The nonsense of the mercenaries filling our top sporting teams

I came across this story:

Juan Sebatian Veron regales us with a hearty Christmas tale of hitting Gary Neville with a microphone

"One Christmas, me and my team-mates at United went out to celebrate." Veron recalls. "We went to a lot of bars in a bus. I invited Argentine rugby players Agustin Pichot and Felipe Contepomi, who were play...ing in England. I took a microphone and started to sing 'Let's go Argentina' and then Neville started to sing for England. So I hit Neville on the head with the microphone and there was a big fight between me, Pichot, Contepomi and the English. There was blood everywhere. When I came home, I had loads of scratches and my shirt was ripped".

What is the point of having teams of mercenaries gathered at enormous expense from all over the world? They have no identification with their clubs other than a temporary, mercenary attachment. There is no justification for giving them work permits and exporting the money of clubs that should be used to provide sporting careers for British players, many of whom would come from areas of society, where there is the hopelessness of unemployment

How left-wing people in film and television falsify history to match their prejudices

In this article, Daniel Finkelstein of the Times tells how he found watching a somewhat tedious film made by Richard Curtis, very instructive. The film, “The Boat That Rocked”, tells the story of some lovable disc jockeys on the pirate radio ship, Radio Rock. It gives the impression that they were closed down by an unlovable, snobbish, Tory administration. In fact it was after Labour’s election in 1964 that Tony Benn, the Minister of Technology decided to move against the pirates, in response to T.U. pressure. He closed them down by putting in place the Marine Offences Act, despite opposition from Conservative MPs.
Finkelstein concludes:

“The Boat That Rocked is a classic example of what might be called the Left interpretation of history. In crude terms, this involves twisting events around until the Left finishes on the enlightened side.”

The desperate need for parliamentary reform

David Owen writes in the Times that The Lib Dems should admit they can’t win outright and campaign instead for a role in a government of national unity.
He says there is a widespread feeling in the country, after decades of political incompetence, spin and sleaze, that there must be root-and-branch reform of British politics. Only a few of our politicians have yet grasped the gravity of the challenges we face. Yet many voters believe that a continuation of the failed one-party system of government — with the adversarial language and attitudes that it engenders — should not continue in the 21st century.
His comment on the P.M. who has put the country in the state it is today is absolutely true:
“Tony Blair’s readiness to give up a substantial part of Margaret Thatcher’s negotiated rebate without any radical reform of the Common Agricultural Policy or Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) was a costly blunder, which appears motivated by his wish to be the first president of the European Council. His appointment, after Labour’s reneging on its manifesto commitment to a referendum on the Lisbon treaty, would be a democratic disgrace.

Tories will create more Academies and send HMI to failing schools only

Those of us who despaired of the educational policies of the Conservatives- previously bogged down in dead issues- received reassuring news of constructive bipartisan ideas to be presented to the Conservative party Conference this week.


Today's Sunday Times reports their proposal to close up to 200 failing schools. In their place about 200 new academies will be created doubling the present number to 400 within months of the Tories winning power.
There would also be a shake-up of Ofsted, so that thousands of the best state schools, whose performance is unquestioned would be exempt from the wasteful bureaucratic chores of inspection. Instead the schools inspectorate would focus its resources on under-performing schools.

Here are glimmers of the dawn of the rule of common-sense in our country.

They were right to keep an eye on Red Sam

Daniel Finkelstein in Times Online draws attention to the imbalance in condemnation given to the Communists in comparison with the Fascists. Probably due to the left-wing bias of the media, the crimes of Communist states are played down and even accepted by some people. Finkelstein's article cogently challenges the soundness of this accepted wisdom

A new book analyses the political madness of the 1970s

The book Strange Days Indeed: The Golden Age of Paranoia by Francis Wheen tells the history of the 1970s. 

This book review on Times Online is by David Aaronovitch. In the UK it was the age of Harold Wilson. These were dark years although the media of the time did not mention it as they were part of the insanity. The BBC political correspondent was the No 1 raver in Harold Wilson's fan club. This new book, , reviewed here takes the lid off at last and confirms what we the poor deceived public always suspected.

Greater success reported when sixth forms are bigger

Little publicity is given to the success of Sixth form colleges and the 100% approval they receive from parents.  What they involve is the pooling of a number of sixth forms to give  a greater efficiency in the use of resources,  permitting the extension of educational provision, including teaching manpower (and womanpower of course).  The result is that students have a wider choice of courses and find themselves in classes large enough to offer a stimulating learning environment.  As there will usually be an alternative sixth form centre within travelling distance, there is also choice of College.

This lesson from the 16-19 age sector has lessons for the secondary sector.  Organisational cooperation under "super heads" is the basic answer to our educational problems.

A report in today's "Times" reveals the success of sixth form colleges: 

Success at the bigger 6th forms

By Nicola Woolcock  The Times 7 September 2009

Teenagers studying in large sixth forms perform better on average than those in smaller establish­ments, research shows.  Research by the Associa­tion of Colleges (AoC) sug­gests a link between a sixth form or college's size and the attainment of its pupils at A level and equiv­alent qualifications.

Martin Doel, AoC chief executive, said: "The poor performance of smaller school sixth forms is a source of concern, as it raises serious doubts about continued political support for an increase in the number of school sixth forms. New smaller school sixth forms do not look like an efficient invest­ment, according to this data, particularly at a time when public spending is so constrained."

The AoC examined the average Level 3 point scores (equivalent to A levels) per student. At schools or colleges with fewer than 50 pupils, the average score was 561, for those with 101 to 150 stu­dents this was 657, and in­stitutions with more than 250 pupils had an average score of 802. This excludes independent schools.