Separated at Birth????

Mugabe


Ahmadinejad



nuff said.........

WWJD?

Technorati Tags: politics,religion,bnp

Short and sweet on this Good Friday…

The BNP ask what would Jesus do?

Vote for the BNP?

Err…No He wouldn’t…not in the wildest imaginings of their tiny fevered brains…

“Not for U” Tube

YouTube stands by UK video block

As I write this I am a few feet from the shelves that groan under the weight of my CD collection. I have a (as yet unrealised) plan to arrange them alphabetically one day…but generally they are in a fairly random order.

Except, that is, for those on the end of the last shelf…they are mostly the newest – at least in terms of when I brought them.

If I was to list those I have brought over the last two or three years, I can guarantee that most of my friends (as well as most of my small circle of blog readers) would say “Who?” to many, many of them…

Just picking out 10 artists…

Band of Horses, Blake Babies, Chantel Kreviazuk, Gillian Welsh, Veruca Salt, Toby Lightman, Tara Maclean, Richard Shindell, Newton Faulkner and Liz Phair…

OK, there’s also the latest U2, Bruce Springsteen etc etc…but the point is that I would say that at least half of the last 50 albums that I bought are anything but household names. A major reason for this was my use (up to a year ago) of Pandora (and to a lesser extend other similar services) – I’ve blogged on that before so I won’t repeat myself – but I want to make the point (again) that far from the music industry losing out by my listening to streaming tracks, I ended up buying far more music (particularly by lesser known artists and therefore more in need of sales, one would suppose) than I would have without Pandora, Last FM or Utube.

Also, I say “over the last two or three years” when actually I shouldn’t really include last year – i.e. after the loss of Pandora –I have “discovered” far less music since…go figure, PRS…

I would have probably bought U2, Bruce and the other “big” groups/singers but would in all likelihood never heard of Kris Delmhorst or Dead Can Dance…

And occasionally, after hearing a few more tracks from an album, I decided against buying it when I might have if I had only heard the latest single…but not often…

And I also guess that there are some people that might decide not to buy music anymore because they can watch the video on Utube…but somehow I doubt this happens too often; after all, my years of watching Top of the Pops and listening to Radio One didn’t stop me !!!

So, although I’m not a big UTube viewer, I see with sadness and amazement (although not with surprise) that the PFS and UTube can’t get their act together…

..from what I’ve read UTube aren’t exactly helping matters – but the PRS seem to be the proverbial dinosaurs yet again…does no one who works for them have the slightest understanding of the digital world in which we now live???

Will anyone be surprised if more people turn to the pirate sites???

We don’t need no education, education, education…

Although Iraq may have had more devastating and immediate consequences, for me, just as big a betrayal by New Labour has been their arrogant disregard of the education system, while pretending that they actually cared about it.

I have never yet cheered at the election of a political party but I came close when Blair beat the Tories…I started my teaching career a year or two before Thatcher's first victory and so spent the next decade or so watching and coping with the deliberate attacks on the state system. Thank goodness there were the miners for her to really vent her spleen on or there may have been no state education system left for us to be concerned about.

But at least you knew where you stood with the Tory party at the time…it was obvious that they saw the local comprehensive as something “other people” used – a necessary evil to occupy the children of the great unwashed until they could take their rightful place in the factories and shops (in order, of course, to make larger profits for the same politicians when they retired from politics and settled into their next life as members of the board at ICI)…

Then – hooray – here comes Tony and his merry band…they really care about education; and education for all! In fact some of them (not many, true) actually went to a state school and some (also not many) actually send their children to one.

And repeating his rallying call from the last general election - in preparation for the next, Mr Blair promised that his "government's passion" would be "education, education and education. Then, now and in the future."

But, of course, twelve years later (Has it really only been that long? Seems longer!) we know that this was as empty a promise as the rest…There may have been extra money but at no point have we had a coherent policy…bureaucracy, targets and testing have accompanied a steady decline in standards, behaviour and recruitment (until this year…well the recession is good for something, after all).

So we come to the latest mad idea…aptly described by one union leader as “back-of-the-fag-packet-stuff”. Actually, that may be ascribing too much thought to it.

When I trained, most teachers did a three year course; either the B.Ed. or the Cert.Ed…over the last twenty years it has become more common to go the route of a one year PGCE after obtaining your degree. This also has it’s roots in the Labour party but the old version…Shirley Williams' closure of teacher training colleges (which was more about cost cutting than anything else) pushed more potential teachers toward the PGCE route.

Now, I was not exactly a model student. I am blessed with an excellent memory and went to just enough lectures to stay (mostly – got carpeted a couple of times) on the right side of my lectures and borrowed notes from friends at revision time…And I was definitely not possessed by some sort of vocational dream…but I wanted to teach…I don’t know why exactly - I just did. Did I do it because I wanted to do some good? – a bit, I like to think. I certainly believe that a good education is a way of freeing people to make their own choices…

And some of the stuff I learnt has never been much use…or has it? I certainly never walked into a classroom and thought “Which of Piaget’s stages are these pupils at?” or “What would R S Peters have to say about this class?”…but looking back, I realise that I did, unconsciously, use what I had learned..and again, looking back, I see that it made me a better teacher…

And OK, perhaps it is possible to cram that into just a year…although I doubt it…

So now what? Ooh…Let’s cut the training down to 6 months…

6 months?

So at the same time as the government move to forcing more and more kids into further or higher education against their will (and won’t that work out well!!!) because education, skills and training are essential for everyone in the modern world, we cut down the training for those that will be expected to deliver it…

One argument is that there are high quality potential teachers that find the idea of a year’s course unacceptable and go go off to work foe Barclay's (Not anymore!) instead. Frankly if that’s the extent of the commitment of these lost “excellent” candidates, I don’t want any of them teaching my children. And what do we think they will do if when?) the recession eases…they’ll be off to Barclay's again, I warrant…

You’ve got to love the description of these people…

Schools Minister Jim Knight is to announce proposals aimed at attracting more outstanding people into teaching as a new career.

What's so f*****g outstanding about them – does he mean, as teachers? They weren’t interested in teaching last week, mate. Perhaps they were hoping to be outstanding wbankers but the field is shrinking a bit (I hear the pension benefits might not be all it used to be either). And if they are outstanding mathematicians, or historians or musicians – what the hell has that got to do with them being a good teacher?

There are huge problems with education…it needs a root and branch overhaul and it needs courage to ask real questions about what type of education will be needed for the next twenty or thirty years…

…but I have no hope that we will get anything other than more fag packet policy…

Incidentally, they may have already done so; and this particular bit of madness was not a deal breaker, but today I know for certain…for the first time in my life the labour party has lost my vote.

Sigh.......

I was originally a reluctant facebook user...I now realise I was right...I spend far too much time on it!!

Oh well...

Sometimes, however, it can be a commentary on modern life in unintentional ways...

This morning I was greeted with a message to check out the latest movies; which I did as I waited for my emails to download (see, I can multitask!).

As it turned out it was not the latest movies that caught my eye but the information below where I was invited to say which of the current movies I wanted to see or to rate those I had already seen.

In the list, one above the other, were The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Zack and Mira Make a Porno.

By each one were the figures for "want to see" and "not interested". They caught my eye as they were both awarded exactly the same figures - 75% and 25%...

However they were actually mirror images - The Boy's 75% was in the "not interested" score but Zack and Mira had their 75% in the "want to see" category.

Says something about modern life...

Sigh...

Orissa Violence

Before I decided to have a bit of fun at Russell Brand's expense (as if he cares!!!) I was going to post on the violence against Indian Christians in Orissa that I heard about via my copy of barnabus aid magazine from the barnabus fund.

However, before I did, I checked some of my favourite blogs and found that matt at Raskolinikov had already picked up on the story and done his excellent stuff...

Rather than doing a repeat job, may I recommend his post...

Those of you who believe, as he says, please pray...

Laugh - I Nearly Did!

I haven't blogged for the best part of a month...so I guess it had better be on a subject of national - nay International - importance...

So what then?..The Credit Crunch?..Iraq?..The U.S. Election?

Question...Why does Russell Brand have such big hair?

Answer below...




Que? Que?


To be honest, I couldn't care less if they fine Brand and Ross (they're both so rich, it would be meaningless anyway - a bit like when a football club fines one of its stars a weeks wages) - if they fine the beeb, they're only fining you and me anyway...

I wonder if the BBC would factor any fine into their next submission to have the licence fee increased...

I actually think that Ross has a fair bit of talent, he did a good job of stepping into Barry Norman's shoes - his interviews with film stars seem to show a genuine interest in them, rather than the (all too common) rattling off a researcher's set of questions without listening to the answer.

I don't listen to his show on Radio 2 (or very little else on Radio 2 for that matter) so couldn't comment there. I remember him from "They Think It's All Over" where he showed a quick wit and I have occasionally watched his chat show. Actually with both these latter examples he betrayed a tendency to chuck in the odd obscenity for no other reason than a cheap laugh - a shame, he's cleverer than that.

Yes, this "jape" was unpleasant, it probably crossed a line - and you have to wonder if the two of them are so thick that they really didn't think it would get some people upset; Radio 2 (late night or not) is surely the home of middle (and middle-aged) England!

Actually, I wonder if when you reach a certain level of celebrity, you simply think you're fireproof...

And it wasn't even funny...phone pranks can be very funny...a few minutes on U tube can show us that - but this one failed dismally.

And I would understand entirely if Andrew Sachs had wanted to complain himself - also, his granddaughter (her chosen profession would seem irrelevant to me). I guess that she is doing her best to further embarrass her granddad by touting her story round the tabloids...oh well...

I should imagine though, that the majority of the complaints were from people who had not heard the original show and either have still not or have found it on the Internet - ah well I suppose we not only have the right to be offended we also have the right to seek it out!

But I still haven't really reached my point - the point is that we pay these people huge amounts of money and all they can do is do their job lazily.

I love comedy (I would make a case that it is one of God's greatest gifts to us) and I have a particular love of (and admiration for) the stand-up comedian and their like. But there is a habit that some have, I guess if they are a bit short of material or the act's not going too well, they resort to dropping in an obscenity or insulting someone. Usually the someone is an individual or organisation that has fallen out of favour...

So back in the 80's you could get away with "Thatcher...what a cow..." Oh how we laughed...

And once we realised Tony wasn't all we hoped for, there was "Blair...what a bastard..." One moment while I pick myself up off the floor.

And since the rise of militant atheism, you can always get a laugh with "Christians...wankers..." Ho ho ho...

By the way, if anyone thinks God hasn't got a sense of humour, well, He tells one just as good...

"Atheists - morons..." Don't believe me? - check out Psalm 14 - perhaps not a belly laugh, but at least as funny...

This type of "comedy" can of course be much of the material of a poor act, much like racist jokes were the staple of certain comics in the 70's. A few weeks ago we went to see Russell Howard, who was excellent, by the way. Unfortunately his support wasn't as good and started by getting the audience to shout out the rudest swear word they could think of - surprise, surprise, the "C word" won hands down. But you can forgive him, he's clearly learning his craft and hopefully will not need to resort to that type of cheap trick for that long.

But this can also be found coming from those at the top of their craft. Stephen Fry (One of the cleverest and wittiest performers (he's so much more than just a comic) around) fell into this trap on "QI" some time back. after an interesting (well it should be!) point about the battle of Culloden he resorted to "Religion - shit!" - Cue huge applause.

That, as I said was a bit of an aberration. Generally, if Fry was to make a joke about religion, it would be well thought out (and he certainly knows enough to be aware that Culloden was about way more than religion) and probably well deserved - God knows we give comedians enough material!!!

But in case he's caught a bit short of material again, here's one to try, Stephen - "Gays - pathetic!"

Oh wait a minute...perhaps that won't get a laugh...

Anyway, to return to Mr Brand and Mr Ross. I had an idle moment a few weeks back and channel hopped until I ended up on something like the comedy channel - a watched about ten minutes of Russel Brand's stand-up comedy act.

I say comedy but all it actually consisted of was a long monologue on how he is treated badly by the press.

"They said I was in Cannes but I was nowhere near!" - I paraphrase but honestly, there was nothing else, no punchline , no irony...but the audience laughed away (not particularly loudly, it must be said). Apart from this sort of stuff, there were the random swear words (which got rather louder laughter - go figure).

Not that it was particularly offensive...it was just boring, certainly not cutting edge. (It's amusing how many of Ross' and Brand's defenders over the last few days have tried that tactic "Oh, he's just too cutting edge!" - Davina McCall said as much when asked for her opinion on the row - Davina being so cutting edge herself, of course.)

Mind you, I'm generally suspicious of anyone who brings out a biography almost before they've left school...for crying out loud why can't these people wait until they've actually done something???













Russell Brand

Question...What does Russell Brand have such big hair?

Answer...To hide his tiny little talent.















A Horse's Arse



Comedy Russell+Brand bbc Jonathan+Ross phone+prank