It's our turn now....

Education, Education, Education.
What a load of old nonsense that proved to be.
We were promised a brave new world, not just in education but across the land. It was 1997 and we were assured that ‘things could only get better’. It was a great idea but was it true?
I hope, that like me, you remember the hope and optimism that heralded the dawn of a new era of policies with, at least, a nominal social bias. For eighteen years great swathes of our society had been left behind by a system skewed in every way to placate and reward the middle and upper classes. We were ready for change. We knew things had to be different the moment that the creed of selfishness that personified the Thatcher and Major years began to hurt their own. The sad truth for the British is that change was only available at all when certain, much coveted, constituencies in a mythical place called ‘middle England’ began to feel the first stirrings of a discontent that had been the lot of their compatriots for nearly twenty years.
Government in Britain knows that power is in the gift of a startlingly small group of voters and consequently the formula becomes depressingly simple. Appeal to the lowest common denominator of this group and power will follow.
For those of us who do not live such an idyllic life things are starkly different. We are duped into the grand idea that top rate tax is an affront to civilised society. Well, hold on a minute and return that idea to the garage… Have all the dummies out there who won’t vote for a party that pledges to raise the top rate of tax ever considered how likely they are to ever end up paying it? How many of your friends earn over £100,000 per year?
Sorry people, but you just don’t get it, do you?
Let’s hope I can stir your righteous indignation by pointing out that the very rich don’t actually bother paying any tax at all. And, for some reason (!!!) these people are never the ones who are investigated for avoidance…. No, that privilege – along with most other applications of the law – is the preserve of the little man.
So, after eight years of Mr Blair and his rag-tag band of followers (I do not include most Labour MP’s in this) must have some sort of legacy…. So, what is it?
Actually, it’s all a little disturbing and doesn’t look too good if you have any aspirations towards fairness or equality.
The gap between rich and poor is now wider than it was under Mrs Thatcher. (please think about that fact as I remember the horror stories during Maggie’s time about the fact that we had reached levels of inequality not seen since Victorian times… Now it’s worse.) You should be ashamed, Mr Blair.
Education was the rallying cry in ’97, so what’s the reality there? The only thing we can be sure of in a system that endures more changes than a chameleon glued to a traffic light is that the Government would be classed as failing if judged by the same criteria.
Today it is revealed that the working classes are missing out on university…. Now, that’s a surprise to everyone except all those who said that fees would prove off-putting to those without money.
What about schools though? Lot’s of money has been spent in schools… Credit where credit is due. There does seem to be a bit more cash swilling about in the system but the evidence would point to the usual New Labour problem… It’s all fur coat and no knickers. Test results are up. 16% for a ‘C’ grade at GCSE in maths…. If results weren’t up in the face of such a statistic then we might as well go back to living in a primeval swamp. In primary the SATS seem to show improvement. Yes, they do. Sadly this reflects two specific things, neither of which has any connection to the long term success of our young people. Firstly there is the problem of schools who, often, quite openly cheat. (In some respects it could be argued that cheating is necessary to maintain the reputation of the school. After all, either admission or proof of failure won’t get you the help needed it will merely assure a school pariah status.) Secondly – and more importantly – the concentration on testing and measurement at ages when young people need to develop, explore and understand the world around them is nothing short of a colossal short changing of our own people. Personal development has been sacrificed on the altar of statistics and for that we should all be ashamed.
Schools are, of course, supposed to be under greater scrutiny than ever with regular Ofsted visits and widespread accountability. If only…
On this subject I can speak with unaccustomed authority. I have worked in school (for several years) and have seen inspections and, supposed, accountability at first hand.
Inspections first: These are a joke. Warnings of inspection – where I worked – were signals for full staff meetings where people were threatened about their conduct or conversations with inspectors. Disruptive pupils were removed for the period of inspection. Buildings got the sort of once over previously reserved for a Royal visit. Documentation that was intended to be part of the school life was fabricated simply for inspection. Lessons were changed and staff and pupils were carefully selected and vetted (I got the full vetting procedure, being told what was permissible to say and what was not) before being allowed anywhere near an inspector. In short, it was a different school for the duration of the inspection with predictably ludicrous results in the final report.
So what of accountability? Well, this comes primarily through the governing body – comprising staff representatives, parents, local councillors etc – but they can only act upon what they’re told. If this isn’t the truth then there is really very little means of establishing the real facts. I know from experience that a failing school can quite effectively hide the fact behind skewed statistics and outright falsehood.
Education, Mr Blair? 5/10
None of this touches upon the war in Iraq or the other conflicts that Mr Blair has been so eager to sign up for. I find it hard to adequately express my contempt for the foreign policy of this shabby excuse for a government so you can fill in your own blanks on that one.
Sadly for the Labour Party (the real one) the future looks bleak. At present we have a sickly ideology perpetuated by a man who seems an increasing stranger to reality. The New Labour project is just that – a project. It is an ideology without foundation and as such it is doomed to crumble and fall. There may not be much left in the rubble for a rebuild if the party cannot bring itself to save the rest of us and remove the chief architect while there are any of us left with a faith in the future.

There is a much rehearsed argument emanating from the mouths of the pro-war brigade and it runs something like this:
“Okay, we accept that you don’t like the war but unless you can solve the problem we’re now in then you must shut up and accept the way things are.”
It’s doubtful if such an argument deserves a response any more sophisticated than “bollocks!” but in the absence of any likelihood that such a simple response would suffice then try some or all of the following.
We warned it would be a disaster, you muppets. It’s hardly our fault if you refuse to listen.
We never believed your lies – because that’s what they were, LIES.
We never believed there were stockpiles of chemical weapons. Why not? Well, Mr Blair, Mr Bush, Mr Cheney etc, etc, etc, we listened to those who know about these things and we understood basic scientific principles about the deterioration that is a natural part of the process of chemical weapons. As, Scott Ritter (former US Marine and UN Weapons Inspector) explained. Anything they had in 1991 was “sludge” by now.
Inspections had worked and were still working. We didn’t all fall for those crappy old lies about inspectors being kicked out by Saddam a few years back. (The Inspectors were withdrawn by the UN due to the impossibility of guaranteeing the safety of personnel in light of a decision by the UK and US to resume bombing missions.)
We knew that sanctions (carried out with an evil intent more in keeping with Ming the Merciless than so called Western Democracies) had effectively reduced a proud nation to near stone-age capabilities.
We knew that the one thing we could guarantee was that we weren’t going to invade any country with chemical/biological or nuclear weapons. Why? Because that would be dangerous!!
We knew that they couldn’t have weapons because we hadn’t sold them any recently.
We could see the glint in Dick Cheney’s eye when he pored over those maps carving up the Iraqi oilfields a year before the war was ever mentioned.
We had kept our eyes open long enough to see the documents produced by the neo-cons over many years detailing an invasion of Iraq as part of long term policy.
We could see that Tony Blair was so far up the President’s rear end that he could almost touch the soles of Condi’s feet.
We marched in the millions and were proved absolutely right.
So, Mr Blair and all his mates can get stuffed. They have presided over what may be seen as the worst single foreign policy adventure ever concocted and, quite frankly, as Colin Powell said, ‘You break it, you own it.’ That’s you, Mr Blair, not us, the sensible and ignored majority. How dare you suggest that Iraq is in any way ‘our problem.’ You broke it, and although we will all have to live with the consequences of your stupidity, it really is your responsibility to sort it out. Maybe, just maybe if you go and things are subsequently done in a sensible fashion then your idiocy might yet be mitigated. But don’t, under any circumstances, blame the honest, decent anti-war majority for your folly.
Thanks for looking...

Once again the media world obsesses over pensions without so much as a word about how we got into this mess in the first place. In fact I’ve just heard a BBC financial correspondent make the point that “there’s no central pot for pensions…” Okay, I presume this gentleman has forgotten all that national insurance he pays… you know, the one that went up recently? Collective media amnesia seems to give legs to the theory that national insurance was always meant as general taxation. It wasn’t. As usual your money has been stolen by the state and now the state seems so blasé as to be complicit in the unilateral decision of big business to pilfer their own pension schemes.
It’s funny how they never seem to have a commission or endless reports over whether we can afford to kill Arabs. That, obviously would be distasteful, but when it comes to the wealth and health of our elderly then their future is open to negotiation. Wake up people – the elderly means you. Not today, maybe not even tomorrow… but barring accidents, one day, elderly is you.
We are already being primed for a renewal of Trident, our so-called independent nuclear deterrent. By the way – for independent read US controlled.
Such priming indicates nothing so much as a preparation for a discussion free announcement. They will spend the coming period telling us that they haven’t made their minds up until it all happens anyway.
How many pensions might that all pay for?
We all have to scrimp and save, plead and beg for the little that’s ours while the profligacy of the ruling class is truly outstanding. This, by the way, isn’t a class issue!! The perfect example came with the arrest of a group of people (all subsequently released – bail pending) in London following the tragic shooting of a WPC last week. The entire motorway was taken up with a positive fleet of vans, cars and motor cycles all for the transport of a handful of murder suspects. The decision to afford these people such pomp was no more and no less than a display of police machismo designed not for practical purposes but simply for show. How much waste there?
It’s doubtful if Osama Bin Laden would be afforded such a police presence.

Anyway, thanks for looking and I hope to be back again soon.

So, what exactly is this rant all about? Perhaps it’s hard to explain but, simply put, it’s about that one thing that politicians treat as though it were debatable – the truth.
Ah but, you say, we both have truths are mine the same as yours.
Fair enough, I respond… but, and this is the rub… I will try and deal in truth that finds its base in fact.
Before I go on I will make a very important confession – There will be times when those ‘facts’ themselves are the subject of dispute and on such occasions I shall try and point this out. However, if you can prove me wrong about anything (note the word ‘prove’) then I will be absolutely delighted to correct anything I write.
Otherwise, I welcome any comments / abuse / ranting about anything you may see here.
So what sort of ‘truths’ should you look out for here? I hope that I will be able to provide truths behind stories that you think you already know or the facts that contradict the statements of politicians. I would also be delighted if anyone out there has something to bring to this little party because you’re all welcome.
Don’t worry too much – this isn’t all politics (except in the sense that most human activity has a political bias somewhere) I also hope to look at other aspects of life in Britain at the beginning of the 21st century and maybe even have a giggle from time to time

I would, however, like to begin with a political idea that in itself has expression in the mainstream news today.
As usual there are people using the senseless death of a Police Officer to further their own agenda (you could argue that I’ve just become one of them!).
On this occasion it’s the old chestnut of arming the police as a knee-jerk reaction to a specific event. In some respects it’s an easy argument to make. But, does it not reach into the very heart of modern politics that the response to anything bad is more of the same. If our doctors acted like our politicians then we would have some serious health issues to deal with.
Modern politics seems to have very little interest in progressive ideas – or dare I say, ideals. Instead it reacts reflexively to any event by prescribing more of the same or on bad days proscribing more of the same.
We live in a system of politics in the West which has existed in varying forms for centuries and barring the obvious – abolishing slavery etc – has not led to any great benefits for a majority of people. I realise that many people will throw their hands up at such a simplification but blogs are limited by their very existence. However, I ask you instead to look carefully at the past twenty or so years when the disconnect between those who lead and follow has grown ever greater.
People don’t want to work ‘til they drop and yet it is to be imposed from above. Why? The reasons are really quite simple – Your government has consistently lied to you and has aided and abetted big business in devaluing the money that you have handed over from your own wages. The chance of a decent pension for all is about priorities and choice, not about money. Think of the options you have been offered – You work longer or you get nowt. They call it the ‘politics of the possible’, I call it the politics of the greedy. How many company directors have pension problems? And, why aren’t you asking where the hell your money went? You paid, they spent and somehow it’s your fault. In any other area of life it would be called fraud. Why do I always feel that I missed a meeting somewhere along the line?
Are you happy? Do you see your loved ones as much as you would like? Do you have the mythical ‘work life balance’ or are you just another creature in harness to a system that intends, quite cynically, to milk you like a cow?
Can you honestly say that society is better now than it was? By the way, I’m not trying to look at the world through a cutely tinted pair of specs… I threw those out years ago.
We are fighting a war based on nothing but the lies and hubris. We have families in this country to whom a loved one has been lost, not because their was a great cause that needed defending or a threat we needed to respond to but because we have a prime minister in thrall to the most odious occupant the White House has ever seen and Iraq has massive stores, not only of oil but of gas… and we all know which country has just run out of natural gas!
In your name (and, with great, great shame, mine) horrors are being perpetrated on a people we are led to believe have already suffered more than their fair share of horrors and indignity. The use of White Phosphorous has been admitted by the US during an operation where we held the coats. This is a weapon of a ferocity so awful that it goes as far as using the water in a human body as fuel. The only way to stop the burning (as revealed by a Sky journalist (is that itself a tautology?) who was embedded during the assault on Fallujah) is to cut out the flesh where the phosphorous has landed. That’s okay say the Americans and by extension our own sickeningly complicit government, because it was only used on ‘insurgents’. That is a lie – plain and simple. A big fat Greek wedding of a lie. Yes, civilians were told to leave. How generous we are – become homeless and destitute and we won’t set fire to your flesh. But, even this is a lie. Any male – insurgent or otherwise – between the ages of 15 and 55 was not allowed to leave. This was enforced by US machine gun positions stationed along the river bank who shot anyone attempting to swim to safety. And perhaps we only need to take a short trip through time to find that even in the US evacuating a city simply doesn’t work and New Orleans was not in the middle of a war zone. So, it’s a lie.
By the way, Mr Blair, holding the coats is sufficient to make you complicit in that horror and one day you will be held responsible for your actions.
I’m sorry to have executed this piece in such a scattergun way but hopefully I will regain focus for future posts about such wonders as depression, benefits, war, and jokes. In the meantime…
Thanks for looking, you’ve made my day.

If you need a tap fixed you might call a plumber, but I think I may have a much better idea. Call Tony Blair or Ruth Kelly or any other of the hopeless, talent free morons who runs this, once, fine country of ours.

Bear with me - at least for a moment or two. I have a problem here. For some reason Tony thinks he knows about drinking problems... Little Miss Kelly thinks she knows about education... And there was little old me thinking that plumbers fix taps therefore it might be reasonable to think that education might be best left in the hands of educators and drinking issues - well, this seems a little more weird but stay around and all will be revealed.

Sadly, I have a very good friend who I am losing to alcoholism. Aha, I hear you cry, someone to benefit from 24 hour drinking... Not exactly, even he thinks it is a total disaster waiting to happen. Maybe Blair views drinking for sobriety in the same way that he seems to believe in killing people for peace.

Has anyone else noticed a particularly worrying trend in modern politics? The members of the House now seem to have found a new career path to the top of our legislature and it's frighteningly simple. Almost a twelve step programme, perhaps?

First, go to University.
Second, do politics or history or economics or whatever else you fancy.
Third, leave clutching your grubby little piece of paper.
Fourth, become a political researcher / advisor / crawler etc.
Fifth, become an MP.

This is where the whole thing becomes a little scary. We are entrusting our country to a group of people who have a relationship only with themselves. Suddenly we have dispensed with self understanding, self awareness or... wait for it... any damned experience of anything except being part of the problem.

It all adds up to a disastrous deficit at the heart of the nation. The people who rule 'us' are no longer of 'us'. What experience does Blair or Kelly or Milliband (both of them) or any of the others (with the noble exception of the mouth of the Humber, Mr Prescott who at least had a job at one point) actually have? These people seem to enjoy fantastic views of the world along the lines of, "I may not be a teacher but I've been to school". Sorry, people - NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

If you are going to inform my life then you have to understand it.

Perhaps you remain in denial because you have yet to get past stage five so maybe I can offer a little advice. Don't get into politics until you can (or at least have tried) to do something else - and I'm not talking about a cushy number in Chambers.

Until then, dear politicians, you do not represent me.

And so, I shall stick to my maxim. If someone asks for your vote then don't forget that they're exactly the sort of person who doesn't deserve it - and until Mr Blair pops round to fix my taps while Ruth Kelly holds his spanner my opinion is not going to change.