. O no! I have been a cook/chef/caterer since I left college in 1985. You could say that I have had a complete career break....change.....restart! Yes complete is a good descriptive word! ...

So, the weekend arrives and all domestic bliss evaporates as I face the prospect of starting work again on friday night (Sat and Sundays also....Im an SAS man!) at that carousel of a hotel, The Lodge. Believe me, once it has entered your working life it is hard to budge! I should know,I keep going back! Anyway, what keeps me sane whence I have started a shift? Well two things...the fact that i have a cheeky (?) outlook on life i.e. I talk smut to ease my working tasks and the wa...

Every July in London the Prom season arrives! A Victorian festival that has lasted the test of time because although it is a classical music festival (and that term is now stretching to include alternative traditions of music etc) it positively encourages the great unwashed masses to attend: cheap tickets (as little as £4 to see best musicains in the world) and no need to sit still and be quiet i.e thus the appellation 'Proms'...to promenade! (walk round and be seen!) ...

Yet again I listen to an interview about the current arguments, proposals concerning the British Constitution. What role the Judiciary in the new era? A supreme Court etc? What role the House of Lords? Should it be elected or nominated? Nominated?! What a joke! It should be elected! This is a democracy! But the answer always comes back...if it is elected that will give it legitimacy and it may use its democratic mandate to frustrate the will of the people as expressed in the House o...

Well now, The 15year olds are being taught in their history class( for the exam GCSE, UK) about the Battle of Britain. They will be concerned to understand the underlying causes, the events, and the consequences of the conflict. Their investigation is centered around the Key Question, Who won the Battle of Britain ? Surely an open and shut case? A case that, before the lesson I did an unscientific 'straw poll' to see what they already thought, they already know the answer ...

I grew up with the Union Jack being the flag I loved and cherished. As I have matured I have found that ,and come to accept without critical thought , the interchangeability of the words British/ English. They mean the same thing right? Wrong, I would argue! Britain is a political construct born out of conflict and alliance between first and foremostly, Scotland and Engalnd. Yet the Scots are allowed to be Scots first and foremost. The legacy of Imperial Britain, is squarely laid at the...

In our citizenship class (we are being taught to teach citizenship....only in Britain is such a concept possible!). Well yesterday we were asked to evaluate our own responses to Bloody Sunday. In the class were people of all shades of background and community. The film we watched, the issues raised ('Loss' and 'revenge') were very hard. I must admit that I think that it would be to hard for me to teach this material to 16-17 year olds, at least, not without outside help. It was uncomforta...

So, Here we are in Northern Ireland! Our local governmental review on education at post primary level ( 11-18 yrs) is now complete and a new system to replace the current system is going to be introduced and fully operational by 2008. What is the current system? Well it is centered on the transfer test at P8 ( 10-11year olds) who sit a test (euphemistically called the' 11+') and the results of this determine the post primary school that a child can /will be allowed to attend. Th...

Yea and verily I have been awoken! The spirits of Gloriana have chosen me to start a blog! I must say that things have changed since I were a lad! Tis true that I love music, all sorts, but in particular the variety that your age calls 'classical'. Does everything have to be labelled to make sense, to help discern whether something might possibly fit your taste or view? Vive la difference! Im not that keen on 'popular' music (whatever that really means!) but my children love it....