Image thanks to UNICEF I read with interest and dismay in The Big Issue that just four in ten pupils received full-time schooling during the first COVID lockdown and a quarter received no teaching at all. Private school pupils were twice as likely to benefit from a full education than those in the state sector. … Continue reading Forgotten generation
Un-learning
Image thanks to litfl.com This time of year is a good point at which to reflect and the older I get the more I realize that I, along with everyone else, have been fed a narrative of misinformation, half-truths and downright lies. It certainly happened at school and it may have started with my parents … Continue reading Un-learning
Is this what we want?
I was on a very interesting Zoom call the other day, set up by Tech Nation. The North East Virtual Roundtable was set up to look at the tech skills situation across the country with this meeting obviously focussed on the region. It offered to give the audience some ‘Key findings on the UK tech … Continue reading Is this what we want?
Wot no aliens?
For millennia, mankind has stared to the heavens and wondered. It has thought about what it all means, how it works, what forces control it and our place within it. More recently we have asked the most profound question, are we alone? Is the Earth the only planet that sustains life or are we a … Continue reading Wot no aliens?
A criminal offence to mislead
Image thanks to NCAC.org You’re receiving this email because you signed this petition: “Make it a criminal offence for MPs to mislead the public”. I knew this one hadn’t a chance of passing into legislation yet I still feel it is important to continue with these petitions. Even if they don’t achieve anything immediately they … Continue reading A criminal offence to mislead
Seems fair
Image thanks to Politico A system seems fair when you win. We can’t help it. When the system works for you, you are very unlikely to want to change it. If you are in the Premier League, it doesn't matter to you that the enormous amounts of money involved are having a markedly negative effect … Continue reading Seems fair
Getting sentimental
Image thanks to Lancashire Evening Post ‘We can't get sentimental over these things,’ said Alex Baldcock, CEO of Dixons Carphone. He was being interviewed about the move of retailing business away from the high street to online trading. His own company has seen a spectacular online growth and the interview was on the same day … Continue reading Getting sentimental
Global Britain
Image thanks to Ian Taylor, Yorkshire Bylines I am a remainer, a remoaner if you like. I make no secret of it. Everything that has happened over these last four and a half years has done nothing to change my mind. I recognise that my side of the argument lost and that a new plan … Continue reading Global Britain
That virus
Imahge thanks to biospace No, not that virus. I’m not talking about the one that has swept across the globe in 2020, the teaspoon of complex proteins that has turned our world upside down, the one that means this year doesn’t look much better. No, I mean another virus. This one has been around a … Continue reading That virus
The grey bin
Image thansk to Newcastle City Council A couple of years ago I blogged about our blue bin, the one where we put our recyclable waste. At the time I noticed that it was full, a rare occurrence and, I am ashamed to say, one that happens mostly after the orgy of purchasing that is a … Continue reading The grey bin
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 