Rebekah Brooks

The phone hacking trial has finished with one found guilty and Rebekah Brooks and her husband getting off free.  Already the press is starting to rally around the view that they have been vindicated. How badly done to they have been treated. NOT. It was great to see Brooks getting the sort of treatment other people get from the press and paparazzi. She was shaking like a leaf and that smirk as she got into her car said it all.  This woman was an editor in charge of a news paper that broke the law.  How many times has she reported that the buck stops at the boss.  Any good boss knows what is happening in their business so either she is a crap boss or she knew exactly what was going on.  Or think the latter.  This woman could fall in a sewer and come out smelling of roses.  I'm sure Murdock will be preparing a well paid job for her.  Let's just hope there is a corporate case to answer now and that weasel Rupert Murdock and his son get what's coming to them. Non of this or the Leveson enquiry is stopping the press doing what it is doing in terms if investigative journalism.  What it is doing is trying to put a stop to the press investigating the seedy side of people's lives which are not illegal.  Sign the Hacked Off petition and let's get the free press working properly.

Middle Class is best

Staying on the education theme. A report states that white male working class students under achieve compared to those from other countries.  65% of male Asian  students from the same poor backgrounds achieve 5 A* to C grades at Gcse compared to 28% white working class boys? There have been lots of platitudes stated about how tough it is for them with no role models well whose faults that? Parents? Gone are the days when working class people aspired to be Middle Class.  Now they just shout insults at the Middle classes wanting to wallow in their own lack of ambition.  No ambition then no encouragement for their children to do well.  One commentator even had the cheek to say that all working class parents wanted their children's to do well at school.  I'm sure that is true but wanting them to do well and giving up some time to help them do well is another matter.  Many working class parents, and I'm talking about those who come into the group where pupils are underachieving, simply moan about the school and the teachers when in fact the problem lies with them but nobody is willing to tell them. Instead of parents wanting to improve themselves and move into the Middle class group they think that their lifestyle is as far as they should aspire to. That they wouldn't want to be Middle Class. Mainly because it's too difficult for them.  Bare in mind that Middle Class doesn't mean you earn a lot of money.  Many working class people earn more than Middle class couples.  The difference is what they do with their money. They save and prepare for the future while the people we are talking about spend it as it arrives.  Let's stop this fear of saying that Middle class is something to get rid off.  Middle class is something to aspire to and that's what these people lack. And no we can't get rid of all the classes and make everyone equal.  The world doesn't work that way whatever society you are in.

Local Authorities are the answer to schools

Not so long ago schools had Local Authority inspections as well as Advisors who helped those schools who needed support. That has all gone now. What we are left with is an assessment system (Oftsed) which acts as a big stick and no offer of support and help. How is a school supposed to improve when there is no local support for teachers and management. Whitehall cannot support schools all it can do is sack heads and governors and replace them instead of working with them. Bring back local advisors and inspections who know the schools and local situations so schools can be helped to grow and improve.  The Government seems to think all Local Authorities are left wing and no good.   How wrong can you be.  What they need to do is support Local Authorities and help them and by this means help schools. The  only way a school can get support is to pay for it now out of their tight budgets.  When the priority is not employing a new teacher or paying for an expensive consultant who knows little of the schools local situation I know if I was a Head teacher which I would pick

General Election time.

As the General election approaches so the political parties are starting to gear up for their campaigns.  2015 will see us with a new government of whatever colour.  At the recent EU elections I was disgusted to see as little as a 30 % turn out by the public to vote.  Some argue the case that they don't vote because the political parties are all the same. Or it won't make any difference. First of all anyone who doesn't vote has no right to criticise any political party.  The main reason they don't vote is because they want the opportunity to complain about any party with out  being able to be accused of voting for them in the first place.  People don't like being made accountable.  There is the other reason of course - they're too dam lazy.
One of the other issues I have with election time is the now familiar TV debate which we have pinched from the Americans.  This is where each of the parties has their leader on a stage being asked questions and each leader has a right to reply.  What a load of TV nonsense this is.  In the past we looked at our political parties and just that.  A group of people representing a set of policies which had been created within the party.  The Americans have never voted in this way they vote for a president and TV is he best vehicle for presidents to show their personality.  In Britain we vote for a party and the individual MP's who represent the party and us.  Prime Minister personalities don't come into it at all.  I want to listen to policies not personalities.  The best orator wins not the best policies. Let's be brave and have some leaders say no to these debates.  They add nothing to our  understanding of a party and simply enable the Media to fill more air time with their useless speculation.

Mr Brock the Badger

Big issue with TB and Badgers here in the UK especially in the south of the country.  On the one hand are the farmers who have to deal with the loss of their cattle when TB is found in their animals and on the other the wildlife protectors who feel that slaughtering Badgers is no way to prevent the disease from spreading.  What we do know is that Badgers carry TB and so do cattle.  What we don't know is the best way to control the disease.  A badger cull, organised by the government, aims to control the number of badgers in an area so reducing the chances of cattle being infected.  These animals have been a protected species and their numbers have increased.  The argument from the wildlife protectors is that we should vaccinate cattle and/or badgers against the disease. Great idea except at the moment we don't have a viable vaccine. But wait, what is this about vaccination being the solution.  How on earth can you vaccinate badgers that are already infected with the disease? You can't. Vaccines don't work that way.  You have to be healthy so the vaccine can enable the body to make antibodies against the disease.  So I'm afraid that you have to kill badgers to get a healthy enough population for you to vaccinate.  In the meantime while vaccines are being developed surely it's a good idea to start doing this in preparation for the vaccine when it arrives. Sorry Mr Brock (Badger)

Supporting the people who need welfare

There is a definite issue with the social support we give out to old age pensioners. Free bus passes, free TV licences, winter fuel allowance and free prescriptions. Some pensioners fully deserve these because of their low incomes but some can afford it.  Why can a person living in a million pound house get free bus passes and prescriptions. How do you set up a system which supports those who need it yet doesn't also give those who don't need?  I fully understand that to Means Test everyone will probably cost more in administration than it  saves. So how do we do it? How about taxing these things? If people who are paying tax were taxed on these benefits, bus passes,prescriptions and winter fuel allowance,then it's a simple matter of altering a tax code so that those paying the most tax get no benefit from the social payment.  Those paying no or little tax will get the whole or part of the amount due to them.  No need to means test since the tax office knows a persons income and can easily alter the amount taken away.  Savings will become automatic then and those who deserve it will get it.

Does the media reflect society or vice versa?

What does our news media say about us as a society or maybe it's the news media which has helped to turn us into the society we are today.  Recently listening to the main news headlines I was amazed to hear that top of the news was the sacking of a football manager second came the terrible issues that are happening in the Ukraines and thirdly the tragic death of a young boy who had died of burns having set himself on fire.  How can any editor of a news programme come up with this order of news without feeling "I think I might have got that wrong."  Whenever media people are challenged about what they have done I have never heard a sincere apology from one of them.  Yes an apology but that's because they have been dragged kicking and screaming to the microphone not because of any genuine concern about their actions.  Everything  is a reflection of the society we exist in they say.  No I'm afraid it isn't.  That's the Tesco argument "we sell what people want" no you don't you sell what you offer because in my experience any request made is usually turned down due to lack of public demand  The News media report on what they think sells newspapers or increases viewing and listening figures. The media actually mould the society we exist in. They don't publish news but trash based around the tabloid press and in most terms cannot be considered to be news.  Oh one good thing the second news report put the Ukraine top but an overpaid football manager still beat the death of a burned boy to second place.