Born today: Muhammad (571-632), Joan Miró (1893-1983), Lionel Hampton (1908-2002), Tito Puente (1923-2000), George Takei (1937).
It is the feast day of Blessed Oda of Brabant.
20 April 2010
20/04/10
Born today: Muhammad (571-632), Joan Miró (1893-1983), Lionel Hampton (1908-2002), Tito Puente (1923-2000), George Takei (1937).
It is the feast day of Blessed Oda of Brabant.
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Billie Holiday recorded "Strange Fruit" in 1939. Enoch Powell delivered his "Rivers of Blood" speech in 1968.
ReplyDeleteSouthern trees bear strange fruit
Blood on the leaves
Blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
Pastoral scene of the gallant south
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
The scent of magnolia sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh
Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck
for the rain to gather
for the wind to suck
for the sun to rot
for the tree to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop.
As Montana said yesterday, incendiary words...
ReplyDeleteHabib many thanks. I wrote a wee piece about Abel Meeropol (who wrote Strange Fruit) and Billie a while back - will maybe stick on Untrusted Too, it's a remarkable story (as is the story of the Meeropol song Sinatra sang in a cut version).
ReplyDeleteAnd Habib, you do know there is a modding job coming up on Cif and Matt Seaton's job is also up for grabs (see whaddaya)
Oh and happy birthday Mo!
Good morning,
ReplyDeletewell I share my birthday with Muhammad. I never knew that and not quite sure how to take that!
Happy Birthday Your Grace!
ReplyDeleteIs Jalfrezi a new poster or someone logged in on different account? If the former - Hello.
ReplyDeleteYour Grace - a very happy day to you. Love the Miro Montana. Nina Simone does a powerful and tortured version of Strange Fruit
ReplyDeleteMust trek off to work. Laters.
Happy Birthday, your grace!
ReplyDeleteNice picture.
Edwin, thou art as insidious and
ReplyDeleteinevitably obvious to those who
know you.
Indeed a strange coincidence.
ReplyDeleteHB YG!
We had a visitor from Tibet a few minutes ago.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday, Duke!
ReplyDeleteCheers all,
ReplyDeleteI know it's Hitler's birthday today also...
Sitting in waiting for crates from Scotland. Lifestyles of the rich and famous.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDuke
ReplyDeleteHave a great day.
Good morning.
ReplyDeleteThis isn't so good though.
Bankers get bonuses and MPs get expenses but families with a disabled child apparently don't get any help because they don't qualify for the winter fuel payment.
Happy Birthday, Duke!
ReplyDeleteJust watched the Cameron 'What it takes to change a country' vid.
ReplyDeleteJolly nice back yard he has there, as befits an Old Etonian obviously. Watched without sound & was very struck by the total lack of sincerity in his body language.
And by the boredom writ large on so many faces in the audiences he was filmed addressing.
Tibet? - Gandolfo??
ReplyDeleteHB Duke.
Paul (et al) - have essayed an attempt at redrawing seat results under 'pure' PR, to see 'what if'.
ReplyDeleteNow, obviously, this is immensely flawed. It's difficult enough to check the number of seats allocated to Wales / NI in each election. So I have taken figs where available or cast them back where only available for the present.
Have assumed NI vote made up only of Irish parties (can't do it any other way). Uplifted PC and SNP votes based on straightline seat allocation (I know...) and that the 'Big 3' share the rest of the vote (I know...). And that 'England' is shared only between Big 3 because even when uplifted, minor parties don't hit 5% (usual PR floor). This ignores, of course, the fact that more people would have voted for them under PR.
Anyway - it shouldn't be more than a mile from the truth, at least gives us an idea.... Table is up at UT2. Each election, the biggest party is the same as the winner under FPTP. But they never have a majority. Each government would, on the usual basis, have been a coalition with the Libs.
Have a look, see what you think, and if anyone can actually do maths, let me know, I can email the spreadsheet for you to see if you can iron out the huge issues with it...
Philippa
ReplyDeleteSo I have taken figs where available
That really confused me for a wee while. Was wondering if figs are a new magic food for boosting brain power or summat.
sorry - no literary euphemisms for the la-la involved.
ReplyDeletealthough a less literary one could probably still be used, we are talking about MPs, after all...
Wybourne, it's your birthday? Did I miss the cathederal's cacophony?
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday, dear, dear fellow.
Really, thank you for making me laugh so many times when I thought life was looking bleak and injecting thought into my veins when I was all but dead.
Happy birthday 13th Duke of Wybourne!
deano
ReplyDeleteYou could be right about our Tibetan visitor - wonder how Gandolfo is getting on?
Hippy bathtray 13th Duke of Wybourne!
ReplyDeleteAlisdair/deano/Bitterweed/turminder
ReplyDeletecheers.
Habib, what can I say? Shucks! I'm glad my meanderings have cheered you up in the past. I'm on cloud 9 at the moment because my wife has bought me a brand new bike for my birthday. It's mint.
I'm still keeping my old shitty one I got for 20 euros for cycling to the pubs on a weekend. There's every chance I may end up in the canals and cycling my new bike in does not bear thinking about.
Here's a clip of the biannual bike fishing that takes place in Amsterdam. They close the canals for a day to all traffic while they dredge up the bikes that have fallen in.
Re Montana's post yesterday: Bill Clinton has stepped in to advise Americans not to inflame the nutcases.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds really serious.
Edwin, thou art as insidious and
ReplyDeleteinevitably obvious to those who
know you.'
Habib, not sure what you mean. If you mean I'm leopold1904 on Cif, well I'm glad it's obvious to you but it's hardly insidious - I kind of take it for granted that people on UT know I'm leo, who was created to nag Cif into doing more serious Scottish stuff - and am pretty sure the Cif lords know who leo is.
If I've got up your nose in some way, then sorry - wasn't my intention.
Chin Hoping the kid is having a great time.
ReplyDeleteIf I ruled the world I'd bring in compulsory VSO - 6 months minimum in a developing country for all under 21. Travel (overland) in a strange place is good for people, it gave my two sons a healthier respect for others.
You guys catch Shazwombat's (c/o a WDYWTWA) regular) link on last nights UT to the Dave random wisdom machine??
Had me in stitches.
Cameron's Wisdom
Duke - a new bike! Enjoy bro.
I was looking at the idea, I enjoy cycling, but Mungo insists it will have to be a trike with trailer! (Bastard thinks I'm towing him around he's got another think coming)
thauma - when I saw it I thought Clinton is a UT reader! I kept wondering who the third USA flag might be.
ReplyDeleteAs Dave said - "Last week, I met a Caribbean childminder, who told me that environmentalists set fire to a bag of kittens."
ReplyDeleteagain with the kittens, those feline-ist tories...
ReplyDeleteThere is no Duke but the 13th Duke, and Wybourne is his avatar... Have a great day, Your Grace.
ReplyDeleteFreight from Scotland arriving in the Low Countries, eh? It could be the 15th century all over again.
Edwin, may the cap not fit you, good health to all, I'm off home for some unearned rest.
ReplyDeleteIdle fact: a complete list of the world's volcanos from the Smithsonian Institution indicates that there are 1535 known volcanoes!
ReplyDeleteIf they all went off at once I guess it could be uncomfortable.
Deano
ReplyDeleteIf they all went off at once I guess it could be uncomfortable.
Maybe Gaia knows something we don't...yet.
Brown's Dunkerque-esque plans, telling everyone to head for Madrid, now being reeled back in with frantic haste...what a shower.
ReplyDeletePhillipa
ReplyDeleteJust been listening to the news - does sound rather chaotic - and in Spain it's costing 2500 euros to hire a car to drive to France! Various admirals are being a bit purse lipped about naval ships being used to rescue the stranded - on the basis that it's not an emergency. Adonis and Broon seem to be saying different things, or whoever is briefing the meeja has got it wrong.
Sheff - I would not be surprised to look out of my window and see a train of pissed-off holiday-makers walking past in the crocodile, trailing their wheely-suitcases.
ReplyDeleteNicely, the people getting it in the neck at Madrid are the navy guys trying to explain that they aren't actually the ark. One of the high-ups at the Admiralty has already publicly queried whether the suggestion would have been made if there wasn't an election coming up...
Maybe should organise mates with cars in some sort of convoy - those who currently aren't at a conference in NY, for example...
Oh, that's funny.
ReplyDeleteLord Wotsit of UKIP on 'election call' - first caller, talks about a return to basic decency, and than asks whether the slogan 'sod the lot of them' was appropriate.
self-hoisting petard situation there then. heheheheh.
"I'm not a professional political so I don't know the intimate detail of every one of our policies"
ReplyDeleteWhy anyone would bother voting for these muppets is truly beyond me. Shame on the Tories / LibDems for even giving them the time of day in the Euros.
And well done to Lisa for pointing out that in order to vote for a party you need to know what theire policies actually are...
And now reciprocal residency issues - 'don't worry, it wouldn't change a thing, we'd just be like the USA'.
ReplyDeleteErm. US citizens need to have a visa to come here, a visa to live here, a visa to study here, a visa to work here, they can have their work hours limited, they hav work-specific visas...
that would 'change a thing'. to me. jus' a bit.
should stop listening but somehow I can't...
morning/afternoon all
ReplyDelete13th Duke
Many Happy Returns, and feliz anniversario!!
@Duke
ReplyDeleteMany Happy Returns and i hope you have a good one.
And i trust Beatrix sent you a card what with you
being a cyber aristo !
James/Paul,
ReplyDeletethanks.
Paul, if you mean Queen Beatrix, I had to ask her not to send me one. If my fellow Celtic supporting mates got wind that I got a Birthday card from the head of the House of Orange, I wouldn't be allowed back in Glasgow.
If you mean Beatrix Campbell OBE. For Beatrix to even contemplate sending a card to a male creates a interpolating paradigm in action.
The theoretical masculine acceptance of a card signifying a date in a calendar dripping in Gregorian misogyny, would suggest that sexual identity although at once denied the feminist mythopoetical reality, paradoxically has objective value.
Thus the purchase of a hallmark card to send to the individual in possession of an xy chromosome at once sublimates the inherent fallacy of feminist choice but also strengthens the Patriarchal essence and confidence of Post-industrial capitalist sexual identity.
Happy birthday Duke. As for Mo, you write better stuff than he.
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday Duke!
ReplyDeleteAm river fried again...
or alternatively, it could be a limited but meaningful gesture to invert the traditional patriarchal heteronormatice trope of the man as 'giver' and woman as 'receptacle', and thus help, in some small way, to allow you bastard men to apologise for thousands of years of entrenched sexism, which, ironically of course, would be effected by the woman doing the hard work and the man just sitting there and saying 'oh, thanks'.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me started on flowers.
Philippa,
ReplyDeleteyou still about?
13thDukeofWybourne, not only that, Bea Campbell's a twat.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me started on flowers.
ReplyDeleteFloral fascism ??
(Bea on Di was a new low...)
aye, am still here - considering how to phrase any comment on AB's request for 'suggestions' that won't get me banned...
ReplyDeleteI've got a piece about multi-party systems that might be a good follow up to your whatsit on UT2, and you've got 'posting privileges, right!?
ReplyDeleteRE AB thread,
ReplyDelete'I know what I'd like to see less of...'
Aye - Montana can send you a link-thingy to get on as 'author'. Or I think you can 'message' me through my blog, and I can put it up, although I probably managed to bugger up that 'customisation' too...
ReplyDeleteCheers. I'll try the message via blogger thing.
ReplyDelete(feel free to act as a 'nah, that's too shite' filter, too, btw)!
Scratch that...
ReplyDeleteIt's all gone Pete Tong.
(After it made me follow my own blog too, which makes me look like a proper arse now...)
Bitterweed, perfectly encapsulated. Bea Campbell is indeed a twat.
ReplyDeletePiece up about the impact of the flight ban on farming in Kenya, as Leni / MsChin was talking about t'other day - thread seems to have turned into a usual global warming rock-throwing contest, however...
ReplyDeleteYep, I'd noticed the arrival of the erm, rock throwers, Phillipa.
ReplyDeletePaul
ReplyDeleteBTW i don,t think the latter is talking
to the former since the former refused to ban that touching tale of the boy who saved Holland by sticking his finger in a dyke!!
cracker!
Guess who was one of the few Brits stranded abroad who managed to hitch a lift on a troop carrier?
ReplyDeleteBoris Johnson's father, en route back from the Galapagos Islands...
'as luck would have it, we managed to get on board'
Hmmm. Doubt 'luck' had much to do with it, heh heh.
Don't know about conditions for flower workers in Africa ...........but the conditions for the female workers in what was/is the world centre of Carnation growing (Bogota Columbia) used to be a fucking disgrace.
ReplyDeleteThe women/girls were frequently abused and sprayed with pesticides whilst they worked amongst the flowers etc ......Birth defects were suspiciously high and the work pace was shameful.. all for a pittance.
All so that Europeans (via the Amsterdam flower market) could have Carnations at weddings
I would be surprised if many of the European women who delight in (scentless crap) red roses could stand quarter an hour in the fields of Africa alongside the women who grow them.
I love flowers and the romance of them but the international trade in them is fucking nuts. A nonsensical indulgence. The locals would probably prefer to grow food for their families given half a chance.
An aircraft grounding could be a blessing in disguise for some of the flower girls of the world..
You bet I'm going to feel sorry for an Afro capitalist and the crazed wankers who encourage them.
rant over.
deano - I realise that the conditions for the workers are probably horrible, but it's those workers who are losing out at the moment, with 5000 day labourers laid off in Kenya alone...
ReplyDeleteThe international trade issue is also interesting (outside the human element) - wonder why Kenyan farmers are growing roses, or veg with no local market? It's to feed the 'developed' world, with an insatiable appetite for fresh produce, sorry, for cheap fresh produce...thus - farmers in the UK in all sorts of trouble due to 'outsourcing', being cost and year-round availability are more important to the supermarkets and to most consumers than locality / quality.
Create the demand, feed the demand, screw everyone. I love capitalism...
I do appreciate that the learning cycle in modern economics is complex - my hope is that the day labourers, realising that you cant eat a lot of roses without indigestion, will eat the landowner and turn the land to a more sensible use.
ReplyDeleteNo gain without pain. I despise the absurdities and indignities of capitalism..
....bring on the revolution. You have nothing to loose but the thorns in your diet.
Oh my. Brits stuck in Spain are currently planning to come to Montpellier, according to the most recent 'phone in' from a stranded tourist...
ReplyDeleteAs they're currently only running short-hops to Lyon or Nancy, it might be busy in town tomorrow...
Philippa,
ReplyDeleteAs I was replying to your post on UT2 (saying I was looking at doing a comparison between the UK election and the Dutch general election in June), I saw the statistic that in the last general election in the Netherlands in 2006, the turnout was 80%.
A huge percentage compared to the UK. It would be interesting to investigate the differences as to why political engagement is much more in evidence here. Political system? Culture? History? Bikes? Hash? All being as tall as Fuck?
Why is the UK facing the greatest apathetic election whilst the Dutch are much more involved
Are the Dutch more politically motivated in terms of Positive Liberty? That kind of thing.
I'll look into it.
*shameless plug/tenuous link alert
ReplyDeletePhilippa/Duke
The thing wot I was going to put up on UT2 is now on my blog, and (sort of) looks at the effect a multi-party system would have on voter turnout!
PB - when the roses go on a UK compost heap truth be known, me international comrades have exported a tiny bit of the scare fertility of their land. I think that is unwise.
ReplyDeleteThere are a few other nonsense trades that get me too. Electric toothbrushes (save for the special needs of some disabled people) are another abomination. If you are too fucking idle to scrub your own teeth without electrical assistance you need putting down.
And don't get me started on vaginal deodorants!
...theoretically anyways!
ReplyDeleteInteresting questions Duke - look forward to your conclusions.
ReplyDeleteJames I'll have look at you piece when I'm back from walking the dogs. BTW spring is moving along well in your sometime backyard. Still an edge to the air but the days grow longer at a pleasing rate.
Is it autumn your way?
From multi-party european election comparisons to vaginal deodorants as a symbol of capitalist decadence in two posts.
ReplyDeleteIt's why I love the UT.
Deano,
ReplyDeleteWell, technically it is Autumn. Although today it's about 30 degrees, so it's not exactly what I would consider Autumn.
There's also no changing of colours/leaves falling either, which I really missed last year!!
Duke
ReplyDeleteYou may be interested in this - research on voting turnout in 2001
Chin interesting link thanks.
ReplyDeleteme eye caught this:
".....Thus wealthy individuals with high levels of education and secure well-paid jobs are more likely to participate than people who lack such resources. Resources of this type motivate people to get involved and increase their levels of interest and knowledge of politics, making them feel more able to change things by civic action...."
I suspect there is flaw in the base assumption. There has been an increase in 'educated' folk but nothing like as large an increase in 'secure well paid jobs'. If anything all jobs are becoming progressively more insecure.
Globalisation prima facie is an massive adventure in collective insecurity. It reduces the whole notion of national or group identity..etc
UK being alleged worlds leaders in the onward and upward march of it (and hectored for a generation about the non existence of society) might reasonably be expected to have a declining faith/interest in alleged democratic politics.
Good link MsChin.
ReplyDeleteCheers.
80%? Crivens. Maybe 'making an iota of difference' does, indeed, make a difference...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link, Ms Chin.
James - have wittered...
Cheers Philippa!
ReplyDeletedeano
ReplyDeleteGood point - globalising capital has changed things quite a bit for many since 2001, though one could argue that some jobs (police, medics etc) have remained secure.
MsChin - I think we're getting to a two-tier situation of jobs - weird thing is, certain coverage thinks of 'jobs' as meaning only nice office-based environs, where 'flexibility' and 'working from home' can be the upside, to be demanded from all governments, and outsourcing / offshoring the downside.
ReplyDeleteA lot of jobs can't be 'offshored' - they're situational, or something. No point contracting out rubbish collection on the Hackney High Road, or cleaning Lewisham hospital, to Chennai. So the issue there is 'contracting out'. Which has the benefit, usually, of using much the same workforce, but with the downside, usually, of few if any of the rights that those workers originally had.
Two tiers - two different threats (from much the same motive - two different levels of coverage, I feel...
British Election Study on the Essex Uni website - lots of stuff including some datasets
ReplyDeleteChin - true but the cute kids on the block know that even these are subject to increasing de-skilling pressures.
ReplyDeletePolice hostility to the increasing use of 'civilians' or non uniformed instead of constables is rooted in insecurity.
A lot of medics know that in their heart of heart a lot of medical work is no more than trial and error ....and not that difficult to replicate with new technology (computers may be better at diagnosis in some areas ....)
Teachers are confused/worried about the threat from classroom assistants etc..
Used to be you got a job in bank you had a job for life....long gone of course. Even the Jap's who prided themselves on jobs for life (for some not all) in the large companies have found out that it was a myth.
Most of the 'aware' public sector is holding its breath for after the election. It's only going to be a small matter of degree as to which Party will hurt them most or quickest.
Now I really must stop arseing about here and get me dogs out.
I hope your own search for new/extra work is going to your satisfaction. You were busy with job applications a while ago?
deano
ReplyDeleteRe: job applications - not many jobs around, I'm afraid, and lots of competition for what is out there, so I have to be grateful that I still have a job.
Had an interview recently where, had they offered me the job, I would have been forced to decline because one of the interview panel (& future boss for the new employee) was such a total twat that both I and another interviewee wanted to smack him one.
I once went to a group job 'interview' where I got asked, and I shit you not, when was the last time I'd had sex, what was my favourite sexual position, and who out of the panel I'd most like 'to do'.
ReplyDeleteUtterly horrendous.
Needless to say, I declined the job when it was offered.
James
ReplyDeleteI would definitely have twatted one of the interview panel before I flounced out.
Hasten to add that I'm actually non-violent and wouldn't hurt a fly (unless defending family, of course)!
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, I just went for the 'sit in the corner rocking' approach for the full two hours instead.
ReplyDeletedeano - 'Teachers are confused/worried about the threat from classroom assistants etc..'
ReplyDeleteSorry for barging into your conversation, but as a teaching assistant I'm interested in this! I wasn't aware that we were seen as a threat now - although when TAs were first introduced I think particularly some of the older teachers may have been uncomfortable with another adult in the classroom. Now, with observation a regular feature of teaching, and TAs in every classroom, I'd have thought the presence of another adult in the classroom would be seen as normal. Having said that, I should think a weak teacher might have problems working with a strong and competent TA.
Sorry for waffling on!
James & MsChin - 'I would definitely have twatted one of the interview panel before I flounced out.'
ReplyDeleteEither that, or start taking your clothes off, point at one of the panel and saying 'You - now - in here or outside?'
shaz
ReplyDeleteLOL!
shaz & deano
ReplyDeleteI think that PCSOs have pretty much been accepted by the 'real' police too.
MsC - I hope you're not equating TAs with PCSOs... we actually do work, rather than poncing round in a uniform making up excuses not to do any work... I could get really upset... :o)
ReplyDeleteFucking hell, James, unless the job was the rather niche one of being a porn star, in what conceivable way can such questions ever be thought appropriate.Shaz is right: best answer would have been to pick one of them,and say c'mon then, but you'd better warn the next candidate that they might have to wait a while,because you're very thorough.That or unplug something and make as if you were going to use the flex for a purpose other than carrying power...
ReplyDeleteGod - had I have had those sort of interviews I would have been locked up. I'd have showed them me arse or removed me socks or underpants and thrown them at em. What on earth do such folk think they are at. (far too may sociopaths in managerial positions these days.)
ReplyDeleteI have every sympathy for those who must still endure the ever increasing nonsense of modern working life. Even the language does for me.... mult-tasking, blue water thinking etc ......dear fucking god save me from the twisted tongued wankers.
The tragedy of it all saddens me. When those of my generation got our heads around the potential power of the micro-chip and the new technologies we saw a future in which people could be liberated from a lot of tedious work.
We could see a reducing working week, more holidays, more time with loved ones and friends etc. Sadly not.
The wealth created by the new technologies has not been shared it has gone increasingly to the already rich and powerful. For far too many the liberation has been to the dole que or even more tedious and less well paid work.
Even those in work seem to be working longer hours just to stand still, and insecurity is very much a negative when it comes to quality of life.
It may yet all end in tears.
deano
ReplyDeleteI remember the early promise of technology too and you are absolutely right about who has benefited from it.
And back then, I never envisaged that I'd spend so much time parked in front of a bloody screen now!
Shaz
ReplyDeleteHahah - I'm pretty sure if I did, I'd have been taken up on the offer, and that prospect still makes me shudder.
It most certainly was highly inappropriate, and wasn't for niche job at all, but one in a fucking call centre as 'tech support'.
It was just after I'd graduated, so I was desperate, but not that desperate.
(filled out my visa application pretty much straight away following that, after, of course, showering for about 3 hours...)
I hate those job interviews where the interviewer
ReplyDeleteasks you where you think you,ll be in 5 years time.
I just answer by saying that,s a very 80,s type of question and then launch into spiel about flexible
labour markets,globalisation, job insecurtiy etc etc.
None of us know where we,ll be in 5 years time-even
in the public sector.Bloody stupid question to ask!
Shaz - I didn't mean as a personal threat. I meant as a threat to traditional bargaining strength and employment prospects.
ReplyDeleteMore classroom assistants = less teachers
less teachers = less promotion prospects etc
I'd like to see more 'assistants' but I'd like them to have a route through to becoming qualified teachers too. I have nothing against learning on the job. But that is not how the employers see it.
In the post war period you could teach with the equivalent of about 5 'o' levels. The profession, like the nurses, reasoned that if they could make it an all graduate profession they could increase their status and thus their living standards...........
If you then find that kids can also learn from less well qualified 'assistants' your future economic bargaining position is weakened. What can then happen is that teachers become supervisors of teaching assistants who become the de facto teachers on less well paid and more insecure conditions.
To be honest most folk who understand what traffic cops, or mounted horse cops, actually do on a day to day basis might think they are overpaid. A lot of work traditionally done by uniformed policemen didn't really require the uniform at all.
James - 'I'm pretty sure if I did, I'd have been taken up on the offer, and that prospect still makes me shudder.'
ReplyDeleteEwww. I hadn't thought of that possibility...
I think I may be about to blow a fuse (in a quiet sort of way) at that Kate wotsit on Waddya, who seems to feel she can speak for poorer women because she interviews them ..
ReplyDeleteNew thread up called 'The Catholic church's gender delusion'. I daren't even look.
ReplyDeletedeano - thanks for that - to a certain extent, I can see that with the introduction of TA cover for PPA time and in lieu of supply teachers (although I'm not sure how widespread that is any more - our school doesn't do it) the first steps towards the situation you mention may have already been taken.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure, however, that TAs could ever really play a large enough role in teaching to pose a serious threat to teachers' employment conditions or prospects - there is a massive skills gap between the two jobs which I believe can only be bridged by teacher training.
Btw, how did your son's partner get on with the maths? I had to do the OCR level 2 maths over Easter (need it for higher level TA course - original O' level certificate has vanished into the ether) & I did it with LearnDirect - (although I didn't actually do any learning, just took the exam after assessment) but they were very helpful - I should think it would be would be worth having a chat with them.
Meanwhile, on CiF Joanna Moorhead says if the Catholic church had women (lik her) in senior roles, she feels sure it would have avoided this (paeodophilia) crisis. Based on the fact she's a good mum.
ReplyDeleteJesus Fucking Q Christ Shitting on a Moped . Those Cif assholes really will publish anything that vaguely looks religious spiritual or *feminist* won't they ?
They've hit a new low that one...
Hi Jalfrezi or should I call you JalfreziGarnett ;)
ReplyDeleteI said I daren't look at 'that thread', but I may pluck up courage after reading your post.
"And back then, I never envisaged that I'd spend so much time parked in front of a bloody screen now!"
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of computing power goes into controlling/monitoring the worker rather than aiding or supporting them. Nonsensical computer work has grown as computers have gone from 8/16/32/64 bits. Expanding speed and capacity just makes for more managerial madness and surveillance.
If you ever do get through to a call centre it's so obvious.
Modern management and politicians are obsessed with the idea that a world class competitive economy can be created by multi tasking and a "script".............if only we could get them all to say ..."Have a good day" and smile at the same time.....
Hello & welcome/welcome back Jalfrezi
ReplyDeleteChin - "And back then, I never envisaged that I'd spend so much time parked in front of a bloody screen now!"
I think a lot of computing power goes into controlling/monitoring the worker rather than aiding or supporting them. Nonsensical computer work has grown as computers have gone from 8/16/32/64 bits. Expanding speed and capacity just makes for more managerial madness and surveillance.
If you ever do get through to a call centre it's so obvious.
Modern management and politicians are obsessed with the idea that a world class competitive economy can be created by multi tasking and a "script".............if only we could get them all to say ..."Have a good day" and smile at the same time.....
MsChin
ReplyDeleteI took one look at that Catholic thread and thought
nah!Same old same old!All women are victims/paragons
and all men are bastards-yawn yawn.If only there was
Pope Bernadette and Lehman Sisters and all little
boys dressed in pink and all men had their bollocks
cut off then life would be just tickety boo for all
and sundry!
Bad ain't it chinster ?
ReplyDeleteHi Deano
ReplyDeleteJalfrezi
ReplyDeleteBloody awful. Doesn't help that my one & only post (re: sexual abuse of nuns by priests) did a 404 & was posted 3 times :(
And over on Waddya, where I hardly ever go, my words are being wilfully twisted by k8the great who has just accused me of denying the poor women she interviews a voice! Like I don't live & work among poorer folk, nor have poor women as me best friends.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletePaul
ReplyDeleteWise words.
deano
On call centres & their scripts - don't get me started. On management surveillance - ditto x2.
Evening all, ave Jalfrezi.
ReplyDeleteJames - nice interview technique - would have guessed 'sales' rather than tech support - the questions they seem to ask are just barking (I actually didn't make up the 'sandwich' thing in me article, and another mate got asked what kind of metal he would be...although that was for a job in metallurgy or summat, so possibly more relevant).
Sounds like I should stay away from the 'women in the Catholic church' article. On the other hand...
Waddya ?! Forget about it MsChin. It's China Town...
ReplyDeleteHow about some classic calypso to cheer you up ?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ2_3hqFZvk
Awesome.
This is Friday Night Music really. But what the hey. I'm going to bed with a smile on my face...
ReplyDeleteLord Kitchener with Sugar Bum Bum...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay2t2YHTVhI
Yeah.
MChin - have added my little squeaky voice to the clarificative process...
ReplyDeletenot sure that's even a word...
ReplyDeleteMsChin, don't worry about that k8thegreat (what a fucking dreadul username: text speak and grandiosity in one name). Comes over a little (n.b. might be mistaken) like another of the relatively privileged but ever-so concerned. She's angling for a bit of the limelight to talk about the plight of poor people, but I'm not sure she'd step aside to let them take centre stage, nor that she believes 100% that they could.
ReplyDeleteBloody server's been down ...
ReplyDeleteOoo, thanks Jalfrezi - nice.
Philippa
Thank heaven you knew what I was driving at on Waddya, I was beginning to think that I talk in riddles or summat. Or my northern accent.
Alisdair
Exactly.
MChin
ReplyDeleteYou know the complaints of the poor always sound less threatening when strained through a well modulated middle class voice - takes the raw edge of it don't you know.
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ReplyDeleteThe picture at the top is very disturbing
ReplyDeletePB had me head scratching....
ReplyDeleteNearest in OED:
clarificatory, a.
Tending to, having the purpose of, or relating to, clarification (1b)
It's been a long day - night all.
Shaz I'll pick up on the unanswered next time.
Leni
ReplyDeleteAgree with you about the picture.Can,t look at it
without my eyes 'rebelling'.Looks like the artist
painted it during a particularly bad acid trip.
Chin - You might have less difficulty if you reverted to your best avatar - it would scare her shitless
ReplyDeletePaul
ReplyDeleteJust spotted it. Amazing, eh?
Leni
Bang on the money, as usual. I was contemplating going for a researcher/researched = othering/silencing argument but then the server went down ..
Am just listening to late-night R4 and Agnes Poirier has just been described as 'a flim critic'. This could help to explain her piss-poor handle on politics. Why do they still commission her on French politics? They must know at least one journaliste with a maitrise...
ReplyDeletedeano
ReplyDeleteTrust you! I know you love me avatar here but when I asked, others liked me CiF one.
What do they know.
ReplyDeletexx.
Paul
ReplyDeleteWhy thank you. Years of practice. And I think she got the message judging by subsequent posts!
deano
xx
Off to bed now so goodnight to those still here.
ReplyDeleteJust looked ar women in RC thread - can't be bothered to respond to the usual ...
ReplyDeleteReminded me of very odd little 7 year old boy - parents wanted him in residential school - poor kid.
He was interviewed by nuns - he'd never met one before. When I asked him what he thought of them he replied "Like Batman with tits " .
night all.
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ReplyDeleteHi Leni
ReplyDeleteHope you got my message!
Hi Paul
ReplyDeleteonly the first one I replied to. Hope you are ok there .
Hi Leni
ReplyDeleteWas thinking about stuff earlier and i felt that
poem could be uplifting for people who are
grieving.But then i thought it could be seen as
intrusive which is why i deleted it.Probably an
over-reaction on my part but what right have i got
to stir up people emotions?Some people cope by
keeping things under wraps and that must be
respected.
Hope you rib isn,t giving you too much grief!
Leni
ReplyDeletebtw have you noticed how scarier that picture gets
the deeper we get into the night?
Am able to listen to the radio.Brilliant version of
ReplyDeleteMarvin Gayes 'Troubled Man' on right now.
'MAKES ME WANNA HOLLER'
Hi again Paul
ReplyDeleteib is improving - tablets making me strange - even stranger than usual !
Son took me shopping (took as in I needed to be on a lead ). Got squashed in automatic doors - not much of me to squash actually - tried to get into wrong car - all over the place. My thinking seems ok - but I did get a few strange looks. The main problem is I don't know where I am in space .
Bought my favoutite wine but as 1 glass addles me I decided not to drink it while on tablets.
I/m off to bed now - hope sun shines tomorrow , I/m looking forward to lazy day in garden.
Many ways of coping - sometimes giving a glimpse of how you feel deep inside to someone you trust can be healing. take care - love Leni
Now a jazzed up version of Steely Dans 'Do it again'
ReplyDeleteWOW!!WOW!! WOW!!
P
ReplyDeleteYes - the picture. Glad you find it scary too - I thoght it might just be me. The wormy face at the bottom - eek !
I like worms but not when they stare at me .
PS
ReplyDeleteVery interesting comment from Tim Skellet at bottom of waddya thread.
NOW - I am going bedwords.
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ReplyDeleteYou,re quiet tonight Habib.
ReplyDeleteWon,t bite i promise!
Anyone working nites and able to have a radio on
ReplyDeletei strongly recommend you listen to Steve Quirk on
Smooth Radio.He,s on from midnight to 6-00am and
he knows his tunes!Keeps me awake anyways!
Hi to the 3 Americans lurking.Also if the person
ReplyDeletefrom IRAN who has been lurking the last few days
comes on-line say Hi if it,s safe for you to do
so.
OK i,m going off-line now because i,ve got work to
ReplyDeletedo.But people from different time zones who are
'lurking'don,t be afraid to leave a post saying HI
or something.People in the UK are mainly sleeping
right now but will reply later when they are awake!
Goodnight!
Your Grice:
ReplyDeleteLang zal hij leven! Hartelijk geluk gewenst!
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ReplyDelete