bigdaddystevieB

andy

2009-07-15T05:34:00.002Z

Andy is one of those handful of people who refuses to join the facebook community (but secretly would love to…. it’s now become a pride thing, I think!). Having said that, he seems to have more photos on facebook than the average bloke (certainly more than me!). I’ve shared lifts into school with him over the past couple of years and he’s become a really great friend. He has a reputation for being a bit of a moaner (in an endearing way, of course!), but he has a wonderful sense of humour and cracks me up on a regular basis. Together, we’re thinking of forming our own political party – there’s not a world crisis or national problem that we can’t resolve in our 35 minute journey to and from school (admittedly, some of our solutions might be regarded as somewhat “unusual”, but heh!). He’s also president of the Bristol Self-Help Group – but his membership is currently under review after his failure to attend the last meeting. He’s also in deep mourning over the imminent loss of co-tutor Emma (but won’t admit it, of course).
Photo: I just thought you’d like to see some of Andy’s random facebook images (and I’ve tried to find some where he’s actually smiling)!

art in architecture

2009-07-14T05:24:00.002Z

This seems strangely appropriate after yesterday’s post. I’ve just been searching through my old filofax (trying to locate something I thought I’d saved). Needless to say, I didn’t find what I was looking for…. but I DID come across an article by Jonathan Meades that I’d ripped out of a copy of “Building” magazine in January 2005 (a month before I retired from my architectural practice). Over the years, I’d long argued with anyone would listen that architects, ideally, needed to be artists and should have an ability to draw. I frequently used to attend “careers conventions” at various schools and this is the advice I would frequently trot out. Some people from my office disagreed with this contention. The Meades’ article came as a wonderful boost. In it, he bemoans the fact, in his view, that architecture has become a “controlled and artistically emasculated business”. He argued that the qualifications for entry to architectural courses was simply wrong and that the “current emphasis on mathematics and physics” was misplaced (I actually did Maths, Further Maths and Art at A Level!). Meades referred to a speech given by the noted architect Sir Terry Farrell (“painter of neo-romantic landscapes, illustrator, pasticheur and photographer”). In it, Farrell contended that architecture’s self-image was increasingly that of a branch of civil engineering and called for a reassessment of the way architecture is taught and of whom it is taught to”. He argued that a “background in the visual arts is of incomparable value to the future architect”.
Absolutely!

creativity

2009-07-13T05:15:00.002Z

Many thanks to good friend Paul Brown for putting me on to this passionate, challenging and entertaining address by Sir Ken Robinson to an education conference in 2006 (it lasts about 20 minutes, but it's well worth listening to!). In it, he contends that schools kill creativity and urges the need to nurture creativity in education. Here are a few quotes:
“We get educated out of creativity”.
“The Arts are at the bottom of the pile as far as the education system is concerned”.
“If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original”.
“You’ll never get a job doing that”.
This very much reinforces my concerns at the attitude towards “Design and Technology” at our school. Whilst Art and the Performing Arts are well catered for (indeed there’s a new dance teacher starting in September), Design and Technology seems to be regarded as something that the “less able” students opt for (which, as a former architect, gets my blood boiling!). Indeed, from September, Design and Technology will cease to be a faculty in its own right (if I understand things correctly) and subject options are to be palmed off to various other departments or wound down. I’m not at all impressed.
Wearing my architectural hat, I particularly like this quote from Sir Ken: “Creativity…., more often than not, comes about through the interaction of different disciplinary ways of seeing things”.

sleep furiously

2009-07-12T06:44:00.002Z

Went to see “Sleep Furiously” yesterday afternoon at the Watershed. I went with an open mind…. the blurb described it thus: “This riveting directorial debut draws a lyrical portrait of a year in the life of the tiny hamlet of Trefeurig, the small farming community in Wales where Koppel’s parents, refugees from Nazi Germany, settled down and where he grew up”…. and thoroughly enjoyed it. Clearly, the word had got round because the cinema for the afternoon showing was completely, and very unusually, full (ok, it was only the small cinema 2 – but there must have been over 70 people in the audience). The film isn’t quite a documentary; it merely puts together simple scenes from country life in a rather beautiful, sometimes amusing, way. I suspect that, in years to come, it will have become one of those iconic films that reflect a past life.

Actually, yesterday was a rather a strange day in many ways. Moira had travelled up to Oxford the previous evening to attend a StillPoint weekend conference. I’d arrived home in the early hours of Saturday morning after drinking with school friends in Bath, actually got up reasonably early and enjoyed spending the morning drinking coffee and reading The Guardian. The previous evening, great school mates Becky+Andy had talked of us getting together for lunch at The Watershed (and Becky duly texted to confirm this – although Andy had to get himself from Bath first, arrived very late and then drank only Coke!?). Anyway, I’d already planned to go to the cinema in the afternoon, so it all made for very enjoyable preparation (Andy+Becky went off shopping!).

(almost) end of term drinks

2009-07-11T07:23:00.002Z

The final weeks of the summer term are always rather strange at school. The last week is usually taken up with Activities Week and the penultimate week sees the disappearance of several teachers on camps and on trips to Germany, France and Spain. So, in keeping with tradition, most of the teaching staff got together last night at The Boater in Bath to drown their sorrows and to celebrate their impending holidays. A very enjoyable night (fortunately, as an old bloke, I can use the excuse that I need to catch the train back to Bristol before midnight – and therefore avoid being dragged into various clubs!). It’s also a sad occasion that involves saying goodbye to several lovely friends – including Mike (retiring), Jon, Pete and Laura (moving on to pastures new). I’ll particularly miss Laura next year (her classroom is only across the corridor from my office) but the real shame was that she wasn’t around last night and so, not having seen her at the end of school, I haven’t actually said my proper goodbyes.
Somewhat worryingly, this also marks the end of my fourth year at the school (the world of architecture seems an absolute age ago!). Blimey!
Photo: Sangeeta+Karin+Mike’s viking helmet (don’t ask!).
PS: I took my broken camera along, but this is the ONLY photograph that came out – I ordered my new camera two weeks ago and it STILL hasn’t arrived (and I’m getting REALLY frustrated!).

sports day at bath university

2009-07-08T16:48:00.002Z

This year, the school experimented by holding its Sports Day at the Bath University Training Village for the first time. Just transporting the pupils to the facilities was a major challenge in itself (involving 10 bus loads of students and teachers). It proved to be a very good day for the students taking part (and it didn't rain!) – a wonderful opportunity to use world-class facilities. Our House is notorious for finishing last in this event over recent years and I had very high hopes that we might be able claw ourselves up from the bottom of the ladder…. but no, even though we started the day in second place, we ended finishing last again! We didn’t even get any points for being the best prepared House in terms of completed teamsheets+consent forms! Although I fully accept that the day represented a rare chance for pupils to experience such high-quality amenities, I was also saddened that the day was only experienced by less than half of the pupils at our school. Indeed, I’d previously written to the Headteacher and Head of the Sports Faculty to express my reservations – the day used to be for the entire school community (now it was the minority – with the non-participating pupils and the bulk of teachers remaining in school). I also felt sorry for those students for whom sports day represented the “one time” when they can excel and show off their talents in front of their teachers and peers.

In the event, only one of the school’s senior management team turned up to participate…. no surprises there then!
PS: You might recall that I moaned about last year’s sports day too (click here)!
Photo: Isabelle, Maria, Juliet, Dan and Kate (race officials!).

new citizenship/a new way of thinking

2009-07-05T06:07:00.003Z

I’m currently reading Chris Sunderland’s book “The Dream that Inspired the Bible” and have been struck by the number of themes it shares with this year’s Reith Lectures given by Michael Sandel, Professor of Government at Harvard under the title “A New Citizenship”. Here are just a few quotes from Chris’s book and Professor Sandel’s lecture on “Markets and Morals”:
CS: “If young people today are asked about their dreams, many can only speak of fame”.
MS: “There’s now a widespread sense that markets have become detached from fundamental values, that we need to reconnect markets and values”.
MS: “A study of some Israeli childcare centres offers a good real world example of how market incentives can crowd out non-market norms. The centres faced a familiar problem - parents sometimes came late to pick up their children, and so a teacher had to stay with the children until the tardy parents arrived. To solve this problem, the childcare centres imposed a fine for late pick-ups. What do you suppose happened? Late pick-ups actually increased. Now if you assume that people respond to incentives, this is puzzling. You would expect, wouldn’t you, the fine to reduce, not increase the incidence of late pick-ups? So what happened? Introducing the fine changed the norms. Before, parents who came late felt guilty; they were imposing an inconvenience on the teachers. Now parents considered a late arrival a service for which they were willing to pay. Rather than imposing on the teacher, they were simply paying her to stay longer”.
MS: “Perhaps the best-known example of market norms eroding or crowding out non-market norms involves the case of blood donation. The sociologist Richard Titmuss compared the United States system, which permitted the buying and selling of blood for transfusion, with the system in the UK which banned financial incentives and relied wholly on donated blood. Titmuss found that rather than improve the quality and supply of blood, the commercialisation of blood led to shortages, inefficiencies and a greater incidence of contaminated blood. His explanation: putting a price on blood turned what had been a gift into a commodity. It changed the norms associated with blood donation. Once blood is bought and sold in the market, people are less likely to feel a moral obligation to give it out of altruism”.
CS: “The old way of thinking. Principle: the one thing that the world must pay attention to is market exchange. Wealth for all will follow if we get this right (primary values: money, property and self-interest)”.
CS: “The new way of thinking. Principle: we need to pay attention to the interconnected systems of the earth that sustains all life (primary values: energy, commonality and well-being)”.
MS: “One thing is clear: the better kind of politics we need is a politics oriented less to the pursuit of individual self-interest and more to the pursuit of the common good”.
I started scribbling some notes on this blog a few days ago, but noticed that it was also the subject of yesterday’s Leader column in The Guardian. This concluded that we should “heed Prof Sandel’s call to put the morality back into politics”.
Whilst I strongly agree with these sentiments, I also sense that we might need to put the morality back into humanity?
Photo: Chris Sunderland and Michael Sandel.
PS: Today’s “Something Understood” on Radio4 dealt with similar themes: “Buying and Selling”.
Note: Moira+I (and many others from around Bristol and beyond) have been involved with Chris over recent months following the launch of EarthAbbey – a Christian community dedicated to encouraging one another to journey towards a life more in tune with the earth.

mikey

2009-07-04T09:39:00.003Z

I’ve just been crying in the bath.
I was listening to this morning’s edition of “Saturday Live” on Radio4. Fi Glover was interviewing Anne Crosby about her son Matthew, who was born in London in 1964 with Down’s Syndrome. Crosby talked eloquently about her feelings, about the consultant’s stark reference to Matthew as being a “throwaway child”, about her regrets at putting Matthew in the “monstrous” Normansfield Hospital when he was three and removing him less than two years later and about their life together. Anne Crosby written about her son (who died when he was 25) in this book, but you can listen to the interview by clicking here (it’s about 18 minutes into the programme).
It all provided an enormous contrast with the life of our own grandson Mikey. I know that Alice+Dave are devoted to him and, although it’s clearly very tough at times, I know just how much joy+happiness Mikey brings to them, to us and to all those touched by his life.
Photo: Mikey!

water music

2009-06-28T06:18:00.002Z

Moira+I went to the harbourside yesterday afternoon to listen to a very impressive free concert in the Lloyds Amphitheatre space, raising funds for Water Aid. Apparently, this was the first time the space had ever been used for unamplified performance and it really enjoyable. There were over 500 singers from all over the West Country, included our lovely friend Gareth, and some of the music was just beautiful – particularly, for me, a piece from Georgia (as in formerly part of the Soviet Union). The sun shone, the singers wore blue+green (water colours?) and looked great and the music was captivating.
Not a bad afternoon!
Photo: the massed choir (and conductors) in the amphitheatre space…. although the image doesn’t do it justice.

twenty20 cricket again

2009-06-27T05:30:00.002Z

My twenty20 cricket status has gone from “virgin” to “old hand” in less than a week!
A group of us from school (Andy M, Becky, Emma, Helen, Will, Andy W – plus his son and his mate and his two sons) went along to the County Ground in Bristol. This time it was for the Gloucestershire v Somerset local derby. Very close game which was won by Somerset in the final over. Amazingly, it had rained (quite hard) all day at school so I didn’t have high hopes of the game going ahead, but we arrived at the ground in bright sunshine and this continued throughout the game. Ironically (perhaps because the ground was packed?), there wasn’t quite so much banter as last time – but it was still a really enjoyable evening, with some 350 runs scored in 3 hours. We even had a streaker (male…. and, no, it wasn’t me!). I heard Helen announce that she really hadn’t a clue about cricket at the start of the game but, after three pints, she’d become quite knowledgeable!
Photo (and apologies for cutting off Becky’s head!): Emma, Andy M, Helen, Will, Andy W’s son and Becky in deep concentration during the game.

leavers day

2009-06-24T04:55:00.001Z

Yesterday was Leaver’s Day and an opportunity for the Year 11 boys and girls to put on their “posh frocks” and celebrate the end of their GCSEs (and, for some of them, the end of school life altogether!). The money the pupils spend on this great day in the school calendar is amazing. Most of the girls seem to have bought two expensive outfits – one for the daytime celebrations and one for the evening Prom at the Cadbury House Hotel (some of boys did the same with daytime suits and evening DJs) – and then, of course, there was the limo hire! It seemed to me (huge generalisation!) that the girls really enjoyed the red carpet treatment on arrival at school in the morning (in front of all the other pupils and teachers) and posing for photographs, whereas lots of the boys seemed to be in their element “strutting their stuff” on the dance floor at the hotel!

twenty20

2009-06-23T04:51:00.002Z

I saw my first “live” game of twenty20 cricket yesterday evening at the County Ground, Bristol. Good friends Pat, Becky, Will and I went along to see Gloucestershire play Warwickshire - Becky,Will+I all hailing from this famous county, you understand! It proved to be a really enjoyable evening (and the Warwickshire Bears won too!). The quality of cricket, especially the fielding, was excellent and England batsman Ian Bell was quite brilliant. It’s a very fast-moving game and it was all over in just a little less than three hours, with nearly 300 runs scored. The huge bonus, however, was the wonderful light-hearted banter between spectators. Once the Gloucestershire supporters sitting around us realised that we were supporting the Bears, the game took on entirely different character! At the end of the game, there were lots of handshakes and smiles - and vague promises to meet up again next year. I actually feel we’ll be back again this season as token Gloucestershire supporters to enjoy the fun all over again!
Very, very amusing and a great evening.
PS: Think my brother Alan+I need to get together at a twenty20 game some time – I’m sure we’d have a lovely time!
PPS: During the course, Becky ran off to get Ian Bell’s autograph at the end of his innings; she returned a few minutes later looking a little forelorn. “Well, did you get it?” we asked…. “no” she replied, “I didn’t have a pen”. Genius!

gerry+merry carol

2009-06-22T21:31:00.002Z

A small group of us has been meeting every Thursday, over the past sixteen months or so, to share meals (and red wine!) together and to discuss various books and experiences related to our common faith. To date, our group has consisted of only six people (apart from various visiting friends and family members) – Alan, Gareth, Gerry and Merry Carol plus Moira+me. We decided to call the group “Ithaca” after Moira came across a poem by Constantine P Cavafy which seemed to have strong references for our own individual spiritual journeys. The group has become an important part of our lives.
Sadly, today has seen the departure of Gerry+Merry Carol – back to Vancouver, Canada (Gerry is Canadian and MC is from USA). Although we always knew that G+MC would depart these shores once Gerry approached the end of his Doctorate, the time has arrived all too quickly and we’re going to miss them both enormously.
Lovely, lovely people.
Photo: Gareth, Gerry, Merry Carol, Moira and Alan at our last Ithaca get-together last Thursday.

winchelsea+the red house

2009-06-22T05:30:00.001Z

Moira+I had a lovely time with good friends Felicity+Chris in East Sussex over the weekend. On Saturday, we had a beautiful walk from Winchelsea to the sea (about a mile and a half away), along the shingle beach and then back across the Pett Level marshland. Still can’t quite get my head around the fact that the town was designated one of the Cinque Ports and had apparently become a “significant port” by the middle of the twelfth century. The town was built on a massive shingle bank and was thought to have first been established as a Saxon fishing settlement sometime after 800AD.
Yesterday, we drove to Bexleyheath to see the Red House – commissioned by William Morris in 1859; designed and built by architect Phillip Webb. I was familiar with the house and its significance within the history of the Arts and Crafts Movement, but had never visited until yesterday. The only way to see the interior was to sign up for a guided tour. This proved to be something of an ordeal! The experience felt like being shown round the house by Margaret Thatcher in her hey day – we were lectured (and I mean “lectured”) on a wide range of matters and all her opinions were offered as being absolutely definitive. At one time, Chris started to wander off and was treated like a very naughty schoolboy!

The house was impressive (if a little empty) but the woman was awful!
Photo: Felicity, Chris+Moira walking along Winchelsea shingle beach.

lost lives

2009-06-17T05:06:00.002Z

I’ve been catching up on some very powerful TV programmes marking the fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion on BBC iplayer. British military operations in Iraq have now come to an end and the last troops have packed up and left Basra. 179 servicemen and women will not be returning home though, having lost their lives whilst serving with the British Armed Forces. “10 Days to War” provided eight excellent episodes of a series of short dramas (see these two links). They included Tony Blair being given a TV grilling by a group of anti-war women and how the government tried to deal with questions of the legality and so-called justification of going to war: “the need to disarm Iraq, hopefully by peaceful means; if not we have to make sure that the will of the UN is enforced” (Blair). The last of the episodes focussed on Colonel Tim Collins (played by Kenneth Branagh), commander of the Royal Irish Regiment stationed on the Kuwait/Iraq border, rallying his troops just prior to engagement with an impressive speech (much reported at the time) that could have come straight out of Shakespeare’s Henry V. Absolutely fascinating and brilliantly executed.
I also watched two allied programmes entitled “The Fallen: Legacy of Iraq” (and update). The invasion of Iraq has always been controversial, but these films provide a voice for some of the people who have been most significantly affected by the decisions that took us to war. From how the withdrawal affects them and their hopes for Iraq and its people to whether they feel blame, anger or pride - for those who are still coming to terms with their loss, their thoughts on Iraq are powerful, varied and sometimes surprising.
The films also tell the story of Lance Corporal John 'Frenchie' Le Galloudec, a soldier who suffered severe spinal injuries after being shot whilst on operations in Basra. His friend and fellow soldier Corporal Rodney Wilson was fatally wounded trying to drag Frenchie to safety - leaving him with both physical and mental scars.
Powerful stuff which, at times, moved me to tears.

looking for eric

2009-06-15T05:17:00.002Z

I realise that going to the cinema is not the most sensible thing to do on a beautiful sunny afternoon but, believe me, it proved to be WELL worth it! I went to see Ken Loach’s “Looking for Eric” at the Watershed and really, really enjoyed it. It’s about an ailing Manchester postman getting his life back on track with the help of Eric Cantona (yes, Eric Cantona: ManU football legend) and it’s just beautiful. It’s funny (I found myself laughing out loud at various stages), it’s quite tough at times, but it’s also a poignant love story and, according to a review I’ve just read, it’s a “feelgood vigilante film” which (and I know you’ll find this hard to believe) just about sums it up!
Even if football doesn’t interest you at all, you really should see this film.
PS: Coming out of the cinema, the sun was still shining and people were smiling and I even gave the singing guitar player some of my loose change! As I crossed over the swing bridge by the Arnolfini, an old man fell off his bike. He wasn’t badly hurt but a couple of us went to his assistance, someone picked up his bike and others were clearly concerned…. eventually, we got the old man up off the floor and he smiled and said to the gathered throng “Thank you ever so much for all your concern. As you can see, I’m a bit of a learner at this, but it’s really nice that so many of you stopped to check that I was all right”. People beamed back at him and you could almost sense everyone thinking “aaaah, what a nice man!” before going on their respective ways. A very nice moment.
PPS: Also connected another section of roof drainage to the water butt, went along to the Refugee Week entertainment in Queens Square and attended Tim’s entertaining and thought-provoking “service” at foundation (busy day!).

we are not amused

2009-06-14T06:25:00.003Z

I’m not someone who constantly knocks Prince Charles.
I actually think he’s a bit of a visionary when it comes to things like the Prince’s Trust and his work and words on organic food and climate change, BUT (and you just knew there was going to be a “but” didn’t you!) his latest intervention in the field of architecture has been utterly outrageous.
As you have probably read, the Qatari royal family has scrapped its plans for the £1b redevelopment of Chelsea Barracks in west London following a private letter from the prince to the Qatari royal household.
Brilliant.
Just a week before it was due to be considered by Westminster City Council, the site owners (an investment arm of the Gulf emirate) have withdrawn the planning application. Lord Rogers’ scheme for “548 apartments – half of them affordable, spread over 14 glass and steel buildings” is to be scrapped. Richard Rogers has been one the finest British architects for the best part of 40 years. He is noted for his modernist and functionalist designs. No doubt, Lord Rogers’ architectural practice won the commission in the face of stiff opposition. No doubt, the clients selected the firm on the basis of its past record and the quality of its work. No doubt the practice has been working painstakingly with the developers to help them to come up a design that met their requirements in terms of design, brief, cost and suitability. No doubt the practice has been working in close conjunction with the Westminster Council planners and residents (indeed, the scheme had won support from council officers and the government’s design watchdog). An awful lot of time, effort, expertise (and money!) has been expended on this scheme in the two years and a half years since the site was sold. If you appoint Lord Rogers’ practice, you clearly are NOT wanting to pursue a “more classical, traditional scheme”.
Yesterday’s article in The Guardian indicated that “diplomatic relations between Qatar and Britain were a key factor. An aide to the Qatari royal family said the emirate’s acquisition of the barracks site was as much about developing its diplomatic capital in the UK as it was about producing a profit, and senior Qataris had become concerned that opposition to the plans by ‘well-heeled and highly articulate’ individuals was damaging its attempts at ‘soft diplomacy’.”
Unbelievable.
Architect Peter Ahrends (designer of a modernist extension to the National Gallery that was scrapped in 1975 after the prince had called it a “monstrous carbuncle”) described the current decision thus: “We have been taken back several centuries to a more autocratic, medieval way of wielding influence”. Former Secretary of State for the Environment, Nick Raynsford said that Prince Charles’ behaviour was “almost feudal”. The president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, Sunand Prasand, was equally appalled: "We are really throwing in the towel if we think in the 21st Century that we can't make beautiful buildings that can face a site of magnificent buildings across the road. They can be beautiful without being neo-classical." Lord Rogers described the cleints’ decision as “disastrous”.
Anyway, we MUSTN’T be concerned, because the developers have already appointed new designers to take matters forward…. they’ve appointed the “Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment”.
Genius!

magpie

2009-06-13T10:08:00.002Z

I know we’re supposed to welcome garden birds in these days of diminishing birdsong, but our “own” local magpie is making me consider extreme options. Being an early riser, I’ve been aware these last few weeks of this particular creature’s incessant “song” – Iris does a brilliant impression! To get a “feel” of what I’ve been experiencing, click on this link (and continue to play it a hundred times at full volume!). I even heard one of our neighbours come into the garden this morning, clapping her hands loudly in desperate attempt to chase off our local pet. I think the magpie just found entertaining!
I’m very aware that the rhyme talks about one magpie “for sorrow” and I’ve just used google to discover that there are various things you can do if you meet a single magpie in order to ward off the bad luck. These include “taking your hat off and making the sign of the cross, spitting three times over your shoulder(?), and saluting the magpie with 'Hello Mr Magpie, How's your lady wife today?'”.

Good grief!
happy(?) footnote: I was wrong – there are TWO magpies. I’ve since spotted its (much quieter) mate…. joy knows no bounds!

easy rider

2009-06-13T06:02:00.002Z

Thanks to Fopp, I sat down to watch my £2 DVD of “Easy Rider” last night with Moira+Merry Carol (although they lost interest and went on to read/made bread!). I can distinctly remember “almost” seeing the film, but didn’t actually do so when it first came out in 1969 – although many of the scenes were so familiar that it’s just possible that I did (hey man, like it was the drug-crazed sixties!)! At the time, I can remember feeling very envious of Oxford mate Ted Harris who looked a little like Peter Fonda. I enjoyed seeing the film (at last?) and was already aware of its brutal ending, but I’d forgotten about its wonderful the soundtrack: featuring songs like “The Weight” (Smith), “Wasn’t Born to Follow” (The Byrds), “If 6 was 9” (Jimi Hendrix), “It’s Alright Ma (I’m only Bleeding)” (Roger McGuinn), “The Pusher” and, of course, “Born to be Wild” (Steppenwolf).
Can’t quite believe the film AND the music is 40 years old!

black monday

2009-06-08T05:35:00.003Z

I’m a Labour voter by instinct and so I’ve found the past days somewhat painful!
The Local Council elections and then the European Parliamentary elections have both proved disastrous for the Government. Recent resignations by cabinet members have only underlined speculation about Gordon Brown’s continuing Prime Ministerial role – and newspapers and television companies have just loved it. I actually feel a little sorry for Mr Brown as I think the Government has, somewhat unfairly, taken most of the flak for the Parliamentary expenses fiasco. Unfortunately, in my view, the Prime Minister hasn’t been helping himself by some of his recent decisions. I couldn’t quite believe it when I heard that Sir Alan Sugar had been offered a peerage and new role as the Government’s “enterprise tsar”. As Andrew Rawnsley commented in yesterday’s “Observer”: “Giving a peerage to the gruesome Alan Sugar is the sort of frantic, misconceived stunt that is Gordon Brown at his very worse”. Although I have to admit that I find “The Apprentice” tv programme absolutely fascinating (as you’ll probably be aware, the final was last night), I can’t reconcile Sugar’s new role with that of the Party - and I’m absolutely sure that I’m not the only Labour supporter to have same point of view - and can’t help feeling that Alan Sugar’s desire to make as much money as he can (whatever it takes) is not a million miles away from all those greedy bankers we’ve been complaining about over recent months!

woodstock

2009-06-03T05:13:00.002Z

Everyone’s heard of “Woodstock”.
Well, I was listening to last Sunday’s ‘Listen Again’ version of the excellent “Guy Garvey’s Finest Hour” on BBC Radio6 Music and he included a lot of music from the infamous festival which is about to celebrate its 40th anniversary.
Blimey! 40th Anniversary!!
You can listen to the programme until Sunday on this link.
If you’re as old as me, it’ll bring back lots of memories and, if you’re not, it’ll give you some idea of what you missed.
PS: …. and while I’m on the subject of anniversaries, an interview on the World Service at the weekend reminded me that it’s exactly 20 years today since troops opened fire on protestors at Tiananmen Square.

garden

2009-06-02T05:47:00.002Z

Our garden is tiny (5x5m) and unexceptional. Moira’s “into” gardening; I’m into sitting in the garden (eating, drinking, reading newspapers etc). Three years ago, we erected a timber screen at the back of the garden (we felt very exposed to our neighbours at the rear!) and since then it’s developed into something of a green wall (honeysuckle and bamboo). I’ve previously blogged about the amazing help provided by our GrowZone friends (was it REALLY only mid-May?). Largely thanks to them, we’ve started to grow some of our own food. They also helped us remove the dominating pyrocantha bush and, since then, we’ve managed to remove the ramshackle fence and replace it with another timber screen (which, hopefully, we can use as a planting backdrop). Bruce has put together a great short film about GrowZones on the Earth Abbey website – which is definitely worth a look!

lunch with ken+debby

2009-05-30T22:48:00.002Z

Moira+I spent a day in Oxford with lovely American friends Ken+Debby. We had an excellent lunch at Loch Fyne Restaurant in Walton Street. With such glorious weather, we couldn’t resist walking across Port Meadow and relaxing in the garden of the Perch pub (I was once banned from this establishment, probably in 1969, for “standing in front of the fire” - absolutely true!). It was good that their daughter Julia was able to join us at the Perch – she's about go and live in New York.
Photo: Ken, Debby, Julia and Moira. I took two pics and, in each of them, two of the aforementioned were looking the other way/had their eyes closed etc – so I’ve done some very rough cutting and pasting! Apologies!

shredded

2009-05-29T06:21:00.004Z

One of my “jobs” at school is filing. I hate it.
Another tiny part of my job is keeping files up to date. I hate this too!
We keep a file for every student at school (copies of correspondence, incidents, time-out sheets, report cards, behaviour logs, telephone records etc etc) and I deal with nearly 300 of them for our particular House. Everything has to be logged and every item duly noted on an index sheet for every file (really!). By the time pupils get to the end of Year 11, some “notorious” students have files that run to four volumes thick (honestly!). At this time of year, we pass on our Year 11 files to the central filing area (I’ve never actually seen this place but imagine it takes up half the school and is probably one of the factors in us having to keep building extensions!). Before passing on the files, we’ve now been asked to reduce their size by throwing out “superfluous” stuff - even though the powers-that-be insist that, up to this stage, everything is logged on file (perhaps it’s best never to question?) – but, crucially, we still have to retain the index sheets.
Well, because I find it more or less impossible to do filing during the course of a normal school day, I often end up bringing filing home (which is ridiculous considering the small amount we get paid!). This half-term I have spent nearly a day-and-a-half filing any outstanding Year 11 stuff (and there was quite a lot of it!) and then going through over sixty Year 11 files (some from last year too, but that’s a different story!) and duly removing superfluous stuff.
In the end, I’ve collected 11 large plastic sacks full of shredded paper!
PS: We collect green waste for Ruth+Stu’s compost bin on their allotment and I realise that shredded paper can be added to it (but perhaps not 11 large sacks of it!). Unfortunately, I’ve just checked on Bristol City Council’s website and it provides two rather contrasting pieces of advice (REALLY helpful!):
a) How can I recycle shredded paper?
You should not put shredded paper in your black box. When paper is shredded, the paper fibres are cut very short making it difficult to recycle. You can put shredded paper in your compost bin.
b) Can I add shredded paper to my compost bin?
Shredded paper does not compost so well because it does not have air pockets trapped in it. It is better to screw up paper rather than shred it.
Great!

fees office at westminster

2009-05-28T07:49:00.002Z

Much has been written about MPs’ expenses over recent weeks and reference made to the “green book” of rules. It seems that MPs have been lining up to express either their complete innocence (“I’ve done nothing wrong”) or to apologise for some error they’ve “just discovered”. It seems abundantly clear to everyone that the rules on MPs’ expenses need urgent reform. Even MPs themselves suddenly seem to be acknowledging this – but in an almost laughable, naughty schoolboy kind of way (“yes, I’ve always thought it was wrong and, funnily enough, I was going to raise it in Parliament as a matter of some urgency” as it were!). How many of us knew until recently, for example, that MPs can claim expenses of £250 without a receipt? And, if that wasn’t enough, we later learnt – to our utter incredulity – that MPs can, apparently, also claim £400 a month for food without receipts!
Brilliant! Clearly, something needs to be done.
However, what has also struck me is that we seem to have heard absolutely nothing about or from the “House of Commons’ Fees Office” during this debate.
These are the people who apparently “interpret” the rules. Amongst other things, they seem to have allowed claims for “servant’s quarters”, for clearing a moat, for mortgages that were already paid off, for claiming on second homes that were 100 miles from Westminster, for dry rot repairs to an MP’s partner’s house in Southampton etc etc.
Actually, if I were on this committee, I think I’d be keeping my head down too!
PS: The Committee on Standards in Public Life is currently conducting an inquiry into MPs' Expenses. I notice from its website that the committee has decided to set out the principles that “apply to all aspects of public life…. for the benefit of all who serve the public in any way”.
I think they make interesting reading!
THE SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF PUBLIC LIFE
SELFLESSNESS
Holders of public office should act solely in terms of the public interest. They should not do so in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends.
INTEGRITY
Holders of public office should not place themselves under any financial or other obligation to outside individuals or organisations that might seek to influence them in the performance of their official duties.
OBJECTIVITY
In carrying out public business, including making public appointments, awarding contracts, or recommending individuals for rewards and benefits, holders of public office should make choices on merit.
ACCOUNTABILITY
Holders of public office are accountable for their decisions and actions to the public and must submit themselves to whatever scrutiny is appropriate to their office.
OPENNESS
Holders of public office should be as open as possible about all the decisions and actions that they take. They should give reasons for their decisions and restrict information only when the wider public interest clearly demands.
HONESTY
Holders of public office have a duty to declare any private interests relating to their public duties and to take steps to resolve any conflicts arising in a way that protects the public interest.
LEADERSHIP
Holders of public office should promote and support these principles by leadership and example.