David-Barfield

Jeanne by Georges Brassens

2012-01-30T05:34:00.004Z

JEANNE

This song pays tribute to the generosity and boundless compassion of Mme. Jeanne Planche, who played a very major role in Brassens’ life. Although she was thirty years his senior and a married woman, they became lovers when Georges was about nineteen or twenty and their loving relationship continued until the end of her life. She gave him a refuge when he had to go in hiding during the war and also gave him the initial support that made his musical career possible. The biographical references in this song are discussed below in my translation notes.

Chez Jeanne, la Jeanne,
At Jeanne’s house, our Jeanne
Son auberge est ouverte aux gens sans feu ni lieu,(1)
Her inn has room for folk in need of warmth and shelter
On pourrait l'appeler l'auberge de Bon Dieu
You might give it the name of the inn of the Lord
S'il n'en existait déjà une,
If there didn’t exist one already,
La dernière où l'on peut entrer
The last one left where you can enter
Sans frapper, sans montrer patte blanche...(1)
Without knocking, without showing white paws

Chez Jeanne, la Jeanne,

At Jeannes house, our Jeanne
On est n'importe qui, on vient n'importe quand,
No matter who you are, coming no matter when
Et, comme par miracle, par enchantement,
And as if by magic, quite miraculously,
On fait partie de la famille,(3)
You’re straightway one of the family
Dans son cœur, en s'poussant un peu,
In her heart, by squeezing up tight,
Reste encore une petite place...
There is still a little space left

La Jeanne, la Jeanne,
Our Jeanne, our Jeanne,
Elle est pauvre et sa table est souvent mal servie,(4)
She is poor and her table is often quite sparse
Mais le peu qu'on y trouve assouvit pour la vie,
But the little you find fills your needs for all time
Par la façon qu'elle le donne,
By the way in which she gives it,
Son pain ressemble à du gateau(5)
Her bread tastes so much like cake
Et son eau à du vin comm' deux gouttes d'eau...
And her water’s so much like wine, no-one could tell.

La Jeanne, la Jeanne,
Our Jeanne, our Jeanne,
On la paie quand on peut des prix mirobolants (6)
You pay her, when you can, quite astounding amounts:
Un baiser sur son front ou sur ses cheveux blancs,
A kiss on the forehead or placed on her grey hair
Un semblant d'accord de guitare,
A vague chord or two on guitar
L'adresse d'un chat échaudé
The address of some scalded cat
Ou d'un chien tout crotté comm' pourboire...(7)
Or of some scruffy dog just as a bonus.

La Jeanne, la Jeanne,
Our Jeanne, our Jeanne,
Dans ses ros's et ses choux(8) n'a pas trouvé d'enfant
In her gooseberry bushes found no son or daughter
Qu'on aime et qu'on défend contre les quatre vents,
Whom one loves and defends whatever may befall
Et qu'on accroche à son corsage,
And whom you clasp to your bosom
Et qu'on arrose avec son lait...
And whom you feed with your own milk
D'autres qu'elle en seraient tout's chagrines...
Anyone else would be quite upset about it.

Mais Jeanne, la Jeanne,
But Jeanne, our Jeanne,
Ne s'en soucie pas plus que de colin-tampon
Does not give it a thought for the briefest moment
Être mère de trois poulpiquets,(9) à quoi bon ?
Being mother of three little kids, what’s the point??
Quand elle est mère universelle,
When she’s the universal mother
Quand tous les enfants de la terre,
When all the children of the earth
De la mer et du ciel sont à elle...
Of the sea and of the sky are hers.

Georges Brassens
1961 - Les trompettes de la renommée.

TRANSLATION NOTES

1) Son auberge est ouverte aux gens sans feu ni lieu - There is a play on words here with the expression "sans foi ni loi", which is an expression meaning “outside the law”. When Brassens went to live in Jeanne’s house, he was in hiding from the authorities. In March 1943, he had been requisitioned for the Service de Travail Obligatoire and was forced to go to a camp in Basdorf, Germany to work for the German war effort. After a year, Brassens got a pass for ten days home leave. Once back in Paris, he did a runner to avoid returning to Germany. He was then in need of refuge, “Sans feu ni lieu” and It was Jeanne Planche and her husband, Marcel, who offered to hide him and look after him, as long as necessary, in their cramped little house in a narrow cul de sac - l'impasse Florimont in the 14th arrondissement..

2) Montrer patte blanche - This a reference to the French fairy tale, in which Mother Goat, on leaving for market, tells her children not to open the door, unless whoever calls is able to show a white paw under the door – for fear of the wolf.

3) On est n'importe qui, on vient n'importe quand,- Et, comme par miracle, par enchantement, - On fait partie de la famille (Lines 8-10). Section C of my biography of the relationship of Brassens and Jeanne (See below) tells how Brassens came to be so completely at home with her – for so long!

4) Elle est pauvre et sa table est souvent mal servie (Line 14) Section C of my biography of Brassens and Jeanne (See below) tells of the poverty that they lived in, in the Impasse Florimont and the privations of war.

5) Son pain - In fact the bread that Jeanne would have served in her home from 1940 to about 1947 was the grey or black French bread of the war years.

6) On la paie quand on peut des prix mirobolants : - Un baiser sur son front ou sur ses cheveux blancs, - Un semblant d'accord de guitar (lines 20- 22)- Section C of my biography of Brassens and Jeanne (See below)tells how little she expected and received in return for her hospitality.

7) Un chat échaudé - Un chien tout crotté. Jeanne had an immense love of animals and crowded their inadequate home with strays that she had taken pity on. In his song of seven years earlier,“La cane de Jeanne”, Brassens had teased her about her excessive emotion on the death of her pet duck.

8) In the days when parents were uneasy about giving their children lessons in human biology, British parents, when asked by their child how babies were made, replied that new babies were found under gooseberry bushes and French parents replied that new boy babies were found under cabbages and new girl babies under roses.

9) Poulpiquet – Larousse tells me that the strict meaning of this word is “an infant not yet weaned”, but adds that in common speech there is a pejorative sense of a child of unruly character.

Biographical links in the poem

When I started to write about the biographical links in this poem, I found that I was practically writing a full biography, but in a fragmentary and inconsequential form. I therefore decided to write a full story of Brassens and Jeanne’s relationship, to which I could refer some quotations in my translation notes above.

I have put this biography on a separate posting. To access this please click:
The story of Georges Brassens and his Jeanne.

The songs in this collection that tell of his life with Jeanne

This song “Jeanne” is the fourth Brassens song in my collection that refers to his life at the house of his very great friend, Mme Jeanne Planche. The dates when the four songs appeared were:

1)      1954 – “La cane de Jeanne”, in the album - Les amoureux des bancs publics. This song was written, therefore, just a couple of years after Brassens began to have success with his music and achieve some earnings.

2)      1955 – “Chanson pour l'auvergnat”, in the album of the same name. The man from the Auvergne, to whom the song was dedicated, was her husband, Marcel, but she has her own verse in it.

3)      1955 – “Auprès de mon arbre”. This song was also in the album - Chanson pour l'auvergnat, and includes a description of his life of total bliss in his slum accommodation.

4)      1961 – “Jeanne”, in the album   - Les trompettes de la renommée. After the publication of this song, Brassens was to live on another five years in Jeanne’s house until the death of Marcel Planche, in 1966, when Jeanne decided to remarry.

A French television programme: “Regard de Brassens” was screened in 2011. It was based upon his family videos and these were interspersed with comments from Brassens’ friends and from his biographers, some of which have made me revise some of my previous understanding of the relationship of Georges Brassens and Jeanne Planche. I can no longer find this video on Daily Motion but the following video covers much the same ground:

Brassens et la Jeanne on Daily Motion

Click here to return to the index of Brassens songs

Click here to go to the chronological list of songs in albums

The story of Georges Brassens and his Jeanne

2012-01-28T17:06:00.011Z

Shortly before he turned eighteen, Georges Brassens found himself on the wrong side of the law. He had started going around with a gang of boys who had not too much respect for authority. They neglected their studies and skipped school. Two songs which Brassens wrote, set in his teenage years - "Il suffit de passer le pont" and "La Premiere Fille" - are to most of us, just charming poems about the first experience of love in the Springtime of life. However, in the repressive mores of the 1930s, they give evidence of a boy, who was ready to break this rigid social and religious code in the very sensitive and explosive matter of sexuality.

Some of the activities of Georges and his undesirable friends began to give grounds for really serious comcern. They became secretly involved in petty crime and pilfered small items that they could sell, raising enough money to buy records, among other things.. Their victims were mainly members of their own families. Georges helped himself to a ring and bracelet, belonging to his half-sister. When some of the stolen property was recognised in a local shop window, the police tracked down the culprits. They were taken to court and a number of boys were sent to prison. With the support of his father, Georges got away with a one year sentence on remand. In his song,”L’auvergnat”, he talks of one sole person who looked on him with compassion when the police took him away and this could have been his father.

Although some commentators dismiss Brassens’ misdemeanour as no more than the trivial offence of an adolescent, there is no doubt that it caused a major crisis in the lives of the Brassens family, Georges was expelled from school and when he went out in public he was painfully aware of the strong disapproval on the part of the respectable people in his hometown of Sète. It is probable that the trauma of these events, at this formative stage, lingered with him for the rest of his life. He certainly had a permanent resentment of censorious middle class people, whom he characterised as “croquants” and “croquantes”.

Brassens’ first period of refuge – In Aunt Antoinette’s house Feb 1940- March 1943
Brassens decided to move to Paris in February 1940, even though France, at this time, was under threat of German invasion. His Aunt Antoinette Dagrossa, his mother’s sister, who ran a family boarding house at 173 rue d’Alésia, in the 14th arrondissement, had offered him accommodation.
On arrival in Paris, he got himself a job in the Renault car factory. Two months later, in May 1940, the factory was bombed and in the same month the German army entered France followed by the fall of Paris on the fourteenth of June. Brassens returned to Sète in the summer of 1940, but after three months, he returned to occupied Paris.

For the next three years, Georges Brassens had no employment but lived off the hospitality of his aunt. In his song “L’Auvergnat”, Brassens pays tribute to the hostess who fed him when he had no-one else to turn to. This is often seen as referring to his stay with Jeanne Planche, but in view of the hospitality which Aunt Antoinette showed to him over this long period, it is possible that it was his aunt whom he had first in mind. Brassens paid glowing tributes to the warmth of heart and generosity of the Aunt who acted as his "hostess". He admired also her determination and her courage, as she had broken away from an unhappy marriage in Sète and had established an independent life for herself in Paris, at a time when social convention prohibited such a way-out for an unhappy wife. The idle life that she allowed him gave him the opportunity to spend his days in the public library, discovering authors, some of whom would appear later in his songs. He also was writing, publishing his first collection of poems in 1942:, ‘Des coups d’épées dans l’eau’ , soon followed by ‘A la venvole’. Also in these years he had time to improve his musical skills, teaching himself to play his aunt’s old piano.

In March 1943, this easy period in his life ended abruptly, when Brassens lost his freedom. He was requisitioned for the Service de Travail Obligatoire and was forced to go to a camp in Basdorf, Germany to work for the German war effort.

Brassens’ second period of refuge - in Jeanne’s house March 1944 – August 1944
After a year, Brassens was successful in getting a pass for ten days home leave. Predictably, once back in Paris, he did a runner to avoid returning to Germany. In fact he did not run far away from his Aunt’s house. It was Jeanne Planche and her husband, Marcel, who offered to hide him and look after him, as long as necessary, in their cramped little house in a narrow cul de sac - l'impasse Florimont in the 14th arrondissement.

Jeanne was Aunt Antoinette’s dressmaker and Brassens had got to know her through her regular visits. Brassens tells us that, in the course of the years of his stay there, the two of them became good friends, in spite of their thirty year age gap, because they found that they had a lot in common. In fact they became much more than good friends and a passionate love affair developed. The T.V biographies in 2011 revealed an example of the amorous messages that they exchanged. - Brassens tells us in his song, “A l’ombre des maris (1972)”, that one day he discovered that a married woman offered love more exquisite than any other:
En ce qui me concerne, ayant un jour compris
Qu’une femme adultère est plus qu’une autre exquise
Je cherche mon bonheur à l’ombre des maris.
The facts of his biography allow us to speculate with whom he had enjoyed this memorable moment, celebrated in this poem, and Jeanne’s name comes immediately to mind.

Photos taken in these early years help to explain Jeanne’s charms.
Her hair had not yet turned grey and we see an attractive woman with a happy personality.

Even in later years when she showed all the signs of her age commentators still refer to her beauty some of which must have been the reflection of her good nature which never left her. This photo of Jeanne and Georges together suggests the ease of their relationship and their pleasure in each other’s company.

Brassens tells us that when he was seeking refuge after going absent without leave, it was a joint offer that he received from Jeanne and her husband, Marcel. We can imagine, however that Jeanne was the moving force, not only because of her personal interest in the young man, but also because it was Jeanne, the strongest character, who always made the decisions. Brassens in the same letter, goes on to praise the generosity of the couple in undertaking to feed an extra person from the ration coupons for two that they were allocated. He also praises their courage in taking the risk of concealing an escapee from a German work camp. These acknowledgements serve to bring out the irony of the situation -that the gesture on Marcel’s part was in protection of a young man who was secretly sleeping with his wife. A commentator in a T.V.documentary (2011) about Brassens tells us that he felt very bad conscience about deceiving Marcel. However, Pierre Onténiente, Brassens’ close friend, who was, in later years, his right-hand man and his private secretary, explained that Jeanne’s husband was either indifferent or unaware, as he was in the habit of starting to get drunk from eight in the morning,

Brassens’ forced confinement in Jeanne’s house lasted from March 1944 until August 1944. He had the consolation of Jeanne’s love and in this reclusion he continued to write poems and songs. His only musical instrument was a low piece of furniture which he used as a drum, beating out the rhythms. Nevertheless the tensions of these months should not be understated. The strain of this experience can be gauged by the fact that late in his life Brassens recalled to an acquaintance from his early days in Paris, who had just written to him (See Appendix below), that he had endured “this state of siege” for a year and three months. In fact the time that he was shut away totalled five months. The tally in Brassens’ mind no doubt reflected the length of those days when, deprived indefinitely of his liberty, he lived in constant suspense of the possibility of discovery by the Vichy police or the Gestapo, with the terrible consequences that this would imply, not only for him but for Jeanne and Marcel.

Brassens’ extended stay in the Impasse Florimont – 1944 – 1966
In the same letter to a correspondent, Brassens says that it was quite natural that he stayed on at Jeanne’s house in the Impasse Florimont after Paris was liberated and he was able to come out of hiding:
Mais même après la Libération, j'ai tout naturellement choisi de demeurer chez Jeanne, malgré l'inconfort notable des lieux, sans électricité, sans eau courante, sans tout-à-l'égout –

It would surprise most people that he chose to go on living there for the very reasons that he mentions. The house was without electricity, running water and proper sanitation. It was in fact a slum and Jeanne made matters worse by the animals that she accumulated there – living side by side in her yard were cats, dogs, hens and Jeanne’s special duck that Brassens made famous in a song. The soft hearted Jeanne could not turn away any strays and she poured out on them the love that she would have lavished on her children, if fate had been kind enough to grant her any. Her boarder, Georges Brassens had an equal attachment to her cats.

If it is a surprise that Brassens chose to live on in these conditions and it is a further surprise how long he lived on there. In fact, he stayed in the run-down cul-de sac, close to Jeanne for another twenty years, even after he had become rich and internationally famous.

Brassens explained in a radio interview that he stayed on there because he felt comfortable. In the letter to his acquaintance of time past, he said that by remaining there he was able to keep his little routines, because the local residents respected what he termed the private territory of his daily life. There, he was near to his friends him, including those, who had just returned from the German labour, among whom his close friend, Pierre Onténiente. With a number of these friends he attempted to launch an anarchist movement.

The most important person in this company was Jeanne, who gave him great love and support. A less romantic view of this appeared in the recent T.V. documentary on his life. This pointed out that for ten years Jeanne kept Georges who had no income and who made little effort to find some kind of job which would at least allow him to pay his keep. Unkind people could say that throughout all these years, he was Jeanne’s kept man.

From an artistic point of view it was vital that Jeanne gave him the encouragement to persevere in his composition and to go on trying to get his songs played. Brassens was lacking in confidence and experienced nervousness and panic when he had to perform in public (a nervousness which is still evident in his heavy perspiration sometimes as he performs in his later years).continuing his study of poetry and was working on his songs. Jeanne gave him vital encouragement and bought him a guitar (on the death of his Aunt Antoinette in July 1946, he inherited her piano). They battled on for over five years in the face of refusals and disappointments and all the while, he did not earn a penny.

The turning point came in in March 1951, when the famous French singer Patachou sang his songs at her cabaret and called him up on stage to sing. He was greeted with acclaim and it was through Patachou that he had met the bass player, Pierre Nicolas, an accomplished musician, who would become his accompanist and give him the solid support he needed to perform in public.

Below right - In later years, Brassens rehearsing with Pierre Nicolas.

From 1952 onwards, Brassens was earning enough not only to pay his rent and his keep but to make improvements in Jeanne’s home, installing electricity and running water.

In 1955, he bought Jeanne and Marcel Planche’s home for them and also the neighbouring house as an extension for their house, into which he himself was able to move. In his private cine-films, we see Jeanne in the smart clothes that Brassens was now able to buy her, accompanied by Marcel – and dog- on an outing to the Bois de Boulogne, to where they were driven in a fine car.

L’Impasse Florimont continued to be Brassens’ home, although he was absent for increasing periods of time as his successful career involved him in tours both within France and abroad. In 1960, around the time when Jeanne turned seventy, Brassens wrote the touching song:"Jeanne" to celebrate the infinite warmth and kindliness of her nature. In their personal cine-films, we see Brassens constantly putting his arms around her and his hands upon her, getting in return more than once a flirtatious glance - the body language of two people, whose feelings of intimacy had not diminished.

This situation, strange in many ways, finally ended in 1966. On the 7th May of the previous year Marcel Planche had died. On the 2th May 1966, to the dismay of Brassens, Jeanne married again at the age of 75. Her new husband was only 37 years old. In a show of disapproval, Brassens moved out of Jeanne’s house. (See the postscript below)

On the topic of fidelity, It has to be said that from as early as 1945 Brassens had conducted clandestine love affairs, while living with Jeanne. He would seek to smuggle the women into his room secretly so as not to arouse Jeanne’s jealous anger. The TV biographies of 2011, tell how the gentle natured Jeanne became very angry when she learnt of his relationships with other women.

Jeanne’s new marriage was to prove short-lived. Just two years later, she was taken ill and underwent a gall-bladder operation, from which she failed to recover. She died on the 24th October 1968 and Georges Brassens was at her bedside.

The photo on the left looks back to the days when Georges first met Jeanne.

As we grow older we necessarily live in the continuity of the full span of our lives. When Brassens looked at Jeanne that last time, no doubt he saw also the bright-eyed woman whose first warm embrace of illicit love, at number 173 rue d’Alésia, had introduced him to a deep and enduring relationship. Jeanne’s death at the age of 77 greatly affected Brassens.

Postscript
After Brassens finally moved out of the Impasse Florimont in 1966, following Jeanne’s remarriage he bought a more modern apartment. However he did not find this style of living to his taste and he sold up three years later to buy a house in the 15th arrondissement. In the letter to a personal correspondent, quoted several times above in this biography, he explained that, after his temporary removal, he had no intention of leaving the district of Paris where he felt at ease and which was now his permanent home. We note the continuing pull of this neighbourhood where he had lived with Jeanne.

APPENDIX
The following is the letter, which I have mentioned several times in the piece above. Brassens wrote it in reply to the reminiscences of an acquaintance from his early days in Paris. Brassens wrote an appreciative letter that is full of biographical insights:

Cher Voisin, Bonjour,

Je trouve bien émouvant que vous évoquiez, et sur un ton si chaleureusement intimiste, cette époque où je pouvais flâner nonchalamment dans mon quartier du 14e arrondissement. Et de penser que nous nous sommes croisés, entre la rue Didot et la rue de Vanves, que nous aurions pu faire un bout de conversation place du lieutenant Piobetta, face à cette caserne de pompiers, à quatre pas de ma maison.

Car effectivement c'est bien là que j'ai habité, impasse Florimont, au no9, devenu depuis le no7, pendant 22 ans. Lorsqu'à 18 ans, en février 1940, j'ai quitté ma ville natale de Sète pour monter à Paris, il n'y avait qu'un seul point de chute possible. Ma tante, Antoinette Dagrossa, soeur de ma mère, possédait une pension de famille au 173, rue d'Alésia. Déjà à l'occasion de vacances ou de l'Exposition Universelle, tous les membres de la famille qui passaient à Paris étaient inévitablement logés chez cette tante chaleureuse, restée très attachée à sa soeur et à la famille. Moi-même, lors de deux précédents voyages dans la capitale, j'avais pu apprécier la générosité mais aussi la rigueur et la détermination de cette femme de tête. Pour fuir un mariage inconfortable, elle avait choisi de quitter Sète et de se reconstruire une vie marquée par l'autonomie, ce qui était très courageux dans le contexte de l'époque et était de nature à soulever mon estime. J'étais d'autant plus heureux d'habiter chez elle que j'avais libre accès à un piano d'une tenue convenable, sur lequel, grâce à des méthodes dénichées aux Puces de Vanves, j'ai pu combler le gouffre de mon ignorance musicale.

J'ai habité rue d'Alésia durant trois années et c'est pendant cette période que j'ai fait la connaissance de Jeanne Planche, couturière attitrée de tante Antoinette, devenue son amie au fil des années. Bien que 30 ans d'âge nous séparaient, des affinités multiples tissaient entre nous des liens certains.

En mars 1943, je fus contraint au S.T.O., le service du travail obligatoire. Après un an, les Allemands accordèrent parcimonieusement des permissions. Très peu retournèrent au camp. Pour ma part, il n'était pas question que je me réinstalle chez Antoinette, où j'aurais été vite repris et aurais dangereusement compromis mon hôtesse.

C'est alors que Jeanne et son mari Marcel offrirent de m'héberger, de me cacher, dans leur maisonnette, pourtant déjà bien exiguë de l'impasse Florimont. Outre le courage et la générosité de m'accorder de l'espace et d'assumer le risque, il allait bien vite se poser le problème de la nourriture, puisqu'ils acceptaient que l'on mange à trois avec des coupons d'alimentation émis pour deux personnes. La bonne Antoinette et ma brave mère aideront dans la mesure de leurs moyens par quelques colis occasionnels.

L'état de siège dura un an et deux mois. Mais même après la Libération, j'ai tout naturellement choisi de demeurer chez Jeanne, malgré l'inconfort notable des lieux, sans électricité, sans eau courante, sans tout-à-l'égout. Ce n'est qu'à partir de 1952, grâce à mes premiers cachets, que j'ai pu progressivement rehausser le niveau de confort de la maisonnette, jusqu'à acheter la maison mitoyenne pour agrandir.

Et ce n'est que lorsque Jeanne, devenue veuve, a décidé de se remarier, en 1966, que j'ai choisi de quitter l'impasse, mais sans m'éloigner du quartier, que j'ai toujours habité par la suite. Ainsi, j'ai pu pour un temps et dans la mesure du possible, préserver mes petites habitudes, les résidents de ma paroisse respectant généralement, tout comme vous l'avez fait vous-même, le territoire privé de mon quotidien.

Au plaisir,

Brassens

À L'OMBRE DES MARIS -Brassens

2012-01-09T20:31:00.002Z

À L'OMBRE DES MARIS – IN THE SHADOW OF HUSBANDS

This is an amusing song about the complication of extra-marital relationships among people most typically in the world of entertainment and the arts. In a programme shown last year on French TV, « Regard de Brassens », Brassens, in a recorded interview, told us frankly that he deliberately chose affairs with married women, because falling in love with a single woman could mean marriage and children and loss of his liberty. In the light of this principle, the song « A l’ombre des maris » has a comic irony that Brassens must have enjoyed.

Les dragons de vertu n'en prennent pas ombrage,
May dragons of virtue take no offence at this:
Si j'avais eu l'honneur de commander à bord,
If I’d had the honour to have command on board
À bord du Titanic quand il a fait naufrage,
On board the Titanic when it was wrecked at sea,
J'aurais crié : "Les femm's adultères d'abord !"
I would have yelled: “All adulterous women go first”

Ne jetez pas la pierre à la femme adultère,
Cast not a stone at the adulterous woman
Je suis derrière...
I am right behind her.

Car, pour combler les voeux, calmer la fièvre ardente
For to sate the desirs, calm the fevers that rage
Du pauvre solitaire et qui n'est pas de bois,
In a poor lonely soul, who is made not of stone(1)
Nulle n'est comparable à l'épouse inconstante.
Nothing can compare with an inconstant wife.
Femmes de chefs de gare,(2) c'est vous la fleur d'époi. (3)
Station-masters’ wives, you’re the pick of the crop.

Ne jetez pas la pierre à la femme adultère,
Cast not a stone at the adulterous woman
Je suis derrière...
I am right behind her.

Quant à vous, messeigneurs, aimez à votre guise,
As for you, lordly priests, love in your kind of way
En ce qui me concerne, ayant un jour compris
As for me, from the day, I grew to understand
Qu'une femme adultère est plus qu'une autre exquise,
An adulterous wife is exquisite as none other
Je cherche mon bonheur à l'ombre des maris.
I seek my greatest bliss in the husbands’ shadow.

Ne jetez pas la pierre à la femme adultère,
Cast not a stone at the adulterous woman
Je suis derrière...
I am right behind her.

À l'ombre des maris, mais cela va sans dire,
In the husbands’ shadow, but I don’t need to say.
Pas n'importe lesquels, je les trie, les choisis.
Not just any husband, I sort them, I choose them
Si madame Dupont,(4) d'aventure, m'attire,
If it’s madame Dupont, who p’rhaps catches my eye,
Il faut que, par surcroît, Dupont me plaise aussi !
It’s vital besides that I like Dupont as well !

Ne jetez pas la pierre à la femme adultère,
Cast not a stone at the adulterous woman
Je suis derrière...
I am right behind her.

Il convient que le bougre ait une bonne poire
It needs that the fellow has a nice enough mug
Sinon, me ravisant, je détale à grands pas,
Otherwise, changing tack, I clear off like a shot.
Car je suis difficile et me refuse à boire
For I am most choosy and I refuse to drink
Dans le verr' d'un monsieur qui ne me revient pas.
From the glass of a man, whose looks put me right off.

Ne jetez pas la pierre à la femme adultère,
Cast not a stone at the adulterous woman
Je suis derrière...
I am right behind her.

Ils sont loins mes débuts où, manquant de pratique
Long past my beginnings when lacking in practice
Sur des femmes de flics (5) je mis mon dévolu.
After wives of policemen, I went out on the trawl.
Je n'étais pas encore ouvert à l'esthétique,
I had not yet achieved a sense of aesthetics.
Cette faute de goût je ne la commets plus.
This error of good taste, I don’t make any more.

Ne jetez pas la pierre à la femme adultère,
Cast not a stone at the adulterous woman
Je suis derrière...
I am right behind her.

Oui, je suis tatillon, pointilleux, mais j'estime
Yes I am finicky, demanding, but believe
Que le mari doit être un gentleman complet,
That the husband must be a gentleman complete,
Car on finit tous deux par devenir intimes
For you finish up both getting extremely close
À force, à force de se passer le relais.(6)
Through -Through the changeovers of our mutual relay .

Ne jetez pas la pierre à la femme adultère,
Cast not a stone at the adulterous woman
Je suis derrière...
I am right behind her.

Mais si l'on tombe, hélas ! sur des maris infâmes,
But if you come across, alas ! husbands most vile,
Certains sont si courtois, si bons si chaleureux,
Still some are so polite, so welcoming, so kind
Que, même après avoir cessé d'aimer leur femme,
That even after having stopped loving their wives
On fait encor semblant uniquement pour eux.
You act as though still you’re the one for them alone.

Ne jetez pas la pierre à la femme adultère,
Cast not a stone at the adulterous woman
Je suis derrière...
I am right behind her.

C'est mon cas ces temps-ci, je suis triste, malade,
That’s my case at present, I am sick and downcast
Quand je dois faire honneur à certaine pécore,
When I have to perform with one crazy female
Mais, son mari et moi, c'est Oreste et Pylade,(7)
But her husband and I, we’re Oreste and Pylade,
Et, pour garder l'ami, je la cajole encore.
And to stay with the friend, I fondle her still.

Ne jetez pas la pierre à la femme adultère,
Cast not a stone at the adulterous woman
Je suis derrière...
I am right behind her.

Non contente de me déplaire, elle me trompe,
Not content with her vexing, she’s deceiving me
Et les jours où, furieux, voulant tout mettre à bas
And on days I get mad, want to have it all out
Je crie : "La coupe est pleine, il est temps que je rompe !"
I shout : “The cup is full, it’s time for us to break!”
Le mari me supplie : "Non, ne me quittez pas !"
The husband beseeches: “No don’t you desert me!”

Ne jetez pas la pierre à la femme adultère,
Cast not a stone at the adulterous woman
Je suis derrière...
I am right behind her.

Et je reste, et, tous deux, ensemble on se flagorne
And I stay, and, we both, butter up the other.
Moi, je lui dis : "C'est vous mon cocu préféré."
I say to him : My favourite cuckold is you
Il me réplique alors : "Entre toutes mes cornes,
He replies to me then : Of all the horns I wear
Celles que je vous dois, mon cher, me sont sacrées."
The ones I owe to you, dear friend, are sacred.

Ne jetez pas la pierre à la femme adultère,
Cast not a stone at the adulterous woman
Je suis derrière...
I am right behind her.

Et je reste et, parfois, lorsque cette pimbêche
And I stay and sometimes when that jumped-up creature
S'attarde en compagnie de son nouvel amant,
Lingers late in her latest lover’s company
Que la nurse est sortie, le mari à la pêche,(8)
When the nanny is out, the husband’s gone fishing
C'est moi, pauvre de moi ! qui garde les enfants.
It is me, poor old me, who looks after the kids

Ne jetez pas la pierre à la femme adultère,
Cast not a stone at the adulterous woman

1972 - Fernande

Translation Notes for A l’ombre des maris

1) As a figurative expression for “unfeeling”. Brassens uses “made of wood” but as wooden in English suggests awkward, I have substituted “stone”.
2) The stationmaster is a symbol of the deceived husband because of a line in a well-known vulgar song: “Il est cocu, le chef de gare” – he is cuckolded the stationmaster.
3) Fleur d’époi is a complimentary term, which would tell us that wives of stationmasters dress with the utmost elegance. However there is a secondary meaning because “l’époi” is the tip of a stag’s horns which are the symbol of cuckoldry.
4) Madame Dupont – the name is chosen as a common French surname, just as, in English, we would use Mrs Smith or Mrs Jones for a general name.
5) Femmes de flics. This disparaging verse about the wives of cops is somewhat gratuitous, but Brassens often felt the need to express his distaste for the police
6) À force, à force de se passer le relais. - Brassens’ repetition at the start of this line might suggest hesitation about giving erotic detail of the actual arrangements, with the passing over of the wife from one to the other. When I was struggling with this line, a little linguistic point struck me: English terminology is “pass the baton” a French word of course. The French, however , do not use it saying: “Passer le témoin” – pass the witness.
7) Oreste and Pylade -are characters in classical mythology (and in Racine’s Andromaque) who typify friendship. Orestes was the son of Agamemnon who was murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra. When he reached adulthood, Orestes returned to his native Mycenae to seek revenge for the death of his father. With the collusion of his sister, Electra and of his cousin and close friend, Pylades, Orestes killed his own mother, Clytemnestra and also her lover, Aegisthus. Pylades became the husband of Electra.
8) le mari à la pêche – There is a line of a song : Le cocu qui s'ennoblit en pêchant.

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Don Juan

2011-05-27T22:21:00.006+01:00

“Don Juan” is the title song of Georges Brassens’ last album in 1976, (five years before his death). The first two lines of each verse describe incidents, mainly humorous, when people have bent the rules, disobeyed orders, or flaunted convention to allow life to be more civilised. The remaining lines of each verse tell the continuous tale of a womaniser making a conquest, beginning with his first approach to the girl in verse one and finishing with the climax in verse five. The last verse sums up the theme, which is Brassens' plea for a less judgemental and more tolerant view of life: This modern Don Juan, whose free lifestyle offends the social conventions, is drawn to to an unlikely girl, to whom fate has not been kind, unconcerned about the adverse opinion of the others in his group. She accepts his advances and they share a vital experience of happiness.

The natural and ecstatically satisfying fulfilment of this first act of love of a novice girl in the arms of an experienced man, who felt an overpowering compulsion towards her, would seem to make nonsense of the repeated statement of her ugliness. Human attractiveness is certainly composed of something much more complex and interesting than the presentation of several physical features. The common sayings that ponder this truth of our everyday experience are:

La beauté est affaire de goût. - Beauty is in eye of the beholder.

georges brassens _ don juan by bisonravi1987

Don Juan

Gloire à qui freine à mort, de peur d'écrabouiller
Praise to those who slam brakes, for fear of squashing flat
Le hérisson perdu, le crapaud fourvoyé !
The little hedgehog lost, the toad gone the wrong way
Et gloire à Don Juan, d'avoir un jour souri
And praise to Don Juan, for having smiled one day
À celle à qui les autr's n'attachaient aucun prix !
At the one whom the rest did not rate in the least!
Cette fille est trop vilaine, il me la faut.
That girl is too downright ugly, I must have her.

Gloire au flic qui barrait le passage aux autos
Praise to the cop who stopped the cars from going through
Pour laisser traverser les chats de Léautaud(1) !
To let all the cats of Léautaud get across!
Et gloire à Don Juan d'avoir pris rendez-vous,
And praise to Don Juan for the date he made with
Avec la délaissée, que l'amour désavoue !
The girl left on the shelf, from whom love turns away!
Cette fille est trop vilaine, il me la faut.
That girl is too downright ugly, I must have her.

Gloire au premier venu qui passe et qui se tait
Praise to the first person who walks by with no word
Quand la canaille crie : "Haro sur le baudet(2) !"
When the wild rabble yells: «Get him- let’s string him up! »
Et gloire à Don Juan pour ses galants discours
And praise to Don Juan for his amorous words
À celle à qui les autr's faisaient jamais la cour !
To the one whom the rest never thought worth courting!
Cette fille est trop vilaine, il me la faut(3).
That girl is too downright ugly, I must have her.

Et gloire à ce curé sauvant son ennemi
And praise goes to that priest saving his enemy
Lors du massacre de la Saint-Barthélémy(4) !
The day of the mass’cre of Saint-Barthélémy !
Et gloire à Don Juan qui couvrit de baisers
And praise to Don Juan who covered in kisses
La fille que les autr's refusaient d'embrasser !
The girl that the others refused a single one!
Cette fille est trop vilaine, il me la faut.
That girl is too downright ugly, I must have her.

Et gloire à ce soldat qui jeta son fusil
And praise to the soldier who threw aside his gun
Plutôt que d'achever l'otage à sa merci !
Rather than finish off (the) hostage at his mercy!
Et gloire à Don Juan d'avoir osé trousser(5)
And praise to Don Juan for daring pull right up
Celle dont le jupon restait toujours baissé !
The skirts of the girl who wore them demurely low!
Cette fille est trop vilaine, il me la faut.
That girl is too downright ugly, I must have her

Gloire à la bonne sœur qui, par temps pas très chaud
Praise to the kind nun, who, in weather none too hot
Dégela dans sa main le pénis du manchot
Thawed by hand the penis of the man with no arms.
Et gloire à Don Juan qui fit reluire un soir
And praise to Don Juan who buffed up to delight (6)
Ce cul désherité ne sachant que s'asseoir !
This neglected bum whose sole use was to sit on!
Cette fille est trop vilaine, il me la faut.
That girl is too downright ugly, I must have her.

Gloire à qui n'ayant pas d'idéal sacro-saint
Praise to those who having no sacrosanct ideals
Se borne à ne pas trop emmerder ses voisins !
Just seek not to give too much grief to those around!
Et gloire à Don Juan qui rendit femme celle
And praise to Don Juan who made into a woman
Qui, sans lui, quelle horreur, serait morte pucelle(7) !
She, who, but for him, would have never known man's love!
Cette fille est trop vilaine, il me la faut.
That girl is too downright ugly, I must have her. (8).

1976 Album -Don Juan

TRANSLATION NOTES

1) Les chats de Léautaud – The writer and critic Paul Léautaud, who died in 1956, was a reclusive who was said to have owned at least 300 cats and 150 dogs in his lifetime.
2) Quand la canaille crie : "Haro sur le baudet !" - This is the rallying cry of a lynch mob and they are saying “Let’s string up the donkey”. Brassens’ audience would have understood this reference immediately. It is a line in La Fontaine’s very famous fable: “ Les Animaux Malades de la Peste”. The kingdom had been hit by a terrible plague and the Lion King decided it was God’s punishment for wrongs they had done and asked all to confess. The King began by telling of the sheep and shepherds he had eaten and the other powerful predators of court made similar confessions. All the self flatterers of the court agreed that there was no harm in these deeds. Then came the turn of the humble donkey and he confessed that he had once eaten a mouthful of grass from some-one else’s meadow :

« Je tondis de ce pré la largeur de ma langue.
Je n'en avais nul droit puisqu'il faut parler net.
A ces mots, on cria haro sur le Baudet. »

The rich and powerful courtiers were in uproar at the crime of the poor donkey:

“Sa peccadille fut jugé un cas pendable.
Manger l'herbe d'autrui! Quel crime abominable!
Rien que la mort n'était capable
D'expier son forfait : on le lui fit bien voir. »

So they hanged the donkey. La Fontaine dangerously explains how his fable relates to justice in the court of Louis XIV:

“Selon que vous serez puissant ou misérable,
Les jugements de cour vous rendront blanc ou noir. »

3) Cette fille est trop vilaine, il me la faut – This Don Juan finds a strong attraction in this girl that he can’t explain and he is risking the derision of every one of his mates in seeking love with this girl.
4) Massacre de la Saint-Barthélémy- On the 23rd August (Saint-Barthélémy’s Day) 1572, a pogrom was launched against the Huguenots of France . The death toll has been estimated as high as 30,000 and the Protestant movement in France was effectively wiped out.
5) Trousser celle dont le jupon –“ Trousser les jupes” means to tuck up the skirts “trousser une femme” means to lift a woman’s skirts. Trousser also has the meaning of “to stuff” in cooking e.g. “ trousser un poulet” and from this the verb “trousser” has the same vulgar usage as the English translation. From this double entendre comes a hidden message that the French audience will discreetly understand- that he made vigorous love to the girl at this point. For my translation, I stick to the first meaning for the sake of the following line.
6) fit reluire - to polish up (furniture etc) . As there is the sense of rubbing up, the words are found in vulgar usage with erotic connotations. We have, therefore, another double entendre as in (5). In this case it is to say that he brought the girl to orgasm. As it would be wrong to make the hidden message explicit in the translation, I have kept to the literal meaning - plus a bit of vagueness.
7) serait morte pucelle - In my translation, I have chosen not to use the word “virgin”, as I feel that the issue of virginity has ceased to be a preoccupation with educated people in the course of the last 50 years. When I included this word in a draft, I had the sense of an unpleasant male chauvinism.
8) That girl is too downright ugly, I must have her. - I hope that the refrain repeated at the end of the poem means that the man continues under the spell of the girl after their night together. If so there is the nice irony that the “ugly” girl has seduced Don Juan! This song makes me think of “Mysogynie à Part”, where, in a background of male chauvinism, the girl who has been treated with disrespect comes off best in my mind:
http://brassenswithenglish.blogspot.com/2010/11/misogynie-part-setting-misogyny-aside.html

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BALLADE DES DAMES DU TEMPS JADIS

2011-05-20T11:42:00.007+01:00

I had always seen this poem as a tribute to the love and beauty that certain women can bring into our lives. The mention of Dante’s Beatrice and of Flora, the Goddess of flowers established this theme in my mind and I assumed that the other names, most of which were little more than impressive sounds to me, also illustrated this theme. Coupled with this idea is the sad realisation that with time all this must pass away. For those who use the English translation, this regret, is expressed in the wistful poetic line of D.G. Rossetti’s “But where are the snows of yester-year?” – A line that is engraved in the memory of most of us.

In doing a translation of my own, I have found it necessary to look into the names I had always skipped over previously, in order to see why they recommended themselves to Villon’s inspiration. From this I soon became disabused of the idea that Villon’s life-view was one of beauty and love. Behind the names of the ladies he had chosen were illustrations of deceit, betrayal, corruption and also of incredible cruelty from individuals and above all from the rulers and officials of church and state. A study of Villon’s biography showed that these were the terms under which the poet had lived his life. For people under the arbitrary authoritarianism of late medieval Europe, the rhetorical question in the last line of Villon’s poem was a prosaic statement of fact that life was short, nasty and meaningless: “But where are last year’s snows gone?

BALLADE DES DAMES DU TEMPS JADIS

Dites-moi où, n'en quel pays,
Tell me where, or in what land,
Est Flora la belle Romaine,(1)
Is Flora, the beauteous Roman
Archipiada(2), ne Thaïs(3),
Archipiada, or Thaïs,
Qui fut sa cousine germaine,
Who was her equal in beauty. – (Lit. “Who was her full cousin”)
Echo(4), parlant quand bruit on mène
Echo speaking when sound came to her
Dessus rivière ou sur étang,
From across river or over pond, - (Because she was a water nymph)
Qui beauté eut trop plus qu'humaine.
Who beauty had far more than human
Mais ou sont les neiges d'antan? –(Antan at Villon's time meant "last year")
But where are last year’s snows gone?
Qui beauté eut trop plus qu'humaine.
Who beauty had far more than human
Mais ou sont les neiges d'antan?
But where are last year’s snows gone?

Où est la très sage Hélois(5),
Where is the most learned Heloise
Pour qui châtré fut et puis moine
For whom was neutered at Saint Denis
Pierre Abélard(5) a Saint Denis ?
Pierre Abélard, monk from then on
Pour son amour eut cette essoine. –( « essoine » Old Fr. word means ordeal)
For love of her, suffered this outrage.
Semblablement, ou est la reine(6)
And just the same, where is the queen
Qui commanda que Buridan
Who commanded that Buridan
Fut jeté en un sac en Seine ?(6)
Be thrown down in a sack in the Seine
Mais ou sont les neiges d'antan ?
But where are last year’s snows gone?
Fut jeté en un sac en Seine ?
Be thrown down in a sack in the Seine
Mais où sont les neiges d'antan ?
But where are last year’s snows gone?

La reine Blanche(7) comme un lis
Good Queen Blanche, white as a lily
Qui chantait a voix de sirène,
With voice sweet like a water-nymph’s song
Berthe au grand pied(8), Béatrix(9), Alis (10),
Bertha Broadfoot, Beatrice, Alice,
Haramburgis (10) qui tint le Maine,
Haramburgis who ruled o’er the Maine
Et Jeanne, la bonne Lorraine(11).
And Joan, the good woman of Lorraine
Qu'Anglais brûlèrent à Rouen ;
Whom Englishmen burnt at Rouen
Où sont-ils, où, Vierge souveraine ?
Where are they, where,sovereign Virgin?
Mais ou sont les neiges d'antan ?
But where are last year’s snows gone?
Ou sont-ils, où, Vierge souveraine ?
Where are they, where, sovereign Virgin?
Mais où sont les neiges d'antan ?
But where are last year’s snows gone?

Prince(12), n'enquerrez de semaine
Oh prince, pray inquire not in this week
Ou elles sont, ni de cet an,
Where they may be, nor yet this year
Que ce refrain ne vous remaine : - (remaine = ramène)
Lest this refrain comes in answer
Mais ou sont les neiges d'antan ?
But where are last year’s snows gone?
Que ce refrain ne vous remaine :
Lest this refrain comes in answer
Mais où sont les neiges d'antan ?
But where are last year’s snows gone?

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TRANSLATION NOTES FOLLOWED BY BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
THE COLOURFUL HISTORIES OF THE PEOPLE REFERRED TO IN THE POEM

1) Flora la belle Romaine(1) - His description of Flora as a beautiful woman of Rome, tells us that Villon is not referring to the Flora, who,in Roman mythology, was the goddess of flowers and spring. Instead, a courtesan of Rome, who was very successful and accumulated great wealth, gave herself the name of Flora. She bequeathed her fortune to the city and funded the Floralies, the flower festivals named after her. We note that Villon begins with a lady who made her career in prostitution.

2) Archipiada- Archipiada is, in fact, Alcibiades who was a famous Athenian male but because of a mistranslation of the ancient text was thought by scholars in the Middle Ages to be an Athenian woman of great beauty. As a result, Villon includes a man in his list of ladies of a bygone age. Archipiada came from one of the leading aristocratic families of Athens and became the disciple and friend of Socrates. He was renowned for his strikingly good looks and was part of the gilded youth of the city, involved in numerous scandals. It is possible that his lifestyle might have given rise to some ambiguity about his sexuality in those days as well.

3) Thaïs: Thais was a Greek courtesan, famous for her beauty. She lived during the time of Alexander the Great (356- 323BC) and accompanied him on his campaigns. She was later the lover and possibly a wife of Ptolemy 1, King of Egypt. This is the second courtesan in Villon’s list of illustrious ladies. It is presumed that there were many women who expected money for their favours in the Paris underworld that Villon frequented.

4) Echo : Echo was a beautiful nymph who had one failing: she was fond of talking, and always wanted to have the last word. One day Juno was looking for her husband, who was amusing himself in the company of the nymphs. Echo kept talking to Juno until the nymphs made their escape. When Juno discovered Echo’s trick, she told her: "You shall forfeit the use of that tongue with which you have cheated me, except for that one purpose you are so fond of answering back. You shall still have the last word, but no power to speak first." As a result of Juno's spell on her, Echo could speak only when spoken to.

5) Hèloise (1101-1164) was the beloved niece of an important cleric, Canon Fulbert. We are told that she was no mean beauty and was outstanding for her learning. She fell in love with her much older tutor, Pierre Abélard (1079- 1142), who was a notable theologian.They became lovers and she had a child. Her family strongly disapproved. It is suspected that Canon Fulbert paid some men to attack and castrate Abélard. After this mutilation, Abélard became a monk. The correspondence of the lovers survived. We note the brutal savagery of the times and particularly of a man of religion.
6) la reine qui commanda que Buridan fût jeté en un sac en Seine - At the end of the reign of Philip IV , who reigned from 1284 until 1314,two of his daughters in law, who later were briefly queens of France were involved in a lurid scandal. The princesses were Margaret, wife of the future King Louis X, and Blanche, wife of the future King Charles IV. A third daughter-in-law, Jeanne, Countess of Burgundy, wife of the future Philip V was accused of knowledge of these affairs. These royal ladies had enjoyed orgies with invited lovers and afterwards had disposed of them, by having them tied in sacks and thrown into the Seine to drown. The story is told that the philosopher, Buridan, discovered these secrets and went to the Tower to enjoy the pleasures but to survive had arranged for friends waiting in a boat below to break his fall and save him from drowning.
In 1314, Margaret of Burgundy and Blanche of Burgundy were accused of adultery, and their alleged conspirator lovers were tortured, flayed and executed. Margaret of Burgundy was imprisoned along with her sister-in-law Blanche of Burgundy. The third princess, Jeanne, was put under house arrest.
In 1315, after her husband had become king, Margaret was strangled, allegedly on her husband's orders, in order to allow him to remarry. The second princess, Blanche, was rejected as wife by her husband and three months after he ascended to the throne (1322), Charles IV obtained an annulment from the pope. The third princess, Jeanne, was more fortunate. Her husband was led by his forceful wife and stood by her. He used his influence to have her name cleared and to allow her to return to court. She was queen during Philip V’s reign from 1317- 1322.
This sensational historical scandal has become known as “The Affair of the Tour de Nesle”.
We note the immorality, corruption and brutality taking place in the autocratic Christian monarchies of Europe in the middle Ages.

7)La reine Blanche comme un lis - Blanche de Castille (1188-1252 was the wife of Louis VIII of France(1187 -1226). She was an extraordinary woman and was one of the most dominant characters in Europe during the first half of the 13th century.
She was the daughter of the King of Castille and granddaughter of King Henry II of England. In May 1200,as part of an attempted political settlement between France and England, she was married to Louis, the eldest son of King Philip II of France. She was then 12 years old. On the death of King John of England in October 1216, her husband Louis, claimed the English throne based on the Engish lineage of his wife and he led an invasion of England. As Louis’ father refused to back his son’s claim, it was the formidable Blanche, who organized his military support from Calais. Their venture met with failure.
Blanche became Queen of France in 1223, when Louis VIII ascended to the throne. However,he died a mere three years later in 1226, when their eldest son, Louis, was only 12 years old. During his illness before his death, Louis had shown his confidence in Blanche by decreeing that she should be appointed regent until Louis IX came of age in 1234.
In this period, Blanche again showed her metal breaking up a league of barons that threatened the authority of the monarchy (1226). She also repelled an attack from England (1230). Even when Louis became king in his own right, she remained a power in the background and he was overawed by her. When Louis married, Blanche ruled that when she was in court, she did not wish to see the new Queen Margaret except when he “went to lie with her”.
The Queen mother assumed the regency again in 1248, when the French king, a faithful servant of the Pope, absented himself from his kingdom to lead the 7th Crusade to the Holy Land – of which she strongly disapproved. In the King’s absence, she kept the country firmly under control and extorted from the people the crippling sums of money, required to finance his mission. This included the ransom paid for the captured Louis.The second regency ended with her death in 1252.
Villon gives Blanche some charm. He says her voice had a magical sweetness.
He also says that she had the pure white complexion of a well bred nooblelady. Some attributed this to her English blood, even though the English royal family had been French since the French conquest and occupation of England in 1066.
Villon may not have any qualms about another feature of her history:the period of her reign marked one of the greatest crimes against humanity in European history.
In the 13th century, the Languedoc area of France was known for the sophistication of its cultural life and the tolerance and liberalism of its people. Here a new religion was born, which put forward new ideas at variance with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, some of whose practices they also criticized. The name given to these people was "Cathars".
By the early 13th Century Catharism was probably the major religion in languedoc.
In 1208, Pope Innocent III ordered a crusade against the Cathars. A holy army was sent to wipe out the heretics, led first by clerics but later taken up by the Kings of France. Their first atrocities, the slaughter of 20,000 people in Beziers, and the mass bonfire of heretics at Minerve, had taken place earlier in 1209 and 1210, but the husband of Blanche of Castille was at his father’s side, when Philip II joined the Vatican’s crusade in 1217.
It was during Blanche’s first regency that the Dominican Inquisition against Languedoc was instituted, when all Cathars who refused to renounce their faith were hanged or were burnt at the stake.
The terror continued throughout the years of her reign, including the burning of 200 Cathar leaders outside Carcassonne Castle in 1244.
It gives one pause for thought that the illustrious lady with the pale complexion and beautiful voice helped to institute the tradition of ideological genocide so often repeated since, not only by the Church.

8)Berthe au grand pied – Bertrada of Laon. She was the wife of Pépin le Bref, named on account of his short stature, who had the title King of the Franks from 752-768. There is a Latin description for her that means “Queen of the goose-foot”. I have not found any reference to her beauty in the historical accounts, and the photo of her statue gives no indication. Bertrada and Pépin were the parents of Charlemagne, who was crowned head of the Holy Roman Empire by the Pope in 800, consolidating the united absolute power of sword and cross.
Perhaps it was the major historical stature of her son that merited Villon’s inclusion of Queen Berthe.
9)Beatrix.- This is Dante’s Beatrice, a young lady of Florence, Béatrice Portinari, who lived from about 1265-1290. He loved her from afar and she became for him the incarnation of beauty and kindness. He paid tribute to her in his writings, including in the lines of the Divine Comedy

10) Alis Haramburgis - The correct spelling is Erembourg apparently. It is difficult to find any details of this lady. On the Internet, there is Alice of Anjou who lived from about 1107 – 1155 - the daughter of Fulk, Count of Anjou and Erembourg.

11) Jeanne, la bonne Lorraine- This was of course Joan of Arc, who was born in what is now Neufchâteau sur la Meuse and therefore in Lorraine. So many people have written about her that there must be someone who has made claims about her beauty. Nevertheless, I have not found one to quote.
It is thought that Villon was born on the day that Joan was executed. My most poignant memory from my recent research is that when Joan was tied to the stake, she asked to have a cross held in front of her eyes as the flames burnt up her living body.
Villon’s line suggests that her execution was an act of national revenge by the English. However, her condemnation was as a heretic, who had been shown in an ecclesiastical court to have offended the teachings of the Church. The fate she suffered was the normal, routine application of holy justice, as was being served out to the men, women and children of Languedoc. The majority of us will ponder the darkness of soul of those who could perpetrate this grotesque act of cruelty against a teenage girl.

12) Prince- Villon writes this poem for the King. He dedicated many of his poems to the King or to some other member of the royal family. This was normal when power was centred on a monarch ruling by divine right. Under the feudal system, vassals were required to court favour.

The biography of François Villon
The resources for a biography of Villon are limited. It has to be compiled using facts and events that he mentions in his own writings – which may or may not be true - and from the appearance of his name in legal records, mainly as a consequence of his misdemeanours in the eyes of the authorities. Different biographers stress different detail and give different interpretations. From this sometimes confusion of sources, I found it necessary to fix the biography at least in my own mind for my interpretation of the poem. The following are the biographical notes that I put together:

The principal dates of his life
Villon was born François de Montcorbier in 1431 in Paris but no record of his death has been found. The last evidence about him is dated 1463. The poet was, therefore, only about the age of 32 or 33, when he disappeared for good.

Villon's childhood
He was born to very young parents, but he lost his father when he was still a boy and his mother (who was still living when Villon was 30 years old) had to struggle against great poverty and the privations of life in a country where war had been raging as long as people could remember. This is known in history as the Hundred Years’ War (1337- 1453).

For a reason that is still not known, while still a boy, he left his mother to go and live with Guillaume de Villon, who was chaplain at the church of Saint-Benoît-le-Bétourné. François later adopted the surname of this eminent priest, whom he described as “more than a father”.

Villon’s youth
His guardian saw that he had a good education. Villon started his schooling at the age of 12 and he finished, nine years later, with a Master of Arts degree from the University of Paris(1452). This qualification could have opened for him a career in law or the church. Unfortunately, the conditions at the time were not favourable. Between 1451 -1454, there was conflict between Paris University and the king, Charles VII, which led to riots, strikes, and university shutdown. In his writing, Villon ruefully admits that he allowed this disruption to distract him from his studies and from the goals that he had previously set himself.
Nothing is known about Villon for the period from 1453 until the middle of 1455. In some of the fiction written about him, there is an assumption that he lived a life of wild adventure and excess typical of many students with no work to engage their time and free of all responsibility. Other scholars have vehemently rejected this depiction, which has become part of the legend of Villon. Neverthless, the political conditions described above would have provided a favourable background to such a lifestyle and Villon’s clash with authority in June 1455 would seem to illustrate a disorderly way of life.

Villon’s first major misdeed – 5th June 1455
Villon’s first clash with authority could have involved drunkenness and sexual jealousy. Villon was on the streets of Paris with a perhaps doubtful priest and a girl called Isabeau, when they met a Breton graduate also with a priest, whose name was Philippe Sermoise. There was an argument that developed into a brawl and knives were drawn. Sermoise was alleged to have drawn first blood, cutting Villon’s mouth. The latter retaliated by throwing a stone at Sermoise which hit him in the face causing injuries from which the priest later died. Villon ran away from Paris and a sentence was passed on him, banning his return to the city.

This ban was lifted in January 1456 in response to a petition listing Villon’s scholastic record and also claiming that Sermoise had pardoned him before his death.

Villon’s second major misdeed – Christmas Eve 1456
In the Christmas period of 1456, Villon took part, in the company of other students, in a burglary from the chapel of the College de Navarre, when 500 gold coins were stolen. At first, the gang seemed to have got away with the crime as the loss was not discovered until March 1457. Two months later, in May 1457, Guy Tabarie,a student collaborator let slip details of the robbery and was arrested. In the following year, he would name Villon as the ringleader.

Villon attempted to give himself an alibi by claiming to have been at home composing his famous poem “Le Lais”, at the time when other people were rifling the coffers of the College de Navarre. In fact, this is generally accepted as fabrication and that he began this poem later, in the early months of 1457.

“Le Lais” was written to say farewell to his friends as he intended to leave Paris. The poem tells that he is leaving Paris because of disappointment in love. The arrest of Guy Tabarie would seem to have constituted a more pressing reason and a further violent episode hastened his departure. Villon was involved in another violent brawl, apparently over a girl called Catherine de Vaucelles, who is mentioned several times in his poetry. Villon got very much the worse of this encounter and made a rapid, undignified exit from Paris.

Nothing much is known about his whereabouts in the next years, but it is believed that he was moving around in the Loire valley, associating with a clandestine criminal society called the “coquillards”, whose mysterious jargon he used in several ballads. (A recent scholar, Thierry Martin, interprets some of the difficult jargon which he continued to use for some of his poems as homosexual slang.)

As a result of the revelations of Guy Tabarie in 1458, Villon was sentenced in absentia to banishment from the capital. He did not attempt to return for four years.

Villon and the court of the Duke of Orleans
It is astonishing to discover that during these years of banishment, Villon, a convicted criminal, had contact with and access to the highest nobility in France. Poems that he had sent to Charles, Duke of Orleans won his approval and Villon was given entry into his royal court.
The Duke was an accomplished poet and encouraged others to emulate him by inviting their participation in poetry competitions that he devised. Among the three poems of Villon accepted for Charles’s compendium was one written for the birth of the Duke’s daughter on the 19th December 1457 and it is assumed that Villon attended the Orleans court at Blois from then until the last months of 1457.
He fell out of favour with the Duke and subsequently left the court after his third poem was seen to be an attack on a courtier called Fredet, who was Charles’s favourite. Although the Duke accepted two further ballads from him in 1758, Villon was never again received at court.

Villon’s third recorded misdeed
The next historical record found for Villon refers to the Summer of 1461. It was in this year that Charles VII died and Louis XI ascended the throne. In Villon’s own writings, we find the statement that he had spent the summer months in the prison of the Bishop of Orleans at Meung-sur-Loire. It is assumed that his crime was once again robbing churches.
It was a very fortuitous event that led to his release. The new king was celebrating his accession by making grants of clemency to those in prison. After a visit to Meung, on the 2nd October 1461, by King Louis and Duke Charles of Orleans, Villon was freed from jail.

In an attempt to restore himself in favour, Villon wrote a patriotic ballad to the king and a poem to the Duke of Orleans. As he did not receive any response, Villon decided to end his exile and to go back to Paris.

Back in Paris, he wrote a ballad presenting himself as a reformed character but in a subsequent ballad expressed his disappointment that respectable people were reluctant to accept him.

By the end of 1461, he had probably already sunk back into the murky underworld of Paris. It was then that he started work on his masterpiece: “Le Testament”, in which our poem, “Ballade des dames du temps jadis” is found.
The first line tells us that he is now in his thirtieth year.
His poems are sometimes addressed to rejects of society like himself and sometimes to kings and princes. They tell of the privations of contemporary life and of social injustice. They speak of the brevity of human existence and the failings of love. They tell also of the cruel sufferings of those who fall foul of the law.
These poems like most of his work have great immediacy and sincerity and this stems from Villon’s direct, personal experience.

Villon’s 4th recorded misdeed
On the 2nd November 1462 he was again arrested. This time it was for petty larceny, but it gave the opportunity for the unfinished business of the burglary from the College de Navarre, six years earlier, to be resurrected.
After the hearing, Villon was granted his freedom on his undertaking to repay his share of the loot stolen from the College. This amounted to the large sum of 120 livres that he was committed to find.

Villon’s 5th and final recorded misdeed
At the end of November 1462, Villon was involved in yet another brawl. Significantly perhaps, a man who was attacked and injured was the lawyer who had questioned Guy Tabarie. Although Villon claimed not to have played an active part, his record condemned him and he was tortured and sentenced to hang. While awaiting execution, Villon composed his “Quatrain” and “Ballade des pendus”.
As the day of his hanging drew near, Villon addressed an appeal to the Parlement de Paris. Once again, he was lucky and his capital sentence was commuted to 10 years banishment from Paris.
A free man once again, Villon wrote two satirical ballads about this latest experience.
After this there is no further record of him to be found. At the age of only 34, he left the capital and was never heard from or heard about again.

Click here to return to the full index of this selection of Brassens songs

Educational selection at 14 - The danger of a big mistake

2011-02-24T00:21:00.002Z

SCHOOL SELECTION AT 14 YRS POSTING 3
As I am against the idea of breaking up the school population into separate categories at 14 years, I was glad that the Times printed this first questioning letter on its letter page yesterday and the second letter below in today’s edition maintaining that the new educational provisions can be offered within the existing framework.
On this issue I wrote a posting to the Times education forum School Gate, in which I outline the grounds for my opinion that the redirection of the school population into different streams at 14 years of age is neither desirable nor necessary. This is the third item on this page.

1) Letter to the Times of the 11th January
Sir, I am very glad to read of Lord Baker's proposals. Let us hope that these are more than the educational flavour of the month. But why has it taken so long for governments to act on what engineers, technologists and businesses have been saying for many years?
What we do not want, however, is for the educational system to go back to the 1950s where, from my experience, students were split by selection into groups between the ages of 11 and 13. Some to grammar schools at 11, then some to technical schools at 13 and the rest then left to drown or stagnate in poor secondary "modern" schools until they might get a job.
In my view this was a very bad system and a disgraceful period of our educational history; and yes, partly created out of snobbery. So much potential was lost.
EDDIE BEDWELL Swindon,Wilts
2)

Letter to the Times of the 12th January
Vocational training
Sir, No one has recognised the massive contribution to vocational education provided by the further education sector (letters, Jan 10). The success of 14-16 Key Stage 4 vocational options for school-based students demonstrates how easy it is to provide breadth and choice for this age group through attendance one day or more per week at a local college.
Prioritising the needs of learners over the prestige of league table positions enables students to sample vocational learning, gain qualifications and, for many, start a rewarding vocational career. Why, then, create yet another type of educational facility when high quality colleges already exist with real work environments that mirror the workplace and enable 14-year-olds to sample the world of work away from the constraints of the classroom?
C. Drury
Windermere, Cumbria

Copied from The Times education forum -School Gate

THE NEW CHOICE AT 14+ SHOULD BE CURRICULAR CHOICE NOT SCHOOL CHOICE

The threat of the introduction of a 14+ in the discredited tradition of the 11+ seems to have disappeared with the assurance that selection for the new science schools will be self-selection with pupils freely opting for the courses of their choice. However, the process of selection envisaged in these reforms still needs careful examination.
The change would indeed be massive as, three years after they have left primary school, the population of a school year is sorted out to move into separate categories and distinct schools. From past experience, admission procedure to a new school often entails trauma and the separation of segments of school population gives rise to issues of status and may lead to social divisiveness.
It is a major error to assume automatically that choice in education implies choice of school. Increasingly, with new approaches to school organisation with school partnerships, we have seen that the full range of educational choice can be provided through alternative progress paths across two or more educational establishments. Flexible curricular choice replaces the rigid principle of school choice.
In practical terms this alternative approach would mean that pupils would attend the secondary school of their choice from eleven to sixteen years, but after the age of fourteen, they would be able to opt for courses at a central specialist school on two or more days a week. These days should offer academic specialisms as well as vocational and technical. The pupils' own secondary school would remain responsible for the general education areas of the curriculum and for pastoral supervision of both the general and specialised studies of the individual pupil, arranging for any adjustments of career paths in subsequent years. In order for the efficient administration of this system, further evolution of another recent development in British education would be required - the voluntary grouping of schools into cooperative consortia. These groupings would then have the new specialist establishments at their core.

Le testament

2011-02-23T23:53:00.006Z

In this poem (1955), Brassens is borrowing a device of the French medieval poets by using the format of a pretend last will and testament to create some interesting and entertaining themes. The themes that Brassens deals with in his testament poem were triggered by a chance incident that he had witnessed. He had met a slow moving funeral procession which had taken the wrong turning and had been obliged to turn round and start again. This gave Brassens the fascinating idea that the corpse was doing a runner to escape the tomb.
The details of the will are in the final verses and, although there are humorous elements, we note that Brassens, in his early thirties, was writing a complete poem about his own death. Commentators have estimated that Brassens mentions death in two out of every three of his songs. There was reason for his pessimism as he had begun to suffer chronic health problems as early as the late 1940s. He was to be struck by his first serious illness in 1959, while still in his thirties and in spite of his escape fantasies, death came to him when he was only sixty.

Le testament(1)
Je serai triste comme un saule
I shall be sad like a willow tree
Quand le Dieu qui partout me suit
When God who dogs each step I take
Me dira, la main sur l'épaule :
Tells me, his hand on my shoulder
"Va-t'en voir là-haut si j'y suis."(2)
"Go on and see if I’m up there
Alors, du ciel et de la terre
Then from the sky and from the earth
Il me faudra faire mon deuil..
I’ll need to tear myself away.
Est-il encor debout le chêne(2)
Is the tree still standing- the oak
Ou le sapin(3) de mon cercueil ?
Or the pine meant for my coffin ?
Est-il encor debout le chêne
Is the tree still standing- the oak
Ou le sapin de mon cercueil ?
Or the pine meant for my coffin ?

S'il faut aller au cimetière,
If I have to go to the graveyard
J' prendrai le chemin le plus long,(4)
I will go by the longest route
J' ferai la tombe buissonnière,(5)
I'll skip my tomb and play truant
J' quitterai la vie à reculons...
I’ll leave this life going backwards...
Tant pis si les croque-morts me grondent,
Too bad if und’takers should scold
Tant pis s'ils me croient fou à lier,
Too bad if they think me wild to constrain,
Je veux partir pour l'autre monde
I want to leave for the other world
Par le chemin des écoliers.
Along the path where schoolboys slope.
Je veux partir pour l'autre monde
I want to leave for the other world
Par le chemin des écoliers.
Along the path where schoolboys slope.

Avant d'aller conter fleurette
Before off to say sweet nothings
Aux belles âmes des damnées,
To the luscious souls of the damned
Je rêv' d'encore une amourette,
I dream of one more passion
Je rêv' d'encor' m'enjuponner..(6)
I dream 'gain that skirts enfold me
Encore un' fois dire : "Je t'aime"...
Of saying one more time : « I love you »
Encore un' fois perdre le nord
One more time lose all sense of place
En effeuillant le chrysanthème
Telling love with petals of chrysanths
Qui est la marguerite des morts.(7)
Which are the marg’rites of the dead
En effeuillant le chrysanthème
Telling love with petals of chrysanths
Qui est la marguerite des morts.
Which are the marg’rites of the dead

Dieu veuill' que ma veuve s'alarme (8)
God grant that my widow might fret
En enterrant son compagnon,
On burying her companion
Et qu' pour lui fair' verser des larmes
And that for her to shed tears
Il n'y ait pas besoin d'oignon...
There's no need at all of onions
Qu'elle prenne en secondes noces
May she take for second marriage
Un époux de mon acabit :
A spouse who is my shape and size
Il pourra profiter d' mes bottes,
He’ll manage to make use of my boots
Et d' mes pantoufle' et d' mes habits.
And my slippers and my old clothes.
Il pourra profiter d' mes bottes,
He can make good use of my boots
Et d' mes pantoufle' et d' mes habits.
And my slippers and my old clothes.

Qu'il boiv' mon vin, qu'il aim' ma femme,
May he drink my wine, love my wife
Qu'il fum' ma pipe et mon tabac,
Smoke my pipe and my tobacco
Mais que jamais - mort de mon âme ! –
But may he never - on my soul!
Jamais il ne fouette mes chats...(9)
Never may he maltreat my cats
Quoique je n'ai' pas un atome,
Although I don't have an atom
Une ombre de méchanceté,
A least touch of maliciousness`
S'il fouett' mes chats, y'a un fantôme(10)
If he maltreats my cats, there’s a ghost
Qui viendra le persécuter.
Which will come to persecute him
S'il fouett' mes chats, y'a un fantôme
If he maltreats my cats, there’s a ghost
Qui viendra le persécuter.
Which will come to persecute him.

Ici-gît une feuille morte,
Here lieth a single dead leaf
Ici finit mon testament...(11)
Here endeth my last testament
On a marqué dessus ma porte :
They've placed a sign over my door
"Fermé pour caus' d'enterrement."
« Closed due to fam'ly bereavement »
J'ai quitté la vi' sans rancune,
I left life feeling no rancour
J'aurai plus jamais mal aux dents :
I'll never have toothache again :
Me v'là dans la fosse commune,
Behold me in the common grave
La fosse commune du temps.(12)
Down in the common grave of time
Me v'là dans la fosse commune,
Behold me in the common grave
La fosse commune du temps.
Down in the common grave of time

(Chanson pour l'Auvergnat) 1955

TRANSLATION NOTES

1) Le Testament - The title that Brassens chose for his song was also the title of the major poetic work of François Villon. (1431 -1463). In these poems, Villon uses the device of a pretend will, which was popular in French poetry of the Middle Ages.By describing what he is leaving to people he likes and people he doesn’t like, the poet is able to amuse and voice opinions. Brassens had made a song of Villon’s most famous poem “Ballade des dames du temps jadis”(1953). In Brassens’ song we have to wait for a few verses to find out what exactly he is leaving. Later in the poem, he refers again to Villon. (See note 11 below)

2) "Va-t'en voir là-haut si j'y suis." – Although Brassens’ god is a bit tiresome, following him everywhere he goes, he’s also quite human and likes his little joke at the expense of those serious folk who have spent a portion of their time on earth disputing about the existence of God.

3) Le chêne ou le sapin – The oak coffin would be for a rich man and the pine for a poor man. Brassens has no way of knowing which wood will be used for his coffin, because show business is an uncertain career and popularity rises and falls.

4) Je prendrai le chemin le plus long – Brassens has a great love of life and is in no hurry to die. This idea of accepting death but spinning it out as long as possible becomes the refrain of a much later poem, “Mourir pour des idées” 1972.

5) )Tombe buissonnière – The idiom for playing truant is ; « faire l’école buissonnière », literally to get your schooling hidden in the bushes. When he saw a funeral hearse taking the wrong road, Brassens had the vision of the corpse in the coffin sneaking off from his own funeral and the phrase came to him : « Faire la tombe buissonière », because it had the same ring. A few days later his mind went back to the funeral that lost its way and some other images came into his mind. To the image of “faire la tombe buissonière” was added “le chemin d’écoliers” and “la marguerite des morts”. Finally he had eight images that pleased him and around them he wove his song.
(This is a summary of Brassens’ own explanation, which he gives in his introductory remarks to the second video of this song, which I have posted below)

6) Je rêv' d'encor' m'enjuponner – In my personal interpretation of these lines of the poem, Brassens is going over in his mind how it will be to say goodbye to his beloved Joha for the last time. This line links to her because in the poem which describes meeting her in the first flush of love, “J'ai rendez-vous avec vous”, he also speaks of getting enveloped in her skirts:

La demeur’ que je préfère,
C’est votre robe à froufrous.

He closes with his last « I love you » and is being untypically sentimental. (He pulls himself together in subsequent lines!)

7) Qui est la marguerite des morts.- In the Catholic countries of Europe including France, chrysanthemums have become symbols of death and are associated predominantly with funerals and graves. The flowers can be daisy-like and in France a term for them is “ marguerite de l'été de la Saint Martin” , because as an autumn flower they often enjoy Indian Summers in October and November. This gives Brassens the link to the phrase: “Effeuiller la marguerite”. This refers to the game that lovers play, plucking the petals of the daisy, while saying “She loves me – she loves me not.” He uses this image in much the same way in his song to Joha: “Saturne” and in in “Les amours d’autan”, the image becomes an image for sexual lovemaking:

la marguerite commencée avec suzette,
On finissait de l'effeuiller avec Lisette

8) ma veuve s'alarme - « S’alarmer » in the everyday usage means to get alarmed, which does not seem quite to describe the feelings expected on the part of his bereaved partner, Joha. In classical literature the verb was used with the meaning: « to be overcome with emotion » and Brassens would like to suggest without being too presumptuous. At this point the sentiment ends and Brassens starts to tease, when he suggests that the love he leaves behind might need an onion to produce tears for his departure.

9) D'autres chats à fouetter – This unfortunate image of whipping cats gives idioms such as « Il a d’autres chats à fouetter », which means he has other things to deal with. Some people read Brassens’ use of this expression as a warning not to meddle with his songs, but Brassens’ love for his cats was such that the literal meaning must apply, which he has enhanced with the metaphor. A major grievance he had against the devastatingly seductive Jo was that she was nasty with his cats- (Putain de toi).

10) Il y'a un fantôme – In this and other poems, Brassens assumes that once the unpleasant transition of death has been accomplished, the person lives on in disembodied form, much as before. In “Supplique pour être enterré sur la plage de Sète”, his idea of heaven is relaxing on a pedalo off the beach of Sète for eternity.

11) Ici finit mon testament - This is a further reference to François Villon’s “Testament”. Villon had written:

"Icy se clost le testament
Et finist du pauvre Villon"
12) La fosse commune du temps - It is time which remorselessly determines the common fate of all people.

In the introduction to this version of "Le Testament", Brassens explains in detail his composition technique on writing this song:

G Brassens le testament
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Rien à jeter -a Georges Brassens love song

2011-01-20T23:37:00.011Z

This is a light-hearted love song written for Joha Heiman. The poet is playing the popular game of deciding the most important things that he would take with him if he were marooned on a desert island. In fact, he is selecting the most treasured parts of his girl friend’s body. He begins at the top and moves down. In the last two verses he becomes impatient knowing her charm is the whole person. On one French Brassens website, this song is placed in twelfth position in a list of the most popular Brassens songs

Rien à jeter

Sans ses cheveux qui volent
Without her wind-blown hair
J'aurais, dorénavant,
I would have, forever more
Des difficultés folles
Great difficulty to see
À voir d'où vient le vent.
Where the wind is coming from.

Tout est bon chez elle, y a rien à jeter,
All she’s got’s spot on – there’s nothing to discard,
Sur l'île déserte il faut tout emporter.
On the desert isle, we need to take the lot.

Je me demande comme(1)
I stop to wonder just how
Subsister sans ses joues
I’d fare without her cheeks
M'offrant deux belles pommes
Giving me two fine apples
Nouvelles chaque jour.
Fresh-new every day

Tout est bon chez elle, y a rien à jeter,
All she’s got’s spot on – there’s nothing to discard,
Sur l'île déserte il faut tout emporter.
On the desert isle, we need to take the lot.

Sans sa gorge(2), ma tête,
Without her bosom my head
Dépourvue de coussin,
Deprived its cushioning
Reposerait par terre
‘d be resting on the ground
Et rien n'est plus malsain.
And nothing does more harm.

Tout est bon chez elle, y a rien à jeter,
All she’s got’s spot on – there’s nothing to discard,
Sur l'île déserte il faut tout emporter.
On the desert isle, we need to take the lot.

Sans ses hanches solides(3)
Without her full hips so firm
Comment faire, demain,
How will I manage tomorrow
Si je perds l'équilibre,
If I should overbalance
Pour accrocher mes mains ?
To grab hold with my hands?

Tout est bon chez elle, y a rien à jeter,
All she’s got’s spot on – there’s nothing to discard,
Sur l'île déserte il faut tout emporter.
On the desert isle, we need to take the lot.

Elle a mille autres choses
She has a thousand other things
Précieuses encore
Prized by me the same
Mais, en spectacle, j'ose
But in public I don’t dare
Pas donner tout son corps.
Give all her body parts

Tout est bon chez elle, y a rien à jeter,
All she’s got’s spot on – there’s nothing to discard,
Sur l'île déserte il faut tout emporter.
On the desert isle, we need to take the lot.

Des charmes de ma mie
Some charms of my darling
J'en passe et des meilleurs.
I skip and some the best.
Vos cours d'anatomie
Your lessons in anatomy
Allez les prendre ailleurs.
Go ‘n get them somewhere else

Tout est bon chez elle, y a rien à jeter,
All she’s got’s spot on – there’s nothing to discard,
Sur l'île déserte il faut tout emporter.
On the desert isle, we need to take the lot.

D'ailleurs, c'est sa faiblesse,
Besides, it is her weakness
Elle tient à ses os
She’s keen on her bones
Et jamais ne se laisse-
And never will she allow
Rait couper en morceaux.
Her cutting up in bits.

Tout est bon chez elle, y a rien à jeter,
All she’s got’s spot on – there’s nothing to discard,
Sur l'île déserte il faut tout emporter.
On the desert isle, we need to take the lot.

Elle est quelque peu fière
She’s a touch on the proud side
Et chatouilleuse assez
And is ticklish somewhat,
Et l'on doit tout entière
And people have to, all complete
La prendre ou la laisser.
Take her or to leave her.

Tout est bon chez elle, y a rien à jeter,
All she’s got’s spot on – there’s nothing to discard,
Sur l'île déserte il faut tout emporter.
On the desert isle, we need to take the lot.

Georges Brassens
1969 - La religieuse - after Misogynie

TRANSLATION NOTES
1) Comme is here used in the old sense meaning - comment
2) Gorge means throat but sometimes has the sense of bust e.g. soutien-gorge = bra
3) Ses hanches solides - In several poems Brassens expresses his admiration for a well-rounded female bottom and wrote a full poem in its praise: Vénus Callipyge.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
During a conversation in the later years of his life, Brassens named this song among those he said were inspired by his love for his lifelong partner, Joha Heiman. Although it is a powerful declaration of love - he would not change the least part of her-, there is also the teasing which we come to expect when Brassens talks of his "Püppchen". He was only a shy youth of eighteen when her beauty had first captivated him. He used to gaze upon her as she passed him along the streets of the quartier of Paris, where he lived. (Fuller notes about their relationship are posted with the song: Je me suis fait tout petit

Another love song that makes play of detachable parts of the body in the game of love is “All of me”. Here it is sung by Billie Holiday (1941)

Click here to go back to the Index of my Brassens selection

Voltaire Candide Complete Study Notes

2011-01-16T13:35:00.000Z

During my teaching career, I put together many pages of notes on Candide by Voltaire. Now that I am retired I am putting them on the Internet so that fellow teachers and also students of French Literature can use them.

(Please click on the chosen title to access notes)

1) SUMMARY OF THE BOOK WITH COMMENTARY

2) The life and character of Voltaire

3) Identifying the literary genre to which the book belongs.

The BBC Jonathan Swift webpage to which reference is made can be reached with this link:"Gulliver's Travels": How it Comments on Society

(Voltaire’s aim in the book was to attack Philosophical Optimism and there are four sections, 4-7 below, to cover this topic :)

4) Optimistic Philosophy in the eighteenth century

5) Direct references to Philosophical Optimism in the book

6) Voltaire's hostility to Philosophical Optimism

7) Voltaire's evidence against Philosophical Optimism

(If Voltaire is attacking optimism, we ask the question whether this makes for a gloomy, pessimistic book? Topics 8- 10 below are relevant to this question)

8) Is "Candide" a totally pessimistic book?

9) What is Candide's final philosophy of life?

10) Voltaire's literary style (This topic is relevant to the question of pessimism also because the style serves to dispel any gloomy tone)

(Finally we discuss the characters in topics 11- 18)

11) Are the characters merely puppets?

12) The Character of Candide

13) The character of Pangloss

14) The character of Cunegonde
Picture right - Cunegonde and Candide are caught behind the screen

15) The character of the German Jesuit Baron

16) The character of the old woman

17) The character of Cacambo

18)The character of Martin

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Marinette (J'avais l'air d'un c..) by Georges Brassens

2011-01-15T23:05:00.003Z

This is a light-hearted comic song that people find fun to sing. It is the tale of a hapless youth in love with a beautiful girl, who is out of his class in every way. In comic succession, each approach he uses to win her proves a disaster. The song went into the pop charts in 1975, when Denis Pépin, a pop star of the time, recorded it. His video is at the end of this post.

Georges Brassens - Marinette (
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Marinette

Quand j'ai couru chanter ma p'tite chanson pour Marinette
When I ran round to sing my little song to Marinetta
La belle, la traîtresse était allée à l'Opéra...
My love, the traitress had gone to the Opera
Avec ma p'tit' chanson, j'avais l'air d'un con ma mère,
With just my little song, I looked like a fool,(1) dear mother
Avec ma p'tit' chanson, j'avais l'air d'un con.
With just my little song, I looked like a fool.

Quand j'ai couru porter mon pot d' moutarde à Marinette
When I ran round to take my mustard pot to Marinetta
La belle, la traîtresse avait déjà fini d' dîner...
My love, the traitress had already had her meal.
Avec mon petit pot, j'avais l'air d'un con ma mère,
With just my little pot, I looked like a fool, dear mother
Avec mon petit pot, j'avais l'air d'un con.
With just my little pot, I looked like a fool.

Quand j'offris pour étrennes un' bicyclette à Marinette
When I chose a bicy’cle as my gift to Marinetta
La belle, la traîtresse avait acheté une auto...
My love, the traitress had bought herself a car
Avec mon p'tit vélo, j'avais l'air d'un con ma mère,
With just my little bike, I looked like a fool, dear mother
Avec mon p'tit vélo, j'avais l'air d'un con.
With just my little bike, I looked like a fool.

Quand j'ai couru tout chose(2) au rendez-vous de Marinette
When I ran all uptight for a date with Marinetta
La bell' disait : "J' t'adore" à un sal' typ' qui l'embrassait...
She was say’ng: “I love you” to a vile bloke who held her tight.
Avec mon bouquet d' fleurs, j'avais l'air d'un con ma mère,
With my bouquet of flow’rs, I looked like a fool, dear mother
Avec mon bouquet d' fleurs, j'avais l'air d'un con.
With my bouquet of flow’rs, I looked like a fool.

Quand j'ai couru brûler la p'tit' cervelle à Marinette
When I ran to blast out the tiny brain of Marinetta
La belle était déjà morte d'un rhume mal placé...
She was already dead from a cold gone acute...
Avec mon revolver, j'avais l'air d'un con ma mère,
With my revolver there, I looked like a fool, dear mother
Avec mon revolver, j'avais l'air d'un con.
With my revolver there, I looked like a fool.

Quand j'ai couru, lugubre, à l'enterr'ment de Marinette
When I rushed, lugubrious, to the fun(e)ral of Marinetta
La belle, la traîtresse était déjà ressuscitée...(3)
My love, the traitress was already come back to life
Avec ma p'tit couronn', j'avais l'air d'un con ma mère,
With my little wreath there, I looked like a fool, dear mother
Avec ma p'tit couronn', j'avais l'air d'un con.
With my little wreath there, I looked like a fool.
Georges Brassens
1955 - Chanson pour l'Auvergnat

TRANSLATION NOTES
1) Looked like a fool – Brassens uses the word for the female genitalia, which is commonly used in French for “idiot” - even by respectable people at times. The direct English equivalent has the same meaning, but to me it is more offensive. I had previously chosen the word “twat” in English, having the same meaning, but perhaps less offensive. Uncomfortable with this word in what I see as a family song, I have now made this change.
2) Tout chose – “Être tout chose” is a colloquial expression for to be ill at ease
3) Déjà ressuscitée... In a number of other poems, Brassens talks of the idea of a person living on after death e.g. Trompe-la-Mort – Supplique pour être enterré à la plage de Sète etc.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following is the recording of the song made in 1975 by Denis Pépin. He was a successful pop star at the end of the 1970s but had a short career. He died in January 2010 aged 61.

Click here to go back to the Index of my Brassens selection

Educational Selection at 14- New initiatives January 2011

2011-01-08T23:22:00.008Z

In educational papers that I have written and in countless letters to newspapers, I have been campaigning against the crazy imbalance in British education, which came about because the model of Comprehensive Education that Labour imposed on Britain half a century ago virtually abolished the vocational sector. Left-wing theorists and politicians believed then and have continued to believe that only traditional academic qualifications such as “O” and “A” levels defined the educated man. This has been a disaster.
This week there has been a general recognition of this after publication of Coalition plans to create new technical and vocational educational centres for 14 to 18 year olds, across the whole country.
I am pleased about these proposals, but I am not happy about the disruption of a change of school at 14. I prefer the new centres to be alternative freestanding resources to be drawn upon as required by existing secondary schools. I explained this reservation in my posting on The Times Education Forum: SCHOOL GATE, which is copied after the following article, in which the brilliant Lord Adonis explains the new measures with typical clarity. (Taken from today’s “Times”.)

Opinion on the new Technical Schools in the Times 8th Jan 2011

A century late, the technical school is with us at last

Andrew Adonis
Among the manifold disasters of post-war English education policy, one of the greatest was the failure to establish more than a handful of the technical secondary schools promised by the Butler Education Act of 1944. Now, at long last, technical schools for 14 to 19-year-olds are being created on a systematic basis, thanks to a brilliant initiative by Kenneth Baker and the late Ron Dearing.
As Schools Minister under Tony Blair, I strongly encouraged and provided funding for the first of these institutions — called university technical colleges (UTCs) — within the academies programme, and I recently joined Lord Baker of Dorking's charitable trust with its mission to establish a national network of UTCs, sponsored by leading employers and universities with bipartisan political support.
If UTCs succeed, they will help to change the face of education as surely as the wider academy movement of which they are part. UTCs have three fundamental characteristics. First, they pioneer a technical curriculum alongside the "basics” and a full range of extracurricular activities. Last September JCB, the engineering company, opened what is in effect the first UTC on its site at Rocester, Staffordshire. At the age of 16 students take diplomas in engineering and business alongside GCSEs in IT, Maths, English, Science and German.
This is made possible by a longer school day and year, intended to mirror the adult work environment. The JCB Academy has a 41-week school year, with an 8.30am start and a 4pm or 5pm finish, with a week of work placement each year focused on developing engineering and business skills. There could hardly be a better preparation for the skilled jobs of tomorrow.
The second characteristic is that each UTC has a university and a leading employer among its sponsors. This ensures relevance, quality, prestige and good governance. The second UTC will open in Birmingham, next year, sponsored by Aston University and employers including Rolls-Royce and National Grid.
Business leaders have long complained that schools do not deliver. This is their chance to get involved. There is no reason why every leading industry should not have a UTC, including the performing arts, the specialism of the outstanding BRIT school in South London. Every region of the country should have its own version of the BRIT school.
Third, UTCs recruit students at the age of 14. Aptitudes and career preferences are more firmly established at the age than at 11, when children leave primary school. Each UTC will draw from a wide area —JCB academy recruits from dozens of secondary schools — so that they complement, rather than replace, existing secondary schools.
UTCs are not selective in the sense of having a format entrance exam. There is no "14-plus". Rather, they are self-selective in that only students willing to study their curriculum are admitted. They are part of the growing diversity of secondary schools flourishing within the academy movement, ending the old one-size-fits-all comprehensive model that failed so many young people and the country at large.
I hope that UTCs spread rapidly, with at least one in each city and large town. As they do so, a welcome debate will grow about the merits of students and parents choosing secondary schools and colleges at the age of 14 as well as at 11 and 16 as they do now.
Ignore the do-nothings who abound in the education world and who argue that no good idea should be tried unless one can say precisely how it would work if it became the national norm. A few dozen UTCs, or even a few hundred, will happily coexist with established secondary schools and strengthen the ability of the education system to foster individual talent and to meet essential economic and social needs. This is the comprehensive ideal at its best.
UTCs are an idea whose time came about a century ago. But the need for them has become more, not less, urgent with the passing years and this overdue initiative deserves the strongest political and business support.

Andrew Adonis is director of the Institute for Government

COMMENT
LETTER TO THE Times -Positive education

Sir,
We should welcome warmly this positive and progressive move within the education system ("Selection at 14 will drive revolution in schooling", Jan 7). The current system of secondary education is both unfair and unrealistic, providing non-academic pupils with little guidance or structure while prescribing an academic education at university for most students, regardless of whether they are truly suited to it.
The founding of several new technical colleges could also serve to reduce the severely bloated university system. By building such institutions, the Government has the chance to recognise and promote the equal status of a technical education, which is an opportunity not to be missed.

PATRICK BETTLE
Everton, Hants

From The Times education forum -School Gate

THE NEW CHOICE AT 14+ SHOULD BE CURRICULAR CHOICE NOT SCHOOL CHOICE

The threat of the introduction of a 14+ in the discredited tradition of the 11+ seems to have disappeared with the assurance that selection for the new science schools will be self-selection with pupils freely opting for the courses of their choice. However, the process of selection envisaged in these reforms still needs careful examination.
The change would indeed be massive as, three years after they have left primary school, the population of a school year is sorted out to move into separate categories and distinct schools. From past experience, admission procedure to a new school often entails trauma and the separation of segments of school population gives rise to issues of status and may lead to social divisiveness.
It is a major error to assume automatically that choice in education implies choice of school. Increasingly, with new approaches to school organisation with school partnerships, we have seen that the full range of educational choice can be provided through alternative progress paths across two or more educational establishments. Flexible curricular choice replaces the rigid principle of school choice.
In practical terms this alternative approach would mean that pupils would attend the secondary school of their choice from eleven to sixteen years, but after the age of fourteen, they would be able to opt for courses at a central specialist school on two or more days a week. These days should offer academic specialisms as well as vocational and technical. The pupils' own secondary school would remain responsible for the general education areas of the curriculum and for pastoral supervision of both the general and specialised studies of the individual pupil, arranging for any adjustments of career paths in subsequent years. In order for the efficient administration of this system, further evolution of another recent development in British education would be required - the voluntary grouping of schools into cooperative consortia. These groupings would then have the new specialist establishments at their core.

Similar concerns in letters to The Times. 1)Letter of the 11th January

Sir, I am very glad to read of Lord Baker's proposals. Let us hope that these are more than the educational flavour of the month. But why has it taken so long for governments to act on what engineers, technologists and businesses have been saying for many years?
What we do not want, however, is for the educational system to go back to the 1950s where, from my experience, students were split by selection into groups between the ages of 11 and 13. Some to grammar schools at 11, then some to technical schools at 13 and the rest then left to drown or stagnate in poor secondary "modern" schools until they might get a job.
In my view this was a very bad system and a disgraceful period of our educational history; and yes, partly created out of snobbery. So much potential was lost.
EDDIE BEDWELL Swindon,Wilts

2)

Letter to the Times of the 12th January
Vocational training

Sir, No one has recognised the massive contribution to vocational education provided by the further education sector (letters, Jan 10). The success of 14-16 Key Stage 4 vocational options for school-based students demonstrates how easy it is to provide breadth and choice for this age group through attendance one day or more per week at a local college.
Prioritising the needs of learners over the prestige of league table positions enables students to sample vocational learning, gain qualifications and, for many, start a rewarding vocational career. Why, then, create yet another type of educational facility when high quality colleges already exist with real work environments that mirror the workplace and enable 14-year-olds to sample the world of work away from the constraints of the classroom?
C. Drury
Windermere, Cumbria

Les Philistins - Not living up to expectations

2011-01-08T13:01:00.008Z

I find this a very charming little song which Brassens wrote from the poem of Jean Richepin. It also has a touch of poignancy. I enjoy the immaculate style with which the very attractive French singer, Sandrine Devienne performs it and I have made hers the first video on this post
Brassens has songs of two of the poems of the 19th century writer and poet, Richepin (1849-1926); the other is “Les oiseaux de passage”, which I have not yet translated.

This is a portrait of Jean Richepin and when I draw attention to his long bushy hair, his beard and his moustache, I am not being gratuitously personal.

Philistins Sandrine Devienne
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Philistins, épiciers,
Philistines, grocerymen
Tandis que vous caressiez,
All the while you would caress
Vos femmes,
Your wives

En songeant, aux petits
Dreaming of the little ones
Que vos grossiers appétits
That your lustful appetites
Engendrent,
Engendr’

Vous pensiez: "Ils seront,
You would think: they will be
Menton rasé, ventre rond
Clean shaven, stoutly built
Notaires."
Lawyers."

Mais pour bien vous punir,
But to nicely pay you back
Un jour vous voyez venir
One day you can see arrive
Sur terre
On earth

Des enfants non voulus
Children you did not want
Qui deviennent chevelus
Who become most hairy
Poètes.
Poets.

Vous pensiez: "Ils seront,
You would think: they will be
Menton rasé, ventre rond
Clean shaven, stoutly built
Notaires."
Lawyers

Mais pour bien vous punir,
But to nicely pay you back
Un jour vous voyez venir
One day you can see arrive
Sur terre
On earth

Des enfants non voulus
Children you did not want
Qui deviennent chevelus
Who become most hairy
Poètes.
Poets.

Jean Richepin
1957 - Je me suis fait tout petit

Now Brassens sings the tune he wrote to fit this poem so well :

It appears that Sandrine Devienne has recorded an album of the songs of Brassens where his lyrics are taken from other French poets:

Click here to go back to the index of my brassens selection

Le Pornographe

2011-01-07T07:49:00.002Z

Brassens muses over his reputation as a writer of dirty songs. It is a paradox that, although he would not use coarse words in his personal life, he uses them quite freely in his professional life. He explains how this came about and describes the exaggeration caused by the stereotyping effect of public expectation. He has no fear of condemnation by the gods based on the meaningless human criteria of pornography.

Le pornographe
Autrefois, quand j'étais marmot,
In the past, when I was a kid
J'avais la phobie des gros mots,
I just could not stand bad language
Et si je pensais "merde" tout bas,
And if I thought “shit” on the quiet
Je ne le disais pas...
I did’nt say it out loud
Mais(1)
But

Aujourd'hui que mon gagne-pain
Today when earning my living
C'est de parler comme un turlupin,(8)
Means speaking like a free spirit
Je ne pense plus "merde", pardi!
I no longer think “shit” - no way!
Mais(1) je le dis.
But I say it.

Je suis le pornographe
I’m the pornographer
Du phonographe,
Of phonography
Le polisson
The rude chappie(2)
De la chanson.
Of pop’lar song

Afin d'amuser la galerie
Just to amuse the gallery
Je crache des gauloiseries,
I come out with dirty remarks
Des pleines bouches de mots crus
With mouthfuls of crude expressions
Tout à fait incongrus...
Completely uncalled for
Mais(1)
But

En me retrouvant seul sous mon toit,
When I get back home, all on my own
Dans ma psyché je me montre au doigt.
In my mind’s eye, I point straight at myself
Et me crie: "Va te faire, homme incorrecte,
And yell : “Incorrect man, get y’self
Voir par les Grecs."
Seen by the Greeks. »

Je suis le pornographe
I’m the pornographer
Du phonographe,
Of phonography
Le polisson
The rude chappie
De la chanson.
Of pop’lar song

Tous les samedis je vais à confesse
On Sat’days, I go to confess
M'accuser d'avoir parlé de fesses
To tell I’ve been speaking of bums
Et je promets ferme au marabout
And firmly pledge the holy man
De les mettre tabou...
To rule them out tabou
Mais(1)
But
Craignant, si je n'en parle plus,
Fearing, if there’s no more mention
De finir à l'Armée du Salut,(3)
To end my life on charity
Je remets bientôt sur le tapis
I’m soon bringing up once again
Les fesses impies.
The bums so impious.

Je suis le pornographe
I’m the pornographer
Du phonographe,
Of phonography
Le polisson
The rude chappie
De la chanson.
Of pop’lar song

Ma femme est, soit dit en passant,
My wife is, mentioned in passing,
D'un naturel concupiscent
By nature quite concupiscent
Qui l'incite à se coucher nue
Which makes her go to bed naked
Sous le premier venu...
Beneath the first comer
Mais(1)

M'est-il permis, soyons sincère,
Am I allowed, lets be truthful
D'en parler au café-concert
To mention that in music-hall
Sans dire qu'elle a, suraigu,
While omitting she has, to the point,
Le feu au cul?
Fanny on fire ?

Je suis le pornographe
I’m the pornographer
Du phonographe,
Of phonography
Le polisson
The rude chappie
De la chanson.
Of pop’lar song

J'aurais sans doute du bonheur,
No doubt I would have good fortune
Et peut-être la Croix d'honneur,
And perhaps the Croix d'honneur,
A chanter avec décorum
For singing with due decorum
L'amour qui mène à Rome...(4)
The love that leads to Rome
Mais(1)
But
Mon ange m'a dit: "Turlututu!
My angel told me “Fiddledee !
Chanter l'amour t'est défendu
Singing love is forbidden you
S'il n'éclôt pas sur le destin
Should it not turn out as the lot
D'une putain."
Of a street girl.

Je suis le pornographe
I’m the pornographer
Du phonographe,
Of phonography
Le polisson
The rude chappie
De la chanson.
Of pop’lar song

Et quand j'entonne, guilleret,
When I strike up a cheerful song
A un patron de cabaret
For the boss of a cabaret
Une adorable bucolique,
A likable man , bucolic
Il est mélancolique...
He is melancholic
Et(1)
And
Me dit, la voix noyée de pleurs:
Tells me, his voice choking with tears
"S'il vous plaît de chanter les fleurs,
If you enjoy singing of flow’rs
Qu'elles poussent au moins rue Blondel(5)
At least let them grow in Soho
Dans un bordel."
In a brothel

Je suis le pornographe
I’m the pornographer
Du phonographe,
Of phonography
Le polisson
The rude chappie
De la chanson.
Of pop’lar song

Chaque soir avant le dîner,
Each evening before the dinner
A mon balcon mettant le nez,
Nipping out on my balcony
Je contemple les bonnes gens
I watch the right sort of people
Dans le soleil couchant...
Walking in the sunset.....
Mais(1)
But
N’ me d’mandez pas d’chanter ça, si
Don’t ask me to sing of that if
Vous redoutez d'entendre ici
You’re afraid to hear me say here
Que j'aime à voir, de mon balcon,
I like to see from my balc’ny
Passer les cons.
The twats (6)pass by.

Je suis le pornographe
I’m the pornographer
Du phonographe,
Of phonography
Le polisson
The rude chappie
De la chanson.
Of pop’lar song

Les bonnes âmes d'ici bas
The goodly souls down here below
Comptent ferme qu'à mon trépas
Firmly expect that at my death
Satan va venir embrocher
Satan’s going to come to skewer
Ce mort mal embouché...
This man who went astray
Mais,
But

Mais veuille le grand manitou,
May the great high chief, be willing
Pour qui le mot n'est rien du tout,
For whom the word means not a thing
Admettre en sa Jérusalem,
Admit into his Jerusalem
A l'heure blême,(7)
At the pale hour

Le pornographe
The pornographer
Du phonographe,
Of phonography
Le polisson
The rude chappie
De la chanson.
Of pop’lar song.

Georges Brassens
1958 - Le pornographe
TRANSLATION NOTES
(1) Mais je le dis- Brassens splits each verse into two by the word “but”, so that the second part becomes a surprise or amusing qualification of the first. This applies in all the verses except one where “but” becomes “and”.
(2) The rude chappie – I used the word chappie because polisson has the idea of “naughty”, “rascally” and I wanted to include a sense of harmlessness. The association in my mind is with the title of “the Cheeky Chappie” given to Max Miller (1894-1963), one of Britain's top comedians in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. The material of his jokes and songs was risqué, full of sexual double entendres which outraged the strait-laced.
(3) L'Armée du Salut – Brassens’ reference reminds us that the Salvation Army is known across the world as the final refuge of the destitute.
(4) L'amour qui mène à Rome...- This is perhaps a reference to the respectful acclaim granted to Brassens’ contemporary, the singing priest, le Père Duval, about whom Brassens relates a personal anecdote in his song;"Les Trompettes de la Renommée.”
(5) rue Blondel – was a street in Paris with a red light reputation
(6) The twats - My unsatisfactory translation refers to “les bonnes gens”, whom Brassens observes from his balcony. In his more frank vein in the second part of the verse he calls them “cons”, which in its milder sense means silly, misguided people. The second sense is obscenely abusive, although not as much in French as with the similar word in English.
(7) L'heure blême - Brassens uses elsewhere this image of fading light to depict the moment of death.
(8) un turlupin, - the moral condemnation contained in this song. Brassens tells us that, according to the teachings of the Church, Satan will finally pitchfork him into the eternal fires of Hell, in punishment for using rude words and for talking too frankly about sexual matters. The strictures of the Church were important at the time when Brassens was writing, but have been largely sidelined by the change in social attitudes and practices during the intervening years. However, the issue of the freedom of the individual in the face of the overweening, ever-evolving forces of authority in society remains crucial. The tragic history of the Turlupins, to which Brassens refers in this line gives a cruel, historical example:
The Turlupins were a religious sect in France in the second half of the 14th century. We can only deduce their ideas from what their adversaries in the Church said about them. They apparently called themselves the “Brethren of the Free Spirit” and “The Society of the Poor". They had a female leader, Jeanne Daubenton. She taught the virtues of the simple life and preached that individuals could achieve salvation through Christ by direct prayer without the intervention of the Church. Also she denied there was any sin in satisfying one’s sensual desires. In 1372, the sect was excommunicated by Pope Gregory and accordingly was suppressed by the King of France, Charles V. The sect members were thrown into prison and their leader was burnt at the stake.
In a debate on moral evil, the picture of Jeanne Daubenton burnt alive on the Place de Grève, surrounded by judgemental officials of Church and state would seem to put such authority into context.

Click here to go back to the Index of my Brassens selection

Heureux qui, comme Ulysse - The song Brassens sang for the last film of Fernandel

2010-12-21T01:10:00.008Z

This is the song that was written for the last film of the great French comic Fernadel. The title of the song was also the title of the film. In writing the melody, Brassens collaborated with the famous composer, Georges Delerue(4). The film script and the words of this song were written by Brassens’ old friend, the film producer, Henri Colpi(3) , whom Brassens knew from his time in Sète. Both men loved this area of southern France and although their eventful lives had led them away, when they returned, they relished the places where they had spent their happy earlier years. The very famous poem by Joachim du Bellay (1525 -1560), from which this song takes its title, was learnt at secondary school by all pupils of the generation of Colpi and Brassens. Colpi uses du Bellay’s sonnet not only for the sources of his titles and for the first two lines of this song but for the theme of the quest for a lost idyll after years of trials and tribulations.

Heureux qui comme Ulysse

Heureux qui comme Ulysse
Lucky he who like Ulysses
A fait un beau voyage,(1)
Journeyed far and wide
Heureux qui comme Ulysse
Lucky he who like Ulysses
A vu cent paysages
Has seen hundreds of lands
Et puis a retrouvé, après
And has regained again, after
Maintes traversées,
Many years of wand’ring
Le pays des vertes années.
The country of his youthful years

Par un petit matin d'été,
On an early Summer morning
Quand le soleil vous chante au cœur,
When the sun sings within your heart
Qu'elle est belle la liberté,
Then how fine it is to be free
La liberté!(5)
Fine to be free !

Quand on est mieux ici qu'ailleurs,
When you’re better here than elsewhere
Quand un ami(5) fait le bonheur,
When one friend can make you happy
Qu'elle est belle la liberté,
Then how fine it is to be free
La liberté!(5)
Fine to be free !

Avec le soleil et le vent,
With the days of sun and of wind
Avec la pluie et le beau temps,
With the weather rainy and fine
On vivait bien contents,
We lived very content
Mon cheval,(5) ma Provence et moi,
My horse my Provence and myself
Mon cheval, ma Provence et moi.
My horse my Provence and myself

Heureux qui comme Ulysse
Lucky he who like Ulysses
A fait un beau voyage
Jorneyed far and wide
A vu cent paysages
Has seen hundreds of lands
Et puis a retrouvé, après
And has regained again, after
Maintes traversées,
Many years of wand’ring
Le pays des vertes années.
The country of his youthful years

Par un joli matin d'été,
On an lovely Summer morning
Quand le soleil vous chante au cœur,
When the sun sings within your heart
Qu'elle est belle la liberté,
Then how fine it is to be free
La liberté!
Fine to be free !

Quand c'en est fini des malheurs,
When your woes are over and gone
Quand un ami sèche vos pleurs,
When there’s a friend to dry your tears
Qu'elle est belle la liberté,
Then how fine it is to be free
La liberté!
Fine to be free !

Battus de soleil et de vent,
Beaten by hot sun and by wind
Perdus au milieu des étangs,
Lost in its complex of salt lakes(2)
On vivra bien contents,
We will live quite content
Mon cheval, ma Camargue et moi,
My horse, my Camargue and myself.
Mon cheval, ma Camargue et moi,
My horse, my Camargue and myself

Henri Colpi(3) / Georges Delerue(4)
(Hors album) 1970

TRANSLATION NOTES

1) The first two lines are taken word for word from Du Bellay’s sonnet - see my notes below on this important poet
2) Perdus au milieu des étangs – The Camargue on the Mediterranean coast of France is the area of river delta at the mouth of the Rhône. Much of the region of the Camargue is under water and the salt water lakes which are formed are called étangs
3) Henri Colpi (1921 -2006) was a French film director, who made his name with the film Une aussi longue absence (1961), which included music by Georges Delerue(4). He was also a successful film editor and worked on about twenty films including Hiroshima mon amour (1961) and L'Année dernière à Marienbad (1963).

4) Georges Delerue (1925- 1992) was a very talented and a very prolific composer for cinema and television. During his 42 years career he wrote music for 325 long and short movies, 70 TV films and 35 TV serials. Directors he worked for were François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Alain Resnais, Louis Malle, and Colpi – as mentioned above. In Hollywood, he wrote scores for two Oliver Stone films.
5) La liberté! - Un ami - Mon cheval There are references in this poem that do not seem to fit well with Brassens. The declaration of liberty seems unnecessary -and perhaps over-dramatic- for some-one who had lived independent of the strictures of state, church and conventional social code all his life. The possession of one friend does not fit in with Brassens to whom a wide circle of friends was important. We do not think of Brassens as a keen horseman. The animals that were important in his life were his cats.
The explanation is that this was the theme song of a film and these references relate directly to the plot. The old man, who is the central character of the film, discovers that his beloved old horse has been sold to the picadors of the bullring, where it will face a cruel death. His answer is steal the horse and lead it to the Camargue, where he releases to roam safe and free among the wild white horses.

NOTES ON DU BELLAY’S POEM
The link between Du Bellay’s poem and his biography interests me.

The actor Gérard Philipe reads du Bellay’s poem

Heureux qui, comme Ulysse, a fait un beau voyage
Heureux qui, comme Ulysse, a fait un beau voyage,
Lucky he who like Ulysses journeyed far and wide
Ou comme cestuy-là qui conquit la toison,
Or like the sturdy man who won the golden fleece
Et puis est retourné, plein d'usage et raison,
And then came back, full of civil charm and reason
Vivre entre ses parents le reste de son âge !
To live with his family the rest of his years

Quand reverrai-je, hélas, de mon petit village
When shall I, alas, see again in my small town,
Fumer la cheminée, et en quelle saison
The chimney smoking, and at what time of the year,
Reverrai-je le clos de ma pauvre maison,
Will I see again the patch around my poor house
Qui m'est une province, et beaucoup davantage ?
Which to me is a province and is much more else

Plus me plaît le séjour qu'ont bâti mes aïeux,
The home built by my forefathers pleases me more
Que des palais Romains le front audacieux,
Than the splendid frontals of Roman palaces
Plus que le marbre dur me plaît l'ardoise fine :
Much more than their harsh marble, our fine slate pleases:

Plus mon Loir gaulois, que le Tibre latin,
Rather my Gallic Loire than the Latin Tiber
Plus mon petit Liré, que le mont Palatin,
Rather my little Liré than Mount Palatine,
Et plus que l'air marin la doulceur angevine
And rather than sea air,the balm of Angiers

Joachim du Bellay, Les Regrets, sonnet XXXI, 1558

—THE LIFE OF DU BELLAY
Joachim du Bellay was born in 1525 in the little market town of Liré near to Angers. From an early age he had a great interest in literature. At the age of twenty-three years he struck up a friendship with the poet, Ronsard and became determined to make this his own vocation.
In the following year (1548), he followed Ronsard to Paris and went on to publish a collection of sonnets in the manner of Petrarch: “The Olive”. However soon afterwards, he had to leave Paris to go to Rome, where he was to work as secretary to his cousin, who was a cardinal.

At first, du Bellay was filled with enthusiasm for the antiquities of the eternal city and wrote in praise of them (les Antiquités de Rome). However later he became very disillusioned by the less commendable features of life in Rome and in the Vatican. He began to long for “la doulceur angevine”.

In 1558, after four years away, Du Bellay returned to France and published two books based on his experiences. “Les Regrets” is a collection of sonnets detailing his feelings of bitterness and melancholy. He describes political events in Rome and particularly at the Vatican. He expresses his disgust at the sexual immorality and the financial corruption that he observed, but the book also conveys his admiration for this city which was, at that time the centre of European culture and of modern ideas. In spite of this, Du Bellay was constantly homesick for his own little corner of France around the town of his birth and this is a major theme

Sadly, his life after his return to France was not the idyll to which he had looked forward during his exile in Rome. As a result of his criticism of the Church, he found himself deprived of the protectors who had financed him and he lived in relative poverty. He was in failing health and died in 1560, when he had only just turned thirty-five.

As the years went by, his poetry had become more subjective and spontaneous. This poem “Heureux qui comme Ulysse”, shows his fluency and ease of expression and, from our acquaintance with his life story, we know that it is written from the heart.
Click here to go back to the Index of my Brassens selection

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Gastibelza, l'homme à la carabine - Victor Hugo's famous poem

2010-12-15T08:16:00.006Z

This Brassens song is based on a poem by Victor Hugo, included in his collection of poems, “Les rayons et les ombres” of 1837. The piece was inspired by a Spanish folksong, the central story of which is that of a young woman, Sabine, a girl from a Moorish family, who was so incredibly beautiful that she could have chosen any man, including the highest in the land. In the event, she chose the one who offered her the greatest wealth. This is to the dismay of the narrator, a lowly local shepherd, Gastibelza, who was madly in love with her.

Brassens - Gastibelza
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Gastibelza l'homme à la carabine

Gastibelza(1), l'homme à la carabine,(2)
Gastibelza, the man with hunting rifle,
Chantait ainsi :
Would sing this song :
« Quelqu'un a-t-il connu Doña Sabine ?
Did anyone know young Dona Sabina ?
Quelqu'un d'ici ?
Someone from here ?
Chantez, dansez, villageois ! La nuit gagne
Sing and dance, you villagers ! The darkness falls
Le mont Falu.(3)..
On Mount Falou…..
Le vent qui vient à travers la montagne
The roar of the wind that blows ‘cross the mountain(4)
Me rendra fou.
Will drive me mad.

« Quelqu'un de vous a-t-il connu Sabine,
Has anyone of you ever known Sabina
Ma señora ?
My senora ?
Sa mère était la vieille maugrabine(4)
Her mother was the old Moorish woman from
D'Antequera,
Antequera
Qui chaque nuit criait dans la Tour Magne
Who each night used to scream inside the Grand Tower
Comme un hibou..
Like a screech owl.
Le vent qui vient à travers la montagne
The roar of the wind that blows ‘cross the mountain
Me rendra fou.
Will drive me mad.

« Vraiment, la reine eût près d'elle été laide
« In truth, the queen would have, beside her, seemed plain
Quand, vers le soir,
When, ev’ry night,
Elle passait sur le pont de Tolède
She would go by on the bridge of Toledo
En corset noir.
In black bodice.
Un chapelet du temps de Charlemagne
A string of beads from the time of Charlemagne
Ornait son cou...
Adorning her neck
Le vent qui vient à travers la montagne
The roar of the wind that blows ‘cross the mountain
Me rendra fou.
Will drive me mad.

« Le roi disait, en la voyant si belle,
« The king would say, on seeing such great beauty
À son neveu :
To his nephew
"Pour un baiser, pour un sourire d'elle,
« For one mere kiss, for a single smile from her
Pour un cheveu,
For just one hair,
Infant Don Ruy, je donnerai l'Espagne
Infant Don Ruy, I would give the whole of Spain
Et le Pérou !"
And of Peru »
Le vent qui vient à travers la montagne
The roar of the wind that blows ‘cross the mountain
Me rendra fou.
Will drive me mad.

« Je ne sais pas si j'aimais cette dame,
« I don’t know if I truly loved that lady
Mais je sais bien
But know full well
Que, pour avoir un regard de son âme,
That, just to get one glance straight from her heart
Moi, pauvre chien,
I, her poor dog,
J'aurais gaiement passé dix ans au bagne
I would have most happily done ten years hard labour
Sous les verrous...
Locked up in jail.
Le vent qui vient à travers la montagne
The roar of the wind that blows ‘cross the mountain
Me rendra fou.
Will drive me mad.

« Quand je voyais cette enfant, moi le pâtre
Whenever I saw this young girl, I the shepherd
De ce canton,
Of this canton
Je croyais voir la belle Cléopâtre,
I thought to see beautiful Cleopatre
Qui, nous dit-on
Who, people say
Menait César, Empereur d'Allemagne,
Led great Caesar, Emperor of Germany,(5)
Par le licou...
By the dog collar….
Le vent qui vient à travers la montagne
The roar of the wind that blows ‘cross the mountain
Me rendra fou.
Will drive me mad.

« Dansez, chantez, villageois, la nuit tombe.
Sing and dance, you villagers ! Night is falling.
Sabine, un jour,
One day, Sabin’
A tout vendu, sa beauté de colombe,
Sold it all away, her beauty dovelike pure
Tout son amour,
All of her love,
Pour l'anneau d'or du comte de Saldagne,
For the gold ring of the Count of Saldagna
Pour un bijou...
For one jewel
Le vent qui vient à travers la montagne
The roar of the wind that blows ‘cross the mountain’s
M’a rendu fou.
Driven me mad.

Chanson pour l'Auvergnat

TRANSLATION NOTES
1) Gastibelza – Hugo enjoyed the effect that can be achieved by the use of proper names. This name from the original folk song is formed by the Basque word gazte (young man) and belza (black).
2) la carabine – the carbine rifle was a shorter rifle designed for use by cavalrymen. When Franz Liszt put music to this song of Hugo, the German version of this line reads: Gastibelza the grey, old huntsman and I thought this idea replaced something once the lilt of “la carabine” was lost in the English.
3) Le mont Falu – There is peak in Corsica called Falu ( pronounced “Falou”. Hugo was capable of taking liberties when he liked the sound of a word – and sometimes it gave him a rhyme as here.
4) The wind that blows ‘cross the mountain - The Tramontane is one of the famous prevailing winds of southern Europe like the Mistral. Wikipedia tells me: “The continuous howling noise of the tramontane is said to have a disturbing effect upon the psyche.”

5) Maugrabine –Of Moorish ancestry, originating from Magreb. Notice Hugo’s use of proper names
6) Caesar, Emperor of Germany – Once again Hugo is introducing proper names - not too precisely. Although Caesar had subdued many Germanic tribes, the country of Germany did not exist at that time.

Listen to the Spanish verve of this poem as sung by the admirable Sandrine Devienne:

Gastibeza .Hugo-Brassens par Sandrine Devienne
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A COMMENT ON MY TRANSLATION

I found myself asking why Hugo was attracted to re-write this Spanish folk song in his own verse. By chance, I found the answer in Hugo’s personal notes. I have copied the relevant extract and I translate it below.

Les filles de village et les jolies grisettes de Bayonne se baignent avec des chemises de serge
The village girls and the pretty grisettes* of Bayonne go swimming in serge shifts often very full of
souvent fort trouées sans trop se soucier de ce que les trous montrent et de ce que les chemises
holes without worrying too much about what the holes show and about what the shifts are hiding.
cachent. Le second jour que j'allai à Biarritz, comme je me promenais à la marée basse au milieu
On the second day when I went to Biarritz, as I was walking at low tide in the midst of the caves,
des grottes, cherchant des coquillages et effarouchant les crabes qui fuyaient obliquement et
looking for shells and scaring the crabs that scuttered off obliquely and buried themselves in the sand,
s'enfonçaient dans le sable, j'entendis une voix qui sortait de derrière un rocher et qui chantait le
I heard a voice that came out from behind a rock and which sang this verse here, with a bit of local
couplet que voici en patoisant quelque peu, mais pas assez pour m'empêcher de distinguer les paroles :
patois thrown in, but not enough to prevent me from making out the words.

Gastibelza, l'homme à la carabine,
chantait ainsi :
- quelqu'un a-t-il connu dona Sabine,
quelqu'un d'ici ?
Dansez, chantez, villageois, la nuit gagne
le mont Falu. -
Le vent qui vient à travers la montagne
me rendra fou.

C'était une voix de femme. Je tournai le rocher. La chanteuse était une baigneuse. Une belle fille qui
It was a woman’s voice. I went round the rock. The singer was a female bather. A beautiful girl
nageait vêtue d'une chemise blanche et d'un jupon court dans une petite crique fermée par deux
who was swimming dressed in a white shift and a short petticoat in a little creek enclosed by two
écueils à l'entrée d'une grotte. Ses habits de paysanne gisaient sur le sable au fond de la grotte.
reefs at the entrance of a cave. Her peasant clothes were lying on the sand at the back of the cave.
En m'apercevant, elle sortit à moitié de l'eau et se mit à chanter sa seconde stance, et voyant que
On becoming aware of me, she came half out of the water, and seeing that I was listening to her
je l'écoutais immobile et debout sur le rocher, elle me dit en souriant dans un jargon mêlé de français
et d'espagnol :
motionless and standing on the rock, she said to me, smiling, in garbled words mixing up French and Spanish
- Senor estrangero, conoce usted cette chanson ?
- Does monsieur the stranger know this song ?
- Je crois que oui, lui dis-je. Un peu.
- I think I do a little.
- Puis je m'éloignai, mais elle ne me renvoyait pas.
Then I moved off, but she did not tell me to leave.
Est-ce que vous ne trouvez pas dans ceci je ne sais quel air d'Ulysse écoutant la sirène ? La nature
Do you not find in this some kind of flavour of Ulysses listening to the siren? Nature constantly throws
nous rejette et nous redonne sans cesse en les rajeunissant, les thèmes et les motifs innombrables
back to us and gives us again, while rejuvenating them, the countless themes and motifs
sur lesquels l'imagination des hommes a construit toutes les vieilles mythologies et toutes les vieilles poésies.
Upon which the imagination of humankind has built all the old mythologies and all the old poems.
Somme toute, avec sa population cordiale, ses jolies maisons blanches, ses larges dunes, son sable fin, ses grottes énormes, sa mer superbe, Biarritz est un lieu admirable.
All in all, with its friendly people, its pretty houses of white, is extensive dunes, its fine sand, its enormous caves, its superb sea, Biarritz is an admirable place.

*The word grisette has been used with reference to a French working-class woman since the late 17th century. The 1694 edition of the Dictionnaire de l'Académie française simply described a grisette as "a woman of lowly condition". By the 1835 edition of the dictionary, there were other connotations. She was described as: a young working woman who is coquettish and flirtatious. (Thanks to Wikipedia for this information)

** The town of Bayonne is a little less than 5 kilometres from Biarritz. The word Bayonne also describes this district to the north of of the Pyrenees, which is the French Basque region - the name coming from the Basque name “ Baïona”

Click here to go to the Index of my Brassens selection

Bonhomme by Georges Brassens

2010-12-09T00:12:00.005Z

In this pessimistic song Brassens again ponders on the inadequacy of human love because of human frailty and the passage of time and its inevitable ultimate tragedy because of our mortality. What Brassens is describing is life with its natural causes!

BONHOMME - HER GOOD MAN LIES DYING
Malgré la bise ( 1) qui mord,
In spite of the biting wind
La pauvre vieille de somme(2)
The poor old woman of burden
Va ramasser du bois mort
Goes to gather up dead wood
Pour chauffer Bonhomme,
To warm up her fella
Bonhomme qui va mourir
Her fella who’s goin’ t’ die
De mort naturelle
From natural causes

Mélancolique, elle va
Melancholic, on she goes
À travers la forêt blême(3)
Treading through the dimlit forest
Où jadis elle rêva
Where once long ago she dreamt
De celui qu'elle aime,
Of the one whom she loves
Qu'elle aime et qui va mourir
Whom she loves, and who’s goin’ t’ die
De mort naturelle.
From natural causesl

Rien n'arrêtera le cours
Nothing will now stop the progress
De la vieille qui moissonne(3)
Of the old woman who’s pulling out
Le bois mort de ses doigts gourds,
The dead wood with her numb fingers
Ni rien ni personne,
No no thing and no person
Car Bonhomme va mourir
For her fella’s goin’ t’ die
De mort naturelle.
From natural causes

Non, rien ne l'arrêtera
No there’s nothing 'll stop her
Ni cette voix de malheur
Not that inner voice of woe
Qui dit : "Quand tu rentreras
Which says “When you do get back
Chez toi, tout à l'heure
Home, in a little while
Bonhomm' sera déjà mort
Y'r Good Man'll be dead by then
De mort naturelle."
From natural causes

Ni cette autre et sombre voix,
Nor this other, a sombre voice
Montant du plus profond d'elle
Rising from most deep within her
Lui rappeler qu'autrefois
To remind her that in times past
Il fut infidèle,
He had been unfaithful
Car Bonhomme, il va mourir
For her Good Man's goin’ t’ die
De mort naturelle.
From natural causes.

Georges Brassens
1958 - Le pornographe

TRANSLATION NOTES

1)La bise – the cold winter wind
2) Une bête de somme – a beast of burden
3 blême = pale , pallid
4) moissonner= to harvest

PERSONAL COMMENT
I am still undecided about how to translate "bonhomme". The word means"guy- bloke - fella" and in a marital relationship, it is an informal word for "husband" and the informal equivalent in English is "her old man". As the poem is about old age and dying, I did not find it a suitable translation. The word "bonhomme" does not make any stipulation about age but it can still be heard as "Good Man" and there is continuing love and concern in the marriage. "Good man", if used in this sense in the last verse, would add a sad irony. Any informal term should not exclude respect and my use of "fella" might seem dismissive. At present, I am including both terms, which shows indecision if nothing else.
Click here to return to the full index of this selection of Brassens songs

Le petit cheval - Georges Brassens

2010-12-06T14:36:00.005Z

Brassens makes a song of Paul Fort’s poem about a little white horse. With its catchy refrain lines: “Tous derrière, tous derrière” ........... “Tous derrière et lui devant »this has become a popular children’s song often taught in French primary schools. Yet a French girl commenting after the YouTube recording tells how it always made her cry as a child and now that she sees it again at eighteen, it has the same effect.

Here Brassens is accompanied by Nana Mouskouri

Le petit cheval
Le p'tit ch'val dans le mauvais temps
The little horse in bad weather
Qu'il avait donc du courage !
What then was the heart that he showed!
C'était un petit cheval blanc
He was just a little white horse
Tous derrière, tous derrière
All men behind, all men behind
C'était un petit cheval blanc
He was just a little white horse
Tous derrière et lui devant !
All men behind and he in front

Il n'y avait jamais de beau temps
There wasn’t ever fine weather
Dans ce pauvre paysage !
On this ill-favoured countryside
Il n'y avait jamais de printemps
There was never a sign of Spring
Ni derrière, ni derrière,
Neither behind, neither behind,
Il n'y avait jamais de printemps
There was never a sign of Spring
Ni derrière ni devant !
Neither behind nor in front

Mais toujours il était content
However he was still content
Menant les gars du village
Taking the lads of the village
A travers la pluie noire des champs
Across the black rain of the fields
Tous derrière, tous derrière
All men behind, all men behind
A travers la pluie noire des champs
Across the black rain of the fields
Tous derrière et lui devant !
All men behind and he in front.

Sa voiture allait poursuivant
His cart went along, pursuing
Sa bell' petit' queue sauvage
His proud little tail a-swishing
C'est alors qu'il était content
It was then that he was content
Tous derrière, tous derrière
All men behind, all men behind
C'est alors qu'il était content
It was then that he was content
Tous derrière et lui devant !
All men behind and he in front!

Mais un jour dans le mauvais temps,
However in the bad weather,
Un jour qu'il était si sage
One day he’d been perfectly good
Il est mort par un éclair blanc
He died from a white lightning bolt
Tous derrière, tous derrière
All men behind, all men behind
Il est mort par un éclair blanc(1)
He died from a white lightning bolt
Tous derrière et lui devant !
All men behind and he in front!(2)

Il est mort sans voir le beau temps
He died without see’ng fine weather
Qu'il avait donc du courage !
What then was the heart that he showed!
Il est mort sans voir le printemps
He died without seeing the spring
Ni derrière, ni derrière
Neither behind, neither behind,
Il est mort sans voir le printemps
He died without seeing the spring
Ni derrière, ni devant !
Neither behind, nor in front!

Paul Fort

Brassens (1953) La mauvaise réputation

1) un éclair blanc – There are two contrasting colours in this poem, the black pessimism of the grim scene and its weather with its black rain. In contrast there is the white optimism of the horse and surprisingly the force that kills him is white. Perhaps there is a symbol that the horse, who did no wrong, was too good for this world and was taken to join the light.
2) Il est mort par un éclair blanc …… Tous derrière et lui devant - When I first translated these two lines, I wrote « He died struck by a lightning bolt, all men behind and he at front. ». I realised that I had widened the tragedy by making the young men in the back share the horse’s fate – as was quite likely. However the focus of the poem is on the white horse and I adjusted this. Nevertheless, the refrain links together the men in the back with the horse in front and the message could be that the lot of the horse is the lot of humankind. A bit demoralising for the kids perhaps?

Click here to return to the Index of Brassens songs

Chronological list of Brassens songs on my blogsite

2010-12-03T21:38:00.024Z

La mauvaise réputation (1953)
La mauvaise réputation
Le gorille
Le petit cheval

Ballade des dames du temps jadis

La chasse aux papillons
Le parapluie
Il suffit de passer le pont

2 - Les amoureux des bancs publics (1954)

Les amoureux des bancs publics
Pauvre Martin
La première fille
La cane de Jeanne
J'ai rendez-vous avec vous
Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux
La mauvaise herbe
Putain de toi

3 - Chanson pour l'auvergnat (1955)

Chanson pour l'Auvergnat
Marinette - j'avais l'air d'un con
Une jolie fleur
La légende de la nonne
Colombine
Auprès de mon arbre

Gastibelza, l'homme à la carabine
Le testament
Les Croquants

4 - Je me suis fait tout petit (1957)

Je me suis fait tout petit
Oncle Archibald

Les Philistins
5 - Le pornographe (1958)

Le Pornographe
Bonhomme

6 - Le mécréant (1960)

L'enterrement de Verlaine
L'orage

7 - Les trompettes de la renommée (1961)

Les trompettes de la renommée
Jeanne
Dans l'eau de la claire fontaine
La marguerite
Si le Bon Dieu l’avait voulu
Les amours d'antan

8 - Les copains d'abord (1964)

Les copains d'abord
La tondue
Vénus callipyge
Saturne

9 - Supplique pour être enterré à la plage de Sète (1966)

Supplique pour être enterré à la plage de Sète
La non-demande en mariage

10 - La religieuse (1969)

Misogynie à part
Rien à jeter

Pensées des morts

11 – Fernande (1972)

Fernande
Mourir pour des idées
Les passantes

A l'ombre des maris

12 - Don Juan (1976)
Trompe la Mort

Do n Juan

13 – Not in a Brassens album
Heureux qui comme Ulysse 1970

Les châteaux de sable (1978)

Pauvre Martin - A touching song from Georges Brassens

2010-12-03T14:03:00.007Z

Brassens paints a touching portrait of an impoverished agricultural labourer, whose life is hard but who accepts his fate with total equanimity - Another of society’s outsiders for whom he felt great compassion.

Pauvre Martin

Avec une bêche à l'épaule,
With a spade upon his shoulder
Avec à la lèvre un doux chant,
With, on his lips, a little song
Avec à la lèvre un doux chant,
With, on his lips, a little song
Avec à l'âme (1) un grand courage,
With, deep within, spirit unbroken
Il s'en allait trimer aux champs
He would go to the fields to toil
Pauvre Martin, pauvre misère,(2)
Poor old Martin, mis'rably poor
Creuse la terre, creuse le temps
Digs at the earth, digs away time

Pour gagner le pain de sa vie,
To earn enough bread to live off
De l'aurore jusqu'au couchant,
From crack of dawn ‘til setting sun
De l'aurore jusqu'au couchant,
From crack of dawn ‘til setting sun
Il s'en allait bêcher la terre
He would go off to work the land
En tous les lieux, par tous les temps
Off anywhere in all weather
Pauvre Martin, pauvre misère,(2)
Poor old Martin, mis'rably poor
Creuse la terre, creuse le temps
Digs at the earth, digs away time

Sans laisser voir sur son visage
He let appear upon his face
Ni l'air jaloux ni l'air méchant,
No look of envy or of spite
Ni l'air jaloux ni l'air méchant,
No look of envy or of spite
Il retournait le champ des autres,
He tilled the field of other folk
Toujours bêchant, toujours bêchant
Digging nonstop, digging nonstop
Pauvre Martin, pauvre misère,(2)
Poor old Martin, mis'rably poor
Creuse la terre, creuse le temps
Digs at the earth, digs away time

Et quand la mort lui a fait signe
And when death gave him the signal
De labourer son dernier champ,
To begin work on his last field
De labourer son dernier champ,
To begin work on his last field
Il creusa lui-même sa tombe
He dug for himself his own grave
En faisant vite, en se cachant
Getting done quick, keeping hidden
Pauvre Martin, pauvre misère,(2)
Poor old Martin, mis'rably poor
Creuse la terre, creuse le temps
Digs at the earth, digs away time

Il creusa lui-même sa tombe
He dug for himself his own grave
En faisant vite, en se cachant
Getting done quick, keeping hidden
En faisant vite, en se cachant,
Getting done quick, keeping hidden
Et s'y étendit sans rien dire
And laid him there with no word said
Pour ne pas déranger les gens
So as not to trouble people.
Pauvre Martin, pauvre misère,
Poor old Martin, mis'rably poor
Dors sous la terre, dors sous le temps !
Sleep neath the earth, sleep under time. (3)

Georges Brassens
1954 - Les amoureux des bancs publics

TRANSLATION NOTES
1) Avec à l'âme = With in his soul
2) We French teachers bore or perhaps amuse people by talking about "faux amis". The word "misère" is one of these - it looks like the English word "misery" but it means extreme poverty (Of course the two ideas are not unrelated).
3) Brassens often talks of death and the ravages of time in his songs.

Click here to return to the Index of Brassens songs

SI LE BON DIEU AVAIT VOULU -Paul Fort's simple love song

2010-12-03T13:04:00.006Z

Brassens sings Paul Fort’s simple and sincere love poem to the woman who meant everything in his life.

SI LE BON DIEU L'AVAIT VOULU
Based on the poem of Paul Fort --

Si le bon Dieu l'avait voulu,
If the Good Lord had wished it so
Lanturlurette, lanturlu
Fiddeldedum, fiddeldedee
J'aurais connu la Cléopâtre(1)
I would have known that Cle’patre
Et je ne t'aurais pas connue.
I would not have got to know you.
J'aurais connu la Cléopâtre,
I would have known that Cle’patre
Et je ne t'aurais pas connue.
I would not have got to know you.
Sans ton amour que j'idolâtre
Without your love that I worship
Las ! que fussé-je devenu ?
Alas! What might I have become ?

Si le bon Dieu l'avait voulu,
If the Good Lord had wished it so
J'aurais connu la Messaline,
I would have known that Mess’lina
Agnès, Odette et Mélusine...
Agnes, Odette and Mel’sina
Et je ne t'aurais pas connue.
I would not have got to know you
J'aurais connu la Pompadour,
I would have known that Pompadour
Noémi, Sarah, Rebecca,
Naomi, Sarah, Rebecca,
La Fille du Royal-Tambour,
The girl of the Royal Tambour,(2)
Et la Mogador et Clara.
And that Mogador and Clara.

Mais le bon Dieu n'a pas voulu
But the Good Lord did not wish it
Que je connaisse leurs amours.
That I should know their loving charms
Je t'ai connue, tu m'as connu.
And I knew you and you knew me
Gloire à Dieu au plus haut des nues !
Praise to God in highest heaven
Las ! que fussé-je devenu
Alas! what would I have become
sans toi la nuit, sans toi le jour ?
Without you the night and the day
Je t'ai connue, tu m'as connu.
But I knew you, and you knew me
Gloire à Dieu au plus haut des nues !
Praise to God in highest heaven!

1961 Les trompettes de la renommée

Translation notes
1) la Cléopâtre – Paul Fort makes a list of a number of ladies whom he could have got to know, instead of the lady who became the love of his life. In fact these are among the most illustrious women in world history, famous some for their legendary beauty, some for the intensity of the passion they showed or the passion they aroused, famous some for their momentous effect on world history. By putting “la” in front of their names, he is pretending personal familiarity with them as if they were girls in the next street.
2) La Fille du Royal Tambour – I am unsure who this female can be. There is a famous theatre in Paris called the Royal Tambour. There was also a soldier’s song of the 18th century with this title of the daughter of the Royal Drummer.
PERSONAL COMMENT
It is totally unnecessary to identify precisely all the women in the list, but I found myself wondering why the poet chose each one
Cleopatre is well known, of course, as the beautiful queen of Egypt, with whom Julius Caesar and Anthony fell in love, with important consequences in history.
La Messalina was the wife Emperor Claudius, famous for the ruthlessness of her political intrigues and the excesses of her sexual adventures.
Agnès is perhaps Agnès Sorel, favourite mistress of Charles VII (1422-1450), who was known as the "Dame de Beauté". Her portrait in "La Vierge à l'Enfant" byJean Fouquet is famous.

Odette – There is an Odette, with whom Charles Swann falls obsessively in love in
"Un Amour de Swann", a book of Marcel Proust’s « A la Recherche du Temps Perdu ?

Mélusine – A character in French fables, who was the daughter of a fairy, but could transform herself into a snake.
La Pompadour – La Marquise de Pompadour (1721-1764) was the official mistress of Louis XV. She was a very influential personality in the royal court and an active patroness of the arts.
Noémie, Sarah, Rébecca – Three famous biblical characters.
Sarah - We are told that Sarah, the wife of Abraham gave him a son, Isaac, when she was ninety years old!
Rébecca - the wife of Isaac, was the mother of Esau and of Jacob. She ranks among the ruthless women who changed the course of history. She cheated her dying husband into giving the birthright of their elder son Esau to her favourite son Jacob instead. She did this by putting goat skins on his hands and neck to deceive the blind old man into believing that his hands rested on the hairy skin of Esau. Jacob, who, according to the legend, was renamed “Israel” some years later by an angel of God, became one of the great fathers of the Jewish nation.

Noémie -Naomi was the mother-in-law of Ruth. It was she who persuaded Ruth to seduce the rich old man, Booz, in order to perpetuate her lineage which had been broken by the deaths of her two sons. The son born of this union was Obed, the ancestor of Joseph, the stepfather of Jesus. Victor Hugo gives a poetic account of Ruth’s night of love in his famous poem "Booz endormi".
Mogador – I am grateful to this poem for acquainting me for the first time with Céleste Mogador, 1824-1909, comtesse Céleste de Chabrillan. She was the illegitimate daughter of Anne-Victoire Vénard and had a deprived and unhappy childhood. At 15 she was imprisoned for vagrancy and at 16 she became a prostitute. After six months she took the name of Céleste Mogador when she became a successful dancer and the toast of Paris. Later she had success as an actress and wrote her memoirs. She had become the mistress of Lionel, comte de Chabrillan, whom she married in January 1854. When he was appointed French consul-general in Australia, she went with him, to the anger of his family.
She lived a somewhat lonely life in Australia, ostracised by the respectable. However she formed a love of the country and wrote three novels set in Australia. During these years she re-educated herself completely, teaching herself correct French to make up for the deficiencies of her education and learning English. Her Mémoires were now selling well in France and from her earnings she was able to pay off her husband’s debts. Unfortunately, Lionel died from dysentery in December 1858. Céleste had a prodigious literary ouput on her return to Paris. In total, she wrote twelve novels, twenty-six plays, seven operettas, poems and songs. She was the friend of writers , politicians and many public figures. Her friendship with the Count of Naurois gave her financial security until her death in 1909. I intend to read her Mémoires soon.
Les mémoires de Céleste de Chabrillan
Clara – Looking for a famous love story, we might suggest Clara Schumann (1819- 1896).Her skills as a musician had gained for Clara Wieck a Europe wide reputation as a child prodigy. Robert Schumann, the composer, met her in Leipzig when she was just sixteen and began to court her. Her father tried to prevent any contact between the couple and when Schumann made a request to marry her in 1837, her father refused. He continued to block the wishes of the couple for the next three years. In 1839, the couple submitted a petition to the Court of Appeals to marry without the consent of Friedrich Wieck. This was granted in 1840 and they married on September 12, one day before Clara’s 21st birthday.

Click here to return to the Index of Brassens songs

The times tells the story of the original eminence grise.

2010-03-04T22:44:00.000Z

Ben MacIntyre is a Times columnist whose sympathies are strongly pro-Labour and he sought to keep the Lord Ashcroft affair still simmering by comparing him to the original “Eminence Grise” of history. It is a far-fetched analogy which shows his lack of a sense of proportion but, as a French specialist, I am grateful to him for filling a gap in my historical knowledge

Ben MacIntyre tells that the name of the original éminence grise was François Leclerc du Tremblay, who was more familiarly called Father Joseph. He was the shadowy adviser to Cardinal Richelieu, and he died nearly 400 years ago. Father Joseph was, in theory, one of the lowlier minions of Louis XIII’s court, a mere secretary to Richelieu, the king’s chief minister. In reality, he was a figure of immense prestige and considerable menace, Richelieu’s confessor, confidant and secret agent, de facto foreign minister, warmonger and scourge of heretics.

The inconspicuous friar dreamt of launching another crusade against the Turks and forcing Europe’s Protestants back into the Catholic fold. He had a profound impact on the course of European history and his ruthlessness helped to prolong the bloody Thirty Years War

Father Joseph came to be seen as the most powerful politician in France, his influence eclipsing that of his patron Richelieu. As with squirrels, the grey can drive out the red.

In spite of his power, he remained all but invisible, his grey eminence in sharp contrast to the flaming scarlet cardinal’s robes of Richelieu himself, the red eminence. His power was great, but cloaked and secretive. He was trusted by a powerful few, feared by his rivals, and a mystery to everyone else: the three essential characteristics of the éminence grise.

The most famous painting of the original éminence grise, by Jean-Léon Gérôme, depicts the French monk in his habit, descending the stairs of the Palais Cardinal, while courtiers bow and scrape in obeisance to his veiled authority. Father Joseph appears buried in his Bible, oblivious to the fawning.

The nonsense of the mercenaries filling our top sporting teams

2010-02-04T09:34:00.002Z

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

2009-10-24T18:04:00.000+01:00

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

2009-10-16T16:38:00.001+01:00

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

2009-10-04T22:28:00.000+01:00

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

2009-09-10T12:58:00.000+01:00

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

2009-09-10T12:26:00.001+01:00

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

2009-09-07T09:57:00.004+01:00

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.

How the police should control mob protests

2009-08-09T11:53:00.001+01:00

Should the police be allowed to use "kettling" tactics?

“The Times”, which can usually be commended for its good sense, invariably takes an anti-police line. Characteristically, the newspaper has found it incomprehensible that the police were unable to guarantee the safety of every member of the huge G20 mob, which congregated from across the country and across the world to intimidate. “The Times” is now developing a sophisticated system of feedback and brilliant readers’ letters, such as these below, effectively scuttle all the previous lengthy column inches of unconstructive politically correct indignation. The irony of the last letter says it all!

I did my time protesting in the Seventies and it takes two to tango. You have the right to protest, but I also have the right to go about my lawful business without obstruction by you. I also have the right to do so without being spat at or threatened because I am in a suit.

Mark Morgan

OK, the G20 policing was far from ideal, but what else would you have the police do? Use water cannon, CS gas and Tasers?

John Fletcher

Here's an idea: let's take away the officers' extending batons, shields, stab vests, helmets, CS spray and handcuffs and just have them all politely inform wrongdoers and criminals to be nice. Because that will work, won't it?

Rooney Westall

The scandalous injustice of the allocation of subsidised Council Housing for life

2009-08-04T07:30:00.002+01:00

The times invited readers' comments on the question whether council tenants who sub-let their homes should be evicted?

Two readers cogently described the inequity of the current system of allocating subsidised housing for life.

Being awarded a council house is like winning a lottery of a lifetime's worth of cheap housing. Tenants should be means-tested annually.

Laura Pelling

I know of a block in London where there's lots of sub-letting. The block is exceptionally located and has large units with pretty decent tenants. You can apply for housing after living in the area for a few years, so you do get some middle-class people living there. It is like winning the lottery. A crazy waste of public funds.

James C.

There were reds under the bed

2009-07-30T11:47:00.003+01:00

In a “Times” weekend supplement article, Christopher Andrew, Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at Cambridge University, wrote a review of the book “Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America” written by John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr and Alexander Vassiliev.

Professor Andrew tells us that the book

proves with no reasonable doubt that during the Second World War the Soviet Union conducted in the United States, with the active assistance of the US Communist party, the largest and most productive intelligence offensive ever mounted by any power against a wartime ally.

When I was a lecturer in a College of Further education, I used to spend my lunch breaks in heated debate with my left-wing colleagues. As a result, I used to return to the classroom totally unable to remember what I had eaten.

A weapon that I used to dread being used against me was the derisory laugh. This is the blanket bomb of human debate and does more to destroy a case than volumes of rational argument. On TV it is seen, for example, deployed by sections of the audience invited to “Question Time” by David Dimbleby.

The derisory laugh had often a cliché attached to it. One such example to shut up further discussion was “Reds under the bed”. We were living through a time when some very sinister figures dominated industrial relations. A time when the left and the BBC had established strikes as part of the normal, desirable way of life in this country.

The reds were never under the bed, they were there for all to see. However to be told now that there were also reds under the bed plotting things that were too harmful to reveal publicly does not surprise me

Britain is a soft touch for people smuggling, say traffickers

2009-07-14T10:07:00.002+01:00

This Times report, by Richard Ford, Home Correspondent, tells of Labour's scandalous refusal to police our borders. Most people in the country already knew these facts, but with Labour's and the BBC's control of freedom of expression no-one was allowed to discuss these questions however moderately. The dictatariat of the Politically Correct will still scream "Racist" at those who advocate the counter-measures necessary to protect us.

Points made in the report are:

People-traffickers view Britain as a “soft touch” for smuggling illegal immigrants, with big profits and a low risk of being caught, according to Home Office research published yesterday.
Traffickers also allege that officials in the Identity and Passport Service are willing to take bribes to help illegal immigrants to enter the country.

The research said that a number of factors encouraged illegal immigration, including:
The benefits system
A healthy illegal economy
The advocacy of illegal migration by some minority ethnic communities.
A comparatively relaxed immigration policy
The way that migrants and asylum seekers can use the Human Rights Act to remain in Britain
The ease of getting a passport via marriage to a British citizen
The absence of identity cards
Low risk of detection
Illicit entry across UK borders is perceived to be relatively easy

How the U.K. can move forward from its mistakes in the Middle East

2009-07-13T12:28:00.003+01:00

• Usually, it is readers' letters to newspapers that show the greatest wisdom. As an older person with memories of earlier involvements, I was astounded by the brash assurance which Blair showed on embroiling us in Middle East conflict. These two letters to The Times today point out the impossibility of forcing countries to repair a three centuries gap in political and religious progress by external force. More positively, they seek to identify practical lessons to be learnt from all this for our internal political debate. Abroad we must be satisfied just to contain the enemies of our way of life. At home, we need to make our borders watertight and to abandon social diversity for active integration of the newly arrived immigrant population.

TWO LETTERS TO THE TIMES 13TH JULY 2009

If our military operations in Afghanistan constitute a war, how will we know when we have won? Suppose that the gallantry of our soldiers bears fruit and the Taleban are subdued sufficiently for an election to take place, after which a government attempts to impose law and order over a nation completely unused to such discipline. If that is victory, it will surely be only a temporary one. When the Taleban regroup, do we return and start again? Are we there forever? I do not believe the nation will accept that commitment. This need not be a counsel of despair. If a fraction of the cost of this operation, in terms of courage, initiative and money, were channeled first into intelligence-gathering and second into our own border security, I believe that most Britons would be content to let the Afghans sort out their own problems.

Ben Stroude

West Kirby, Wirral

Sir, Your leading article (“Were we wrong?”, July 11) gave reasons for our involvement in the war in Afghanistan but left out the most important cause of our position there, namely the relationship between George W. Bush and Tony Blair. History has shown us, not once but twice, that you cannot win a conventional war in that territory and it is not a question of hearts and minds because we are dealing with a civilisation that is, in the main, stuck in the Dark Ages and a religion that has not undergone the changes of centuries that has taken place in Europe. We cannot hope to bring these people into a modern Western democracy quickly. In any case, who are we to say that that would be the best form of government for them? If there is a battle to protect ourselves it should be fought here, at home, concentrating on the proper integration and education of our immigrant community. I write as an immigrant to these shores.

Michael Nathan

Blandford, Dorset

Cameron shows himself fit to lead the country

2009-05-30T12:37:00.005+01:00

For too long we have wondered what David Cameron stood for as he refused to reveal his hand to avoid the routine rubbishing of the BBC and the predominant left-wing media.

However,in the last weeks he has shown himself unequivocal and strong on public corruption. Now,with his new-found confidence he has begun to give us the understanding of the general outline of the policies he will pursue.

In today's "Times", his words are quoted in sayings of the week:

We need a massive, sweeping, radical redistribution of power.
From the state to citizens;
From the Government to Parliament;
From Whitehall to communities;
From Brussels to Britain;
From judges to the people;
From bureaucracy to democracy

At long last we know where we will be heading and the direction meets the long neglected aspirations of the people.

Phew, we thought no-one was listening!

Spare a thought for the British bobby

2009-04-21T20:32:00.002+01:00

A letter to today's Times sought to restore some balance in the the face of media's orgy of police bashing after the police deployment to control the G20 rioters.

Sir, As a former senior police officer I feel a need to write in support of my ex-colleagues. The vast majority of people at any demonstration will be ordinary law-abiding citizens who would not, in the normal course of their life, dream of committing assaults against anyone, least of all a police officer. It is heartbreaking, therefore, to see the very people you have sworn a duty to protect turn into savages when taken over by mob mentality. Each demonstration will contain a
hardcore rent-a-riot group whose sole aim in life is to attack the Establishment and disrupt our everyday way of life. They are well practised and trained in the ways of mob control and marshal their forces with well-targeted malice. They openly boast about assaults on officers and how they "won" the last confrontation.

Please do not get carried away with the stories about the very few officers who break ranks and go beyond that which is acceptable. Spare a thought for the thousands of others who stand there getting stuck in the leg with pins and nails, kicked mercilessly out of view of the cameras, spat at, threatened and generally treated with utter contempt.

As an expatriate I can tell you that the television coverage is doing nothing to harm the very high reputation that the UK police enjoy on the Continent. I have spoken with Italians who laugh at the coverage and find it unbelievable that no teargas, baton charges or water cannon were in evidence. They marvel at the level of restraint shown by the police, so please spare a thought, therefore, for the British bobby.

PETER GRIFFITHS
San Lucido, Calabria

We have a right to a dignified death – Letter to the Times

2009-03-09T10:20:00.001Z

Terry Pratchett writes an eloquent letter, in Today’s Times, to say that it is vital that we distinguish between suicide and euthanasia in the end-of-life debate. So much wisdom is to be found on the letters pages from people who know what they are talking about because they speak from personal experience. Terry Pratchett writes:

Sir, The phrase “assisted suicide” (report, Mar 6) bedevils the end-of-life debate. Suicide is an act of desperation by a mind at the end of its tether. It is the body in the fume-filled car, the man on the parapet, the woman on the railway line.
This is horrible, but it is a world away from the careful and deliberate decision made by competent individuals, who suffer from a chronic and incurable disease, about a way in which they wish for the inevitable to be met. There can be nothing wrong in requesting that one’s life should be brought to a neat and dignified end. There can be no sensible reason to object to this. I have spoken to many people on this subject, including my own late father, and the fear of being “kept going” past a decent “die-by date” is very common in this country.
The recent advice given by the General Medical Council is welcome, but does not go far enough. If it is clear to us and our medical advisers that there will become a point where such action might reasonably be taken, then a clear written statement, made earlier in the patient’s life, should be treated with as much respect as a will. We are not slaves. We own our lives.
There may have to be other legal requirements that should be satisfied, but they should not be such that they become a barrier to the patient’s wishes. If any supreme beings have an alternate point of view, I am sure that they can make this clear by thunderbolt, in the usual way.

How a P.C. government in the straitjacket of human rights leaves its people unprotected

2009-02-28T11:57:00.002Z

The ever perceptive Camilla Cavendish in her Times article analyses the underlying issues in the rendition controversy:

"The government finds itself boxed into a very uncomfortable corner by the Human Rights Act, the human rights lobby and its duty to protect us from terrorism. The Human Rights Act has forced ministers to protect foreigners who hate us, at taxpayers' expense. So we cannot return anyone who might face torture, hostility or even substandard medicine. The human rights lobby has made a mockery of asylum law and the Geneva Convention, leaving us trapped in endless deportation battles. And as a consequence the Government has distorted fundamental principles of justice to protect national security."

Camilla Cavendish goes on to show how a weak government fearful of the left-wing pressure groups at home has had recourse to secret arrangements with other governments to do their work for them.

Our need to restore real polytechnics to complete vocational paths of study.

2009-02-25T20:57:00.003Z

A former conservative education minister, George Walden, highlights, in an article in the Times,the problems that many Conservatives have in understanding the need for a successful vocational sector at all levels of education.
He blames the demise of polys 16 years ago on:
"….the whims of low-grade politicos elected on a 30 per cent local election turnout. It was that which was behind a lot of the leftist nonsense that downgraded the polys in the public's eyes, as well as the usual anti-vocational snobberies."

I would add that we have seen a lot of snobbery of this kind recently from Tory commentators. They have asked for example the irrelevant question whether an advanced level vocational qualification is equal to an "A" level in Latin. Last week they discussed whether anybody with any intelligence will take the new vocational routes. These elitists of both the Left and the Right assume too readily that those who take vocational alternatives have too low a status to mark, in any significant way, their own progressive levels of attainment and also to have an ultimate level of excellence defined in their particular field.

What hope is there when such voices dominate the educational debate? Somehow we have to shout out loudly that it was the killing off of the vocational sector that has brought our educational system to the present desperate state of chaos.

Labour's positioning has left it left of sensible

2009-02-18T11:05:00.002Z

Some newspaper articles seem of lasting importance ansd should go instead ito a textbook for understanding our contemporary history.

This is a brilliant article which analyses the failure of the Gordon Brown administration. Philip Collins tells how Gordon Brown turned his back on positive action to improve the country to devote himself to petty party politicking as though he were the leader of the opposition. Faced with a policy decision he does not choose to do it because it is a good idea, or because it is right, but because it is politically useful. Collins says: This tendency to elevate political positioning over action will, in time, be the diagnosis of what went wrong. Labour had previously arrived at a series of defensible policy positions. It had a to-do list and a decent set of arguments about what it was for. On every issue it dropped them like litter to the ground.

• Victimhood’ culture impairs reasonable judgements made in the workplace

2009-02-10T09:29:00.002Z

This excellent letter in today’s Times (February 10, 2009) illustrates how the infantile political correctness imposed on the whole nation under the rule of the Blairs is still beggaring everybody up. When we were little we were told that sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me. What inadequate people the politically correct would like us to be – at least on issues they prescribe!

Sir, Gary Hancock’s assertion (letter, Feb 9) that “a remark is offensive if it causes offence to those about or to whom it is addressed” illustrates a worrying trend in today’s increasingly sensitive society. We are told by our human resources departments that behaviour is defined as harassment or bullying if it is perceived as such by the complainant: there is no requirement for that perception to be subjected to any examination of its rationality. In a culture where “victimhood” seems to be regarded as a lifestyle option, sensible management in the workplace is fast becoming a defensive exercise in avoiding the industrial tribunal, and expressing a challenging opinion on almost any topic invites accusations of bigotry, or worse. From Bob Bury of Leeds

Should we have academic selection at 14?

2009-02-09T23:02:00.004Z

A posting on the Times educational blogsite discusses whether it would be a good idea to have academic selectiomn at the age of fourteen. This system is already in operation in parts of Northern Ireland and seems to work well. The Times blog tells us:

Northern Ireland has a system of academic selection, known as the Dickson plan (or Two-Tier system). Introduced in 1969, this system includes primary, junior high and senior schools. Academic selection occurs at the age of 14, with children either going onto a more academic path or a more vocational one. Fans say that this system, which covers the Craigavon area (and parts of Armagh), works well. 14 sounds a better age a) for children to take stressful exams, b) for "late-developing" children to "catch up" and c) for children perhaps to have an idea of what they want to do - thus meaning the vocational option could work well.

The blog goes on to discuss the merits of this system and the author of the Times blog sees much merit in it.

I have spent the last twenty years of my live in a study of this organisational problem, which explains why what follows is long and boring.

What follows is my own reaction to the proposal of academic selection at 14:

Three questions present themselves on reading this article. Two are relatively easy to answer and the third one is very difficult.

The first question can be asked by the title: Should we have academic selection at 14? The answer is an immediate “Yes” because we already have academic selection by setting. The top set in most schools corresponds to the traditional Grammar School stream, if anyone was tactless enough to identify it in this way.

The second question assumes that by “academic selection” something more was implied, hence the following re-phrasing: Should career orientation begin at 14? The answer to this is “Yes”. Current practice, once again, justifies this answer. As Mr Lucas points out this is the starting age for the new diploma courses. Also, it is around this age that all pupils begin to sort out their future GCSE options and it is a very negligent school that does not do this with the pupil’s possible future career in mind.

More problematically, there is a third question at the crux of this debate that can be phrased thus: Is 14 an appropriate age to re-allocate pupils to different educational establishments according to their chosen specialisms? On the terms of the present discussion, this would involve moving most pupils in the top streams of a number of schools into one separate centre of learning.

Most of the people who have commented on the article would answer “Yes”, hoping for the availability of a school where all the pupils were motivated, where there was the stimulus of academic competition, and hopefully where discipline was rigorous and the more dangerous of the excesses of modern society excluded.

It is almost certain that this solution would be ruled out under the charge of elitism. It would give the idea that vocational studies are for everyone else who is not clever enough to gain access to the academic route. The Grammar school –Secondary modern divide would be re-established and the new Vocational courses would be devalued.

Fortunately a new option is taking shape in some parts of the country. Schools are seeing themselves not as exclusive units but as cooperatives. They have already seen the advantage of collaborating to establish a separate centre to teach the new vocational options, so that there is no duplication or random scattering of the expensive equipment required for them. Similarly schools working in cooperation should be able to establish a centre for those pupils specialising in academic subjects. Vocational and academic specialists would remain pupils of their original school under its pastoral care but would attend the other centre 2/3 days each week. Their school would rationalise the pupils’ timetables over both sections of their course.

As the centres of excellence will seek to cater for all recognisable career paths there can be no moral objection to the inclusion, in their schemes, of provision for those whose futures require a more intensive study of the traditional academic subjects from 14 to 18.

the urgent need for Britain to re-examine what it can offer incoming workers

2009-02-03T20:58:00.005Z

At a time when the politically correct establishment is trying to close down the debate with big abstract words of abuse such as protectionism, xenophobia, globalisation, a rational letter to the Times gives a practical, pragmatic reply.

British jobs and European workers. Parliament needs to re-examine what Britain can offer incoming workers in the current economic current circumstances

Sir, Your leading article (“British jobs and British workers”, Jan 31) presented one side of what is at stake in this downturn. EU workers flooded into Britain as the community enlarged because our wages were higher, and our benefits and welfare far surpassed those in their own countries.

In boom times incoming workers pay taxes and help by being consumers. Even then, there is a high economic cost not often offset publicly against the oft-quoted benefit to individual industry and businesses: the cost of interpreters in all our public services; the huge extra cost to our free at point of delivery health services; the cost of immediate and free access to training courses on entry to Britain; the extra cost of policing with increased imported crime; the cost of extra housing and associated allowances; and the evasion of tax — many in the building trade work only for cash.

In addition, not all employers provide proper contracts and holiday and sick provision, but throw these workers on to the welfare system between seasonal work.
Now we are being told every day of huge job losses, many of which will affect the European workers already here, but little mention and no estimate has been given so far of the enormous extra tax burden this will put on those remaining in work — and the nation — that has to pay for all the unemployed. The British, facing now large and growing long-term national debt, are becoming restive about the affordability to the nation of completely open access and funding for Europeans, when their own countries would and could not offer our workers anything like the same largesse. This may be behind the quick surge of what you call “protectionism”.

A re-examination by Parliament of what Britain can offer incoming workers in current circumstances is not incompatible with membership of the EU. Other countries have achieved this successfully, giving limited and phased benefits to migrant workers within EU law. There also needs to be far better correlation of the costs and benefits of migration across fiscal, welfare and public services so that the taxpayer, and indeed the Government, is given a more honest and realistic picture.

Aline Hay
Duns, Berwickshire

My comment:
The government has to end its politically correct disregard for the native British population and give us the protection and fair treatment that other European governments in the EU give to their people.
The Times Tuesday, 03 February 2009

The BBC's disastrous role in Iranian politics thirty years ago.

2009-01-15T21:15:00.005Z

This Times leader includes the comment that many Iranians have deep-seated suspicions of alleged British conspiracies, and say that the resignations of the late Shah and his father were in part triggered by BBC broadcasts. Those of us who lived through that period remember how the left wing editors at the BBC led a relentless campaign against the Shah to whom they attached the condemnatory epithet: “Pro-American.” They hailed the return of the Ayatollah Khomeini as a new dawn for the Middle East. The sinister tradition of the deliberate control of human thought by those who hold office is of course centuries old. Rarely in the history of propaganda, however, can so tiny a band of opinion enforcers have played such a big part in unleashing so many nefarious developments. I am grateful to a later Times leader on March 6th for listing them:

......the Iranian Revolution of 1979 led swiftly to terror, repression, warfare and economic turmoil. Mass executions, a bloody eight-year war with Iraq, the export of terror and religious fundamentalism all followed Ayatollah Khomeini's return.

Dangers of politicising the police

2008-12-24T05:17:00.001Z

Rule by the overpoweringly self-righteous has throughout history led to the crushing of the liberty of the individual. The monopoly of power achieved by the government of the Blairs in concert with their colleagues of equally rigid conviction in the BBC and in executive positions in the public services led to the most offensive curtailment of free thought in Britain experienced for centuries.

This concise, lucid letter to the Telegraph by David Green, the Director of Civitas, spells it out and forms the most damning indictment of the Blair government.

David Green writes:

Since the Macpherson report, the Government has used the police to
re-educate the majority of the people to have different views about race. The majority are seen as racist and in need of forcible re-socialisation. But our tradition is of policing by consent, which can only mean that the majority must be signed up to police objectives before they are enforced.

If a party wants to change public attitudes, it must first persuade people through discussion. The Government has got into the habit of using police power for its party-political aims. Thus it failed to see that the arrest of an MP for exposing official mistakes was an abuse of power for the narrowest of party-political ends

Teachers need power to deal with indiscipline in schools

2008-12-23T04:55:00.000Z

The Daily Telegraph – Editorial 22 DEC 2008- is absolutely right to comment that the massive increase in police time taken to sort out violent incidents in schools is for the most part a reflection on the breakdown of the traditional enforcement of discipline by teachers and heads. Human Rights legislation, the massive legal traps of situations where race and ethnicity can be invoked, LEAs that are interested in political correctness and nothing else mean that only the most foolhardy teachers intervene in any violent confrontations.

We live in a police state? How far is this from the truth!

2008-12-22T09:09:00.000Z

In this article in the Times, James Hawes an academic and once a Trotskyite deplores the impotence of the contemporary police force to protect us from the excesses that the left-wing mindset that he once shared has established in our daily lives. This is a protest from an unexpected quarter against Labour's conversion of the police into ineffectual, politically directed social workers.

Criminal youth gangs discussed

2008-12-11T22:45:00.002Z

This article stems from the helpful insights given on the Today programme by young black Londoner. The reader comments also are intelligent.
Read it on the Tangled Web blogsite.

In an earlier blog , I copied a lecture on American street gangs by Steven Levitt

I am not sure that the average Englishman can even start to understand their psychology.

The Misgovernment that has become a routine feature of our lives over the last ten years.

2008-11-13T21:32:00.000Z

• If a commonsense party could be formed from the thinking members of all the political parties, the position of leader should go to Theodore Dalrymple. Read his commentary on the sad affair of the death of baby P.. in yesterday’s Times. 12 NOV 08

We can't be surprised by the death of Baby P | Theodore Dalrymple - Times Online
He tells us…….

A lethal mixture of bureaucracy, blame culture and fear of violence blinds us to the horror that is staring us in the face. What seems to have been the stunning incompetence of the Haringey social services is actually by no means unusual in contemporary Britain; it is the dramatic and immediate human consequence of that incompetence that is unusual. We see the same incompetence in other spheres of endeavour every day ……..

Sensible words from the Education Minister

2008-11-06T21:24:00.001Z

Ed Balls said yesterday that poorly performing schools are to receive extra funding and will be spared having to take disruptive pupils, . Non-selective schools, in local authority areas where grammar schools remain, can apply for the money if they are deemed to be doing badly. It is meant to provide services and role models so that pupils who did not pass the 11-plus do not feel like failures.

Read the Times report in full, written by the excellent Nicola Woolcock. She saw the importance of these measures, whereas the Telegraph was wittering on about money going down the drain.

I added my comment to the article, but it was not printed. The Times unlike the Telegraph drastically limits reader comment.

I feel strongly about the unfair burdens put on teachers in struggling schools, because I have a family member who is deputy head of one such school and I have been presented with the evidence for the last few years.

I also know how a thriving grammar school can drain the life blood from neighbouring schools. A few years ago, I intended to move to East Anglia. I could not afford the grammar school fees, but none of the state schools there could approach the standards of the average comprehensive school in Greater Manchester that my daughter attended. So we stayed put.

Here are my very words from yesterday:

It has always been manifestly unfair that the conscientious staff of underprivileged schools should have the problem kids of all the other schools dumped on them.

The second measure is equally sound:

Where private schools set up standards to overshadow the neighbouring state schools, these schools should respond by offering, in partnership, educational options to match them. The costs saved from LEA budgets by parents who choose to buy education elsewhere, should pay for this.

Everyone wants to be a head teacher now someone else looks after the cash

2008-10-20T15:48:00.002+01:00

One of the urgent educational reforms has to the unburdening from teachers of clerical and administrative duties. As I moved up the promotional ladder in F.E., I was given more admin and less teaching. Looking at my new timetable, I saw that much of my admin was little more than simple clerical work and this was given more priority than the contribution I could make in classroom teaching for which my training and experience qualified me.

In a French school, the head of the school is head of scholastic activities, another manager, the Intendant, looks after finance and administration, answerable to the headmaster.

Today’s article in the Times written by the paper’s very perceptive education editor, tells of the benefits when English schools have changed to this system.

Alexandra Frean writes:

The end of the school leadership shortage is in sight as a new generation of business managers takes the pressure off head teachers, research suggests.

A survey by the National College for School Leadership reveals a big increase in teachers who want the top job, improving the prospects for the recruitment of head teachers in England over the next decade.

More than 151,000 teachers said that they aspired to headship, up 9 per cent from last year's figure of 138,000. Ambition is strongest among those under 29. Nearly half (44 per cent) aspire to lead a school, up from just over a third (37 per cent) last year. The findings come after growing concern that schools could face a demographic time bomb in the staff room with up to 55 per cent of head teachers due to retire in the next ten years.

Steve Munby, chief executive of the National College for School Leader¬ship, said that the survey findings, seen exclusively by The Times, suggest¬ed that teachers were accepting that the traditional image of the "hero head", who managed everything in a school from hiring staff to ordering books, was outdated.

In particular, Mr Munby said that schools were increasingly willing to appoint business managers to their senior leadership team, to share the burden of financial, administrative and procurement work; site manage¬ment and personnel issues.
This was leaving heads free to con¬centrate on teaching and learning, and in the process making the job more attractive and fulfilling. "The findings tell a very different story from what we have heard in the past. More people than ever in the profession want to be a head. There has been a cultural shift taking place. Schools are now looking at models of school leadership that are more manageable than in the past," Mr Munby said.

There are an estimated 8,100 bur¬sars or business managers in schools in England, up from 4,040 in 1997. Six out of ten secondaries and one in eight primary schools have a business man¬ager on their leadership team. Primary schools not big enough to employ their own business manager often shared one between a group of four or five.
School business managers were able to make huge cost savings, Mr Munby said, often paying several times over for their own salaries, which can range from £28,000 to £60,000.

Research from the University of Hull suggested that, on average, school business managers in the primary phase can generate the equivalent of £60 per pupil per year in additional funding and efficiencies.

A separate study from the management consultancy McKinsey found that school business managers trained by the National College for School Leadership can save up to a third of the time spent by head teachers on work and that they can reinvest up to 5 per cent of the school budget from the efficiency savings they generate.

Mr Munby said that the college, established by Tony Blair to improve school effectiveness, had created a number of school business manager qualifications to help those wanting to switch from the commercial sector.

He said that the college had seen a significant increase in inquiries from middle-ranking professionals in the finance sector who had lost their job as a result of the credit crunch. "I suspect that a lot of these people will want to do a job that can make a positive difference to society. The role of school business manager will be perfect for many of them," Mr Munby said.

He was convinced, he said, that the existence of school business managers was instrumental in increasing the number of teachers aspiring to be heads, particularly among younger teachers. "The perception that there is more support for head teachers is making teachers keener on the job," he said. Among those who aspire to headship, 67 per cent agreed that "a lot" of support was available to heads, up from 53 per cent in 2007.

"The challenge we face in recruiting heads is huge, but these figures show that we are moving in the right direction," he said.

Written by Alexandra Frean Education Editor 20th October 2008

Three letters in today’s Times highlight how state education benefits from the private sector

2008-10-14T20:43:00.002+01:00

These letters to the Times (14th October 2008) give very cogent reasons why private alternatives to State education are desirable.

1) When the politically correct LEAs have destroyed personal and academic discipline, an escape from their monopoly is essential. Not all parents want to send their children to schools where the Educational Authority and the Head have ruled that it is an infringement of a child’s human rights if you do not allow the pupil to tell the teacher to f*** off.

2) People who pay school fees at private schools pay them a second time in their taxes and subsidise the state system.

And I want to add:

3) If the left could overcome its doctrinaire bigotry, the cooperation between both sectors could bring mutual benefits.

The survival of fascist politics in Austria and Italy

2008-10-14T15:58:00.004+01:00

The death of Jörg Haider has cast a light on the survival of fascist politics in Austria and Italy

In the article in the Times of the 14th October Richard J. Evans, Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge, reveals the political and religious mindset of the countries that gave birth to Fascism and World War 2, showing that it survives largely unrepentant. Read the readers' comment that follows to remind ourselves that if we go on to class contemporary opposition to multiculturalism and mass immigration with the ethnic suppression and extermination of the Nazi era, we have lost all sense of proportion. I would never assume such naivety in a Cambridge professor.

Health and Safety dictates create a cruel society

2008-09-25T21:25:00.003+01:00

David Vance on the Tangled Blog asks if you think that a culture of risk aversion is creating a cruel society. He quotes an adviser to Gordon Brown, Baroness Neuberger, who says that it is. She claims that as a result of these new social dictates, instead of showing kindness, people prefer to do nothing for fear of being sued.

David Vance analyses whose fault it is that Health and Safety rulings have been allowed to curtail our freedoms and prevent the normal spontaneous expressions of humanity towards our fellow citizens

Shadow Education Minister attacks new diplomas

2008-09-21T21:24:00.003+01:00

In my previous post, I expressed relief that the new School Diplomas had been spared the negative rubbishing which is the stock in trade reception given to every new project in British public life. I spoke too soon because the Shadow Education Minister, on the 20th September made an unhelpful intervention. He undertook to repeal one aspect of the reforms in the new Diploma system.

The Times reported:
The new school diplomas in humanities, languages and sciences would be scrapped by a Conservative government. Michael Gove, the Shadow Schools Secretary, said that the 14 work-based academic diplomas created by Labour undermined A levels.

There is certainly political capital to be gained in initiating a media hullabulloo about the scrapping of the so-called "Gold standard of "A" levels. Tony Blair, with typical spineless expediency, backed away from educational reform at the last barrage from this quarter.

The Tories should be supporting the introduction of the new Diploma courses with great enthusiasm, because they free the academic sector of 16 to 19 studies from the need to accommodate students with different gifts and interests, who had previously found no other avenue of educational progression. The greater differentiation of educational opportunities, will permit the restoration of the traditional demands of the academic disciplines compromised by these recent pressures.

But Mr Gove, for his own self-respect if nothing else, should not assume that this implies a a last ditch defence of "A" levels in their present shape. These have got to be reformed in accordance with strict modern educational principles and these have already been hammered out for the new Diplomas.

We are not talking about changing the content of "A" level subjects. These are organisations of learning which have been developed over the centuries. As a French teacher, I shall look forward to the classics of literature being restored to their pre-eminent place and with regard to the language work the restoration of pride in grammatical accuracy. We will provide universities with students who are ready for true university education.

The reform offered by the Diploma structure is in the system of 16-19 studies, not in the content of subjects. For a serious politician to exploit this misunderstanding would be totally reprehensible. The "A" level system is not the Gold Standard of British education, it is one of its major and most long-lasting problems and is accepted as such by 90% of educationists.

To show how long people in education have been grappling with this problem I will quote from the DASTE thesis that I wrote in1978. I do not approve of people who quote from themselves, but this is to show the longevity of this problem:

The unacceptable narrowness and over-specialisation of the traditional Sixth Form Curriculum

This problem is concerned with the academic sixth form curriculum. Twenty five years ago, the traditional three divisions of the sixth form into classics, sciences or modern subjects seemed to represent the three alternative paths along the timeless organisation of knowledge through the ages.

Hallowed in public schools in previous centuries, these routes led to similarly organised university departments and particularly to those of the academically elite ancient universities. This education would ultimately lead to qualifications which would have the respect of the whole community and prepare those who succeeded for leading roles in all aspects of the country’s public life.

Now this sixth form curriculum is strongly questioned on two counts:

1. The first objection, which is rapidly achieving consensus in educational thinking fears that the curriculum from sixteen, confined to just three subjects is too narrowly specialised.

2. The second objection undermines the whole validity of this education. It is claimed that this education no longer represents a relevant preparation for life in modern society.

Ongoing efforts to broaden the sixth form curriculum

Concern about the premature specialisation in British sixth forms led the Schools Council to devote 12 years work in the study of a broader sixth form curriculum. Since 1966 the Council had accepted that:¬

1. The growing size and ability range of the sixth form makes curriculum reform necessary.

2. Less specialisation and broader study in the sixth form was desirable.

3. Subject specialisation should be made as late as possible to keep different career opportunities open.

In 1972 the Butler/Briault proposals were made for a split level, five subject 18 plus exam. The blue-print for this curriculum was published by the Schools Council in April 1978 (Working Paper 60). The Council proposed that the pupil should be able to opt to study a sixth form subject to either of two levels:¬

1. N:level: At this level the teaching would concentrate on the essential core of skills and knowledge in the subject. These studies would provide the basis for more advanced study later if. the pupil wished.

2. F levels: would offer the extension of N levels towards an advanced study. The Council talk of the pupil now being expected to show greater understanding, requiring a more mature handling of ideas and using higher intellectual skills.

In accordance with these proposals a pupil would normally study three subjects to N level and 2 subjects to F level. Having studied four-subjects in his first year, the pupil would not be expected to make his or her choice of the two subjects to be studied to the higher F level until the final term of the first year. As a result specialisation would be postponed.

The split level subject format came in for strong criticism from those who felt that the idea represented an unnecessary compromise to a strong lobby of university and school teachers who would not accept any severe reduction in specialist work.

No exams under the new curriculum are envisaged until 1988; some will note ruefully the speed of curriculum reform in this country where 22 years of deliberation can be thought over hasty.

Ensuring that the new school diplomas are a good measure of achievement

2008-09-18T19:17:00.005+01:00

This article in the Times of 19 SEP 08 explains how an independent body will oversee the standards of the new Diploma exams.

As I have long been an advocate for diploma style reform in the British educational system, I have been waiting with bated breath to see how the feral press would rubbish the new educational development. Two columnists in the Times had a go at it, but Times Education Editor and her staff know better and their contributions are positive. The present article appeared in the business section of the Times and clearly disproves that the introduction of Diplomas will destroy educational standards

Number of part-time students doubles - Times Online

2008-09-18T19:17:00.002+01:00

Alexandra Frean tells us: The numbers of part-time students enrolling for a first degree has more than doubled since 1997 to 201,145, compared with an increase of just over 20 per cent for full-time undergraduates to 1.1million, according to the annual trends report from Universities UK.

Read the Times article

My comment:

With a nationwide provision, sufficient funding and major incentives for the participation of employers the growth of the part-time study sector of Higher Education would be spectacular.

Look to the U.S. for a lesson in listening to the people

2008-09-08T21:39:00.002+01:00

After her return to Britain from the States, Janet Daley of the Daily Telegraph is struck with glaring clarity by the failure of democracy in this country. Our politicians and pundits give themselves the absolute right to tell the people what they are allowed to think, but in the United States where democracy still survives, they could not get away with it. Read this brilliantly perceptive article.

I would comment that America has not had the ten years of Blairite theocracy when the “right minded” ruled with a contemptuous detachment from the will of the native population - and we are told that a lot of people want him back!

Britain 2028: we need ten new cities, please for new immigrants- Times Online

2008-09-04T20:31:00.003+01:00

Camilla Cavendish writes a brave article in view of the denial of the Times editors on immigration. She says that our approach to immigration is unsustainable. We must either cap numbers or introduce a tough guest worker scheme. The huge increase in our immigrant population has been the result of the deliberate policy of the Labour government:for example in 1997 the abolition of the Primary Purpose Rule removed the restriction that required applicants to show that they were not just marrying to enter the UK. In 1998 the abolition of embarkation controls ended any effective record of who came in and out. In 2002 the number of work permits was doubled. In readers' comments JohnW of Oldham, writes: "Another solution would be to ask the British people what they want. after all this is a democracy...but that is not going to happen is it, there is no gain for our political masters in referenda. However when things really hit the fan, and they will, the people will have their say."

In a previous post I said that a parliamentary opposition with any self confidence would would be careful to speak to the electorate of Labour's policy of mass immigration and give them the credit for it that they claim.

THE ROLE OF PERFORMANCE TARGETS IN THE MADHOUSE IN WHICH WE LIVE.

2008-09-03T20:54:00.002+01:00

A letter in today’s Times gets me going on about performance targets again. People can ask what can be wrong about them as they are measures that give an insight how efficiently a certain area of work is being carried out. That’s the theory and it makes good sense but the last ten years have shown how disastrous the application of such targets is in the real world. When a small criterion becomes the public rating on which salaries and careers are judged, this becomes the sole focus of attention and the wider area of activity is neglected and distorted by pointless rituals to get ticks in the right bureaucratic box.

Millions of patients go through a ludicrous pantomime of frantically ringing their GPs for an appointment in early morning in a scramble to get an appointment that day. If they fail they have to try again on the following mornings. It is impossible to make future appointments because that would show on the performance sheets of the practice that they had failed to offer an appointment on the same day.

A policeman is called to a house where a heated family row is taking place. At length he manages to calm the participants, gives a stern warning to all the parties involved and only leaves when he is sure that his lesson has been learned. He leaves the family to get on with their lives. On return to the police station, he reports on the incident and he is told to go back and make charges against one or more of the parties for violent threats issued in anger. This will give the police a number of extra ticks to be entered in their performance charts. By doing so they will reignite the old issues, risk the break up of the family and give officers hours of work with no possible justification. As in all such cases it is not a human intervention in our lives but a dreadful mechanical bureaucratic tyranny.

In a letter to the Times a sitting Justice of the Peace, confirms an earlier report that police cautions and on the spot fines are leaving the courts with nothing to do. Unfortunately this has more to do with performance target culture than with justice.

Rod Liddle describes the mugging of Sir Ian Blair by his own politically correct brigade

2008-08-31T12:09:00.004+01:00

Rod Liddle describes in the Sunday Times of August 31, 2008 how in a twist of supreme irony the Metropolitan police commissioner, is now hopelessly condemned by the political correctness he himself instituted in his police force.
Sir Ian Blair has been taken to an employment tribunal by his assistant commissioner, Tarique Ghaffur, who claims he has been the victim of racial and religious discrimination. The columnist defines a leading principle of Politically correctness:

A racist incident is any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person.

That’s now the law of the land, enthusiastically supported and prosecuted – when it comes to other people – by Sir Ian. Tarique thinks it was racist; ergo, it was racist and Sir Ian is about to be hoisted by his own petard.

THE DEBATE ON THE DESIRABILITY OF FAITH SCHOOLS

2008-08-29T23:25:00.002+01:00

A.C. Grayling, professor in philosophy at Birkbeck University of London, comments on a case in a Manchester courtroom, where a Shia Muslim was found guilty of child cruelty because he made two teenage boys take part in a self-flagellation ritual using a whip made of knife blades. See “Religion and its mortifying history”

He points out that self-inflicted suffering is a characteristic of all “religion of the book” with the possible exception of Judaism, although this too requires male genital mutilation in the form of circumcision.

Grayling maintains, nevertheless, that it is the right course to leave adults to do what they like in private - providing it does not harm the unconsenting. However, the children should be left out of it, both from the believing and self inflicted suffering, until they can make a free and informed decision for themselves.

The main thrust of the Professor Grayling’s argument is that this is a principle that should be applied in our educational system to the acquisition of religion. He sees no justification for teaching children false or weird beliefs as fact, until they are of an age to make a free and informed decision for themselves.

My comment is firstly my awareness that Professor Grayling is leading a debate about the desirability of Faith Schools. Although I value my family’s Anglican tradition, which is part of me and my outlook, as an educationist, I totally support his viewpoint. I argue passionately for freedom of choice in education, but that does not imply choice of an exclusive social grouping in any state funded school and choice of one exclusive thought system to be taught, that cannot be analysed or questioned.

THE GCSE EXAM IS TO ADAPT TO THE CHANGING NEEDS OF THE SCHOOL POPULATION

2008-08-29T21:24:00.004+01:00

VERY INTELLIGENT PROPOSALS FOR THE REFORM OF THE GCSE EXAMS
The Times reported that under far-reaching reforms, set out yesterday, teenagers could take GCSEs early and have a year without examinations before starting A levels. See "Taking GCSEs bit by bit"

Greg Watson, chief executive of OCR said that “The GCSE is now an important staging post – it’s a stepping stone rather than the school-leaving certificate it was 20 years ago. ..... Having units lets people build up in their own time..... This would free up time for the last three years of school [to be used] either as a broader curriculum or to concentrate on A levels.

My comment is that in educational matters, at least, the government is showing clear vision and is moving forward with quiet resolution. The Diploma reforms mean that there are many new educational avenues opening up in the post 16 sector. The one year gap will allow puils the opportunity to taste and fully assess these opportunities. The new styled GCSEs will reveal aptitudes and interests to mark out the choice of future educational direction to pupils.

A common sense ruling from lawyers - for a change!

2008-08-02T03:38:00.002+01:00

Would you believe that a British court could make such a sensible decision?

Bouncy castle ruling

A couple who had been found liable for an accident on a bouncy castle that left a boy brain-damaged have won their appeal. Sam Harris, now 13, of Spalding, Lincolnshire, suffered a broken skull when a boy kicked him while doing a somersault at a party in 2005. The Court of Appeal ruled that Timothy and Catherine Perry, of Strood, Kent, had acted with reasonable care and it was a freak accident.

If it is established that there can possibly be such a thing as a freak accident, personal injury lawyers are going to lose a fortune.

Energy policy- another Labour government failure

2008-08-02T03:24:00.002+01:00

Because of all the politically incorrect problems of providing adequate resources for the country's energy requirements, the Labour government has done much too little, much too late. An authoritative letter in today's Times tells it all:

Sir, The scale of Labour's failure and lack of direction on energy policy since 1997 can and should be laid bare in light of spiralling energy prices and the tragic likelihood of six million households facing fuel poverty by Christmas (report, July 31).

Since 1997 there have been seven Labour energy ministers who between them have produced three contradictory energy White Papers, which have categorically failed to prepare and encourage new and varied baseload power supplies for the future.

Since 1997 the UK has seen the construction of more than 12 gigawatts of new gas-fired power stations to generate electricity but no new nuclear or clean coal stations. The gas price is connected to the high oil price, affecting the cost of the electricity these gas-fired stations produce.

Labour's risible record on energy is there for all to see; an overdependence on gas for our electricity generation, no strategy to tackle the looming 2015 energy crisis and six million households struggling to pay their bills due to a chronic lack of energy diversity.

TONY LODGE
Research Fellow,
Centre for Policy Studies

How labour's uncontrolled mass immigration has enriched society

2008-08-02T02:57:00.002+01:00

There is a report in today's Times by the home correspondant, Richard Ford, on the numbers of foreign prisoners in British jails and the inability of the government to deal with the problem.

He tells us:
A total of 11,498 foreign prisoners were in jails at the end of last month, an increase of almost 400 in a year and more than two and a half times the number just before Labour came to power in 1997.
The Ministry of Justice figures show that 949 of the 4,505 women and 10,559 of the 78,789 men in prison are foreigners. They come from 173 countries, with the largest numbers being Nigerians, Jamaicans, Poles and Vietnamese......
Canterbury prison has been converted to hold only foreign inmates but several other prisons are now dominated by foreigners.
Foreign citizens represent 14 per cent of the total prison population in England and Wales but the proportion is even higher in some other EU states. They represent 43 per cent of the prison population in Austria, 33 per cent in Spain, 28 per cent in Germany and 21 per cent in France, according to figures given to Parliament.

In the Blair years, we would have been threatened with prison for questioning the ruling elite's contempt for the interests of the native population of this country. In blogs they can now speak out loud and this was their comment in today's newspaper:

No wonder people don't want uncontrolled immigration. Trust our politicians to let all the criminals in too. Mind you, this only happens under a Labour government. Change the government and things will improve.
judy, Liverpool, England
Harry (Exeter),
which government had the "multicultural society" as one of its aims? On which government's watch did this happen? What does it take for Labour supporters to stop blindly denying facts? Or is it still Maggies fault? Or MacMillans? Or Henry IIs?
Paul G, Portsmouth
Paul , portsmouth, uk
the problem with labour is they have a strange voting base...immigrants, the poor, civil servants, people on the dole, and the idealistic ultra rich. they have to pander to them somehow and they do so at the expense of everyone else. their voting base does not represent this country as a whole.
Matt, london, england
It would be interesting to know how many Brits there are in foreign prisons.
Ronald Evans, Adelaide, Australia
all foreigners committing crimes in this country are liable to be deported as part of their sentence, provided they have been served with a notice,which they invariably are
peter c, devizes, wessex
Ah the joys of being forced into the EU
John, Salford, England
there are a few Scottish islands which would make perfect sites for new prisons... make them run round the grounds every morning, rain or shine... tell them they can't have Sky TV because there's no signal... have to catch a Ferry to make an escape...
paulc, gloucester,
If only we could go back in time 30 years and amend the immigration laws to only let in those able to make a meaningful economic contribution to our country. Unfortunately that is impossible and we must now live with the disastrous social consequences of suicidal Liberal muddle-think.
Simon Holly, London uk,
No doubt Mr Brown will try and find a way to massage these figures and put my tax up to pay them all having sky TV in their cells.

Only in the once Great Britain
mark, Leeds,
This travesty is NOT a result of Labour incompetence, it is the result of the multicultural agenda of inviting all and sundry to share in the largesse, no matter what the consequences.

There are about 600 murder victims of this policy. Who's next?
Harry Bergeron, Exeter,
Oh and and these the foreigners that the Govt does not know came in, and that they swear blind are contributing to the economy ?. This Govt's incompetence is disgusting, and all they seem to do is argue over which one of the idiots should be PM and of course how much expenses they are allowed .
alex, london, uk

.

THERE IS NO HOPE FOR THIS COUNTRY WHILE NO POLTICAL LEADER HAS THE COURAGE TO TAKE ON THE FERAL BRITISH MEDIA

2008-07-09T22:24:00.001+01:00

.

The treatment of the Conservative Mayor of London by the press has given the lie to political theory that has led the Opposition to hide behind the parapet and hold its tongue, while New Labour has effectively had a free run to make the country what it is today. We were told that we had to turn our backs on our Conservative traditions to shed the image of the nasty party that the media had successfully established in their rout of the Major government. From this tactic we would calm the negativity of the media and make ourselves acceptable to them while we inoffensively re-emerged as a political force.

Well that worked while we were impotent and ineffectual. But we have seen from the Boris Johnson experience that when a Tory gets power, the media sets upon him as before with a ferocity and a relentlessness not known during the Labour administration, when major figures have successfully weathered the storms of media clamour and scandal.

The Blogs are aware of this worrying issue more than any part of the national press.

In his blog of the 9th of July, Nick Fealty makes the point on his Telegraph site that:
“If Cameron wants to build his bottom up project, he will need to fight a few bruising battles for his right to behave differently from the way the press want him to.”

David Cameron must take on the feral press

Mass Immigration. Give credit where credit is due.

2008-04-19T20:55:00.001+01:00

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This week we have heard senior government ministers seeking to explain the benefits of mass immigration. It is very necessary that they should do so as it was their deliberate policy, carried out without consulting the electorate, using their control of the media and the police to intimidate the native population into silence. No-one disputes the sole responsibility of the Blair regime.

When talking about immigration, therefore, we should give credit where credit is due and be careful to say: "THE LABOUR POLICY OF MASS IMMIGRATION". Anything less would be base ingratitude.

This essential detail would serve to make clear what a vote for Labour means for the native people of this country

Immigration and Policing

2008-04-18T21:18:00.004+01:00

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Do not vent anger on ordinary police officers for the cover up on Mass Immigration and Policing
Having read the pamphlets of the BNP and UKIP that have come through the door, I can understand why the Labour politicians needed to defend themselves from the disturbing facts that were likely to emerge from the meeting with police chiefs to discuss the escalating strains of policing caused by Labour’s deliberate policy of mass immigration.
It was blindingly obvious that the unauthoritative statement from a few senior officers was pure spin at the government’s behest. What was sinister was the way it was reported in many sections of the media as a statement of fact. It is unthinkable that so many seasoned reporters were unable to make the distinction. The only possible conclusion is that, even after the departure of the Blairs, partisan deception is accepted as a respectable tool of politics.
This low device has caused a lot of anger. I have been saddened to see this directed against ordinary police officers. Those that I know in the areas of concentrated immigration know the true scale of the problem and share the concerns of their fellow citizens. The senior officers who do the politically correct talk are the redundant bureaucrats in charge of the paperwork and the malleable stats, whose promotion came from their transformation into ineffectual social workers.

The Blog “A Tangled Web” gives a very lucid and concise exposition of the contrast between the government spin and the true facts that emerged from the real experience of police forces involved.

Link- SHILLING FOR CRIMINALS

The helplessness of the British people in the face of uncontrolled violence

2008-04-13T22:21:00.003+01:00

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In the Sunday Times of April 13, 2008, the guest columnist, Eleanor Mills, described the following incident, when she made a daytime bus journey from the centre of London:

At half-term I was on a bus with my five-year-old daughter…… The bus was packed, around us were a friendly posse of young people of all races, bantering, cracking jokes, smiling. I felt happy - when the capital’s mad melting pot works, it’s great.
Suddenly there was a kerfuffle among the packed-in bodies by the doors. From the shouts, it seemed that a middle-aged white guy had stepped on a young black man’s foot. The bus stopped and as the doors opened, the young guy started punching the older man in the head. He wrestled him off the bus, kicked him to the ground and left him there. Calmly he got back on the bus.

Silence fell. My daughter looked at me anxiously. I hugged her and whispered not to worry, but when I looked up I inadvertently caught the thug’s eye. “What you f****** looking at?” he yelled. I cast my eyes down quickly, glad that there were many bodies rammed in between me and him. No one moved, said or did anything. We all tried, desperately, to mind our own business. The bus continued on. About three stops later he got off. The chatter resumed as if nothing had happened.

I don’t think that bus was full of cowards. We were just realists…….. The reality of the level of violence among a particular subsection of society is such that sometimes it’s just not safe to intervene any more. I didn’t want to be a hero if death could be the consequence. I just wanted to get home from a day out with my daughter with both of us in one piece. Like everyone else on that bus.

When I last saw Gordon Brown questioned about the public perception of rising crime, he merely replied with the spin of his notorious predecessor that statistics showed the British people to be wrong in this view.

By our votes in all future elections, we have to assert that what we see is what is happening and that we will not put up with it any longer.

IMPORTANT EDUCATIONAL CHANGES ARE CREEPING IN

2008-04-09T20:41:00.007+01:00

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My blogs are often about education as teaching has been my life, but also because I became engrossed in educational theory in the last years of the 1970s when I wrote a dissertation on a unified system of education for the 16s to 19s - which was then not thought of.

In these final years – perhaps months – of my life, I have the quiet, private satisfaction of seeing these principles becoming established as national policy. However the changes have to be introduced in a very low-key way, because, in this negative, hypercritical society in which we live (see my earlier blog ) the most ill-informed and destructive rubbish of all is hurled around in public discussion of education.

A change in the GCSE system that embodies one of the basic principles of necessary educational reform was announced in the Times yesterday (see
Second-chance exam ‘dumbs down’ GCSE

As a Times reader helpfully points out this development was presaged by an earlier Times article see
New GCSE: bite-sized exams and no coursework

It will be seen that Nicola Woolcock , who wrote yesterday’s article serves up details of the proposed changes with accompanying negatives and the title is dismissive, in spite of the quotation marks.

I respect the educational staff of the Times, but I have felt the need for the benefit of my personal understanding of this new development to re-package both articles separating the facts from the reported comments and criticism and adding my own verdict on each point. I know that it is not realistic to expect anyone else to read such a lengthy piece!

The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), which published the new GCSE criteria in December 2007, said that officials expected modular or “unitised” exams to be available in all main subjects.

The new modular structure for GCSE
Students will study subjects broken down into separate units. They will be assessed on their understanding of the units, when ready, at different points across the two-year course rather than just sitting exams at the end. Up to 60 per cent of the qualification will already have been completed before the end of the two years

The new rules apply to 28 GCSE subjects, including history, geography, classics, law, engineering and languages. Maths and English and will be reviewed in 2008.
Student performance will be judged by these modular examinations or by “controlled assessments”.
The controlled assessments will be supervised under strict conditions at school. Although pupils will still be able to consult the internet and other source material, teachers will be on hand to ensure that work is suitably referenced and not simply copied.
Resits
Pupils will be able to retake GCSE modules to improve their grades if they are unhappy with their marks

The end of the use of coursework for assessment purposes
Coursework will end in most subjects

The next stage set in December 2007
The QCA announced that they had asked the exam boards to draw up detailed courses.

The first exam board proposals (April 2008)
This week, the Times reported the proposals of a major examining board to reform their examinations to meet the demands of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority
A flexible” GCSE in 43 subjects was proposed yesterday by the OCR (Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations) awarding body and will be introduced next year, if approved this summer.

The criticism and comment quoted in the two Times articles:

1) This is a process of dumbing down.
There is absolutely no justification given for this headline. What is being changed is the organisation of the exam not the content. The QCA have given a specific undertaking that exam standards will be maintained under the new system.
In fact this reform has made assessment more honest by removing the option of coursework, which previously allowed pupils to submit work written by some-one else

2) Young people can be motivated by clocking up credit as they go along. (Alan Smithers)
This is a major recommendation for the new system.

3) It will make it easier for students to record a good performance as they can repeat an exam.
This absolutely true and absolutely desirable. In the time between the first and second exam the student has gone through an extra process of learning and that is the purpose of education – not to catch the student out.

4) The pupil’s true abilities are harder to assess after a repeat exam
This sounds like pure nonsense. If the purpose of schools is to test raw ability, we should close our schools.

5) It will make exams less stressful.
This is true and totally desirable. Teachers have all known distressing cases of exam stress. A student can have an off day. By sheer mischance the paper on one day can be unfavourable. Sensitive parents will welcome the reduction of the stress of exams. The single three hour trial which determined a person’s career and social valuation for life was a gratuitous, sadistic imposition of an antiquated mindset.

6) Schools which choose this over the usual option, will have pupils who do better, giving the school a higher place in league tables.

Very right too! Schools which do not change to this system do not have the best interests of their pupils at heart.

7) Modular exams turn the subjects into bite-sized bits, rather than a rounded idea. (Alan Smithers)

If this were to be true the change would be in total conflict with one of the basic principles of current educational reform. This aim is to make the curriculum more accountable so that we know what exactly has been learnt. Through this, it is possible for courses to fit together to achieve a new coherence with respect to educational aims and the student’s personal aspirations.

To sum up, this curriculum development should be welcomed without reservation.
David Y.

POSTSCRIPT
A letter to the Times from a teacher, April 10th 2008

EXAMS AND LEARNING
Modular GCSE courses give students a thorough knowledge of the syllabus

Sir, I taught the AQA GCSE in modular maths at a further education college for the last ten years of my career (report, April 8). My experience was of students gaining a more thorough knowledge of the syllabus than with the single end-of-course exam.
With the first module exam ten weeks from the start of the course, most students kept up with the work from the start and, because the amount was manageable, revised each topic thoroughly. Success provided an incentive to continue in the same way. The option to retake a module meant that instead of accepting a low pass mark and never learning some parts of the syllabus, students would put in the extra work to master any module in which they did poorly and resit it to increase their grade. Result: not a dumbed-down GCSE, but more learning taking place and increased student self-respect and satisfaction.
Gillian Newton
Salisbury

Milliband offers a new direction to Labour

2008-04-04T21:26:00.004+01:00

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There was a good article in today’s Times by David Milliband proposing a new departure for Labour party policy and turning his back on the out of date policies of 1997. How brave!

For me the idea of casting out the Blair theocracy with its ladles of guilt for the native population and their oppression at the hands of the swelling legions of the politically correct seemed like the promise of a new dawn in politics. Surprisingly for me the comment that was printed afterwards was totally hostile.

Read the article at

New Labour (1997 model) is now so old-fashioned

I wrote my own reply to plug one of the educational bees in my personal bonnet. Only one or two people stray onto this blogsite -although my Georges Brassens site has numerous visitors-. If you read my following comment, I can assure you that it is for your eyes only.

This is a very brave article. I am sure that many of his Labour colleagues will be uncomfortable about a number of his ideas, but the world of politics seems a much more civilised place when political policy debate can be conducted with such moderation and commonsense.
My views are right of centre but I find little to disagree on. David Milliband will do us a service if he provokes the Tory leadership to clarify in return what they stand for.
It is possible that this will reveal embarrassing gaps.
Milliband’s mention of interschool cooperation to ensure equal opportunities for all pupils is a case in point. He talks of schools organised in a chain under a Super-Head. This should be a Tory idea as it will allow the participating schools to pool their resources for the specialised areas of the curriculum and initial school allocation that causes so much stress will become an irrelevance.
The debate about school consortiums dates back at last two years and the Times educational staff have kept us well informed. One suspects that Conservative educational spokesmen have not yet cottoned on!(End of my comment)

Footnote to any accidental visitor
If you are male and enjoy the delights of true femininity, watch Carla Bruni singing “Fernande” on my Brassens website.

The hypercritical hell of modern Britain

2008-03-31T15:51:00.004+01:00

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A culture of hypercriticism is bringing misery to schools -Melanie Reid

In her article in today's Times, Melanie Reid tells how the popular and apparently devoted head teacher of a small rural primary school was found dead in a remote area, in an apparent act of suicide. In the week preceding her death, two school inspectors came to visit for five days. At the end of their visit, the inspectors told her verbally of their criticisms. If it was suicide, she is not the first teacher to succumb to the modern culture of hypercriticism, but simply the most recent.

Melanie Reid goes on to extend this experience to the destructive negativism of modern life in Britain:
This savage ethos does not end with education. Profoundly, this is what lies behind so much misery in our overinspected, fault-finding, glass-half-empty way of life. A hypercritical approach, we now believe, is the only way to achieve. Hence the vicious cycle of impossible standards, false expectations and the communal sadism of beating up those who fail to reach them.

Read this article:
Are schools being inspected to death?

I was shocked to read in many of the comments that followed a complete dismissal of this important analysis of the lamentable state of Modern Britain. I therefore appended my own comment as follows:
It is depressing to read how much of the comment that follows this carefully reasoned article is hostile and sometimes vehemently so.

In this dictatorship by the self-righteous, of which Tony Blair was the pinnacle, we are told constantly what to do by anonymous holders of office, who have an absolute right to pass judgment on us. The poor mug who seeks to live a life and do a job counts for little. Critics and rubbishers are supreme.

The School Inspectorate is a typical example. Of course schools should be inspected. Inspectors are former teachers who have the advantage of comparing teaching practice over many schools but who have the disadvantage of only a fleeting visit and of assessments made through mountains of impenetrable paperwork. As a result their snapshot verdicts may be completely off target. In each case there should be a counter-report by the school and staff, granted equal authority.

And authority is the crux of the problem. No official should decree the education of our children. This should be determined by the free choice of the user. Some hope!

A Times reader who had fully appreciated Melanie Reid’s piece was Jeanne writing from Paris. She said:
The last time I visited England, I was appalled at the petty, officious bureaucratic nonsense that one had to navigate, the tendency to fault-find, and overall the acceptance of this state of affairs by the locals. How can the citizens accept it? This attitude when absorbed by children creates stupidity. When there are all these set standards and objectives, one doesn't have to think for oneself anymore.
Jeanne, Paris, France

Combating the tide of moral authoritarianism

2008-03-25T16:21:00.007Z

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In his column in today’s “Times”March 25, 2008 David Aaronovitch discusses the way in which the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill is stoking up indefensible views from certain church leaders.
See Wicked untruths from the church

Aaronovitch’s contribution is unusually frank and brave for an issue where religious loyalties and hence irrational passions are involved. He deals with the call by the Catholic hierarchy for there to be a free vote - a “conscience” vote - on the basis that, according to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor: “Catholics have got to act according to their Catholic convictions.” And Aaronovitch goes on to point out that this is not a conscience vote in the normal sense, with each person free to make up his or her mind according to freely operating individual judgement. “These are not personal convictions, they're matters of doctrine. Churches constantly change their collective minds about what God says, so what is being asked is that MPs put their Church - not their conscience - above everything else.”

A correspondent on the letters’ page also draws attention to the unacceptability of MPs obeying external rulings from authorities irrelevant to the majority of the people who elected them:

Sir, In suggesting that “Catholics in politics have to act according to their Catholic convictions” (report, March 24), Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor appears to have overlooked the fact that the primary responsibility of an elected MP is towards his or her constituents.

If personal faith or conviction is to be regarded in this way, it is essential that all those seeking a place in Parliament should declare their intentions in pre-election literature so that voters may make their own feelings clear.
Graeme Lutman

Aaronovitch notes in conclusion that every editorial in every newspaper has lined up, “almost languidly, behind the free-vote demand. But in some cases only because they assumed that the Bill will be passed. It is an easy concession to make to the religious lobby - over reproductive rights, homosexual rights, human rights - providing that you don't believe they'll win.”

This pragmatism when entering the minefield of religious controversy is understandable, but Aaronovitch ends with a warning:

“Like most of the Godless (or Godfree), I have no desire to proselytise for atheism or to persuade people out of religions that may offer them comfort and companionship. But there is a growing shrillness and unpleasantness - yes, an unscrupulousness - about the way that some of the top faithful increasingly choose to conduct their arguments. This needs to be combated because, for all their talk of conscience, what Dr Wright and Cardinal O'Brien really seem to want is to tell the rest of us how to live.”

Lord Owen analyses Tony Blair's psyche

2008-03-16T21:05:00.004Z

In an article in today’s Sunday Times, 16th March 2008, Lord Owen, the doctor who was previously a Labour foreign secretary, examines Tony Blair’s psyche during his time as prime minister. He reaches some very disturbing conclusions. Lord Owen is particularly concerned about the former prime minister’s state of mind when he committed British troops to the invasion of Iraq five years ago this week.
Click on the following link to read it:

Lord Owen on Tony Blair

This is a very important analysis and far more profound than the normal knockabout of politics. To me it is a warning about the dangers of the cult of personality that was established when the overwhelming domination of the left-wing media silenced the normal democratic opposition during the Blair years.

In a post on the 10th October last year, I had questioned how a man of totally British background had been able to transform us into a country oppressed by the alien absolutes of political correctness and had humiliated the people he represented by subjecting us to a sense of overwhelming guilt stemming from a continental religious culture and judgment system. He was a Prime Minister who apologised for his country to the world and gave away his country to all- comers in a madness of uncontrolled mass immigration. To understand this mystery , I suggested that it would be necessary to look into the then Prime Minister’s personality. As I have not been successful in making a link, I am copying the following paragraphs from my own post.
(I have a great contempt for people who quote themselves!)

A recently published book might possibly give a clue to the mystery of how Blair, born a British subject, could be so detached from the nation that he ruled. In her recent autobiography, W Clarissa Dickson Wright , one of the star duo of the BBC comedy series, “Two Fat Ladies”, gives a description of the young Tony Blair, at the time when they were both studying law at university:

"He was regarded as a poor sad thing with his guitar and his rather girlish looks, and was also considered as something of a fantasist; his story about attempting to stow away on a plane to the Caribbean from Edinburgh was a great source of amusement as -there were no transatlantic flights from Scotland back then."

The picture of Blair as an empty soul lacking a sense of direction, presents the possibility that he was captivated later by a person from a different background who gave him a total sense of conviction, while separating him from his roots. Perhaps Tony Blair developed his formidable talents before he met and married Cherie Booth. His later ideas, however, would seem to derive, to a large extent, from his forceful and opinionated wife. The instincts which guided the ten years of Blair rule can be more easily linked to his wife's mindset created by a forceful republican education in a Liverpool faith school, and the passions of a father, filled with the left-wing political allegiances of the acting profession.

The concentration of power that fell to Tony Blair in 1997 allowed him to rule in the style of an absolute Jacobite monarch. Historians of the future will, however, perhaps examine the thesis that the unhappy reign from 1997 until 2007, marked the Regency of the ruler’s wife, Cherie Booth. This idea has much more than academic importance. In the coming year, the European Constitution could be forced upon this country. This will enshrine an authoritarian alien mindset in the British institutions. The British sampled this during the Blair years and found it unbearable

Being serious about border security

2008-03-11T22:36:00.004Z

THE REFUSAL OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT TO DEFEND ITS BORDERS

A report in today’s Daily Mail tells how nine Afghan illegal immigrants, handed over to the police at the weekend were given travel tickets, put on a train and told to make their own way to a Detention Centre in Croydon. All the nine have now disappeared and melted into the uncounted, unrecorded mass of the immigrant population living in this country. Read about the farce of this incident by clicking the following link:

Illegal immigrants vanish when told to make their own way into detention.

THE POTENTIAL HORRIFIC SECURITY IMPLICATIONS

Although laughter has reverberated wherever in the world this story has been told, the laxity of national security, which the incident typifies is deadly serious. Only yesterday a reporter on a national broadsheet was confidently telling the readers that the heavy loss of life caused by three suicide bombers in Baghdad negated the effects of the army surge of General Petraeus. Hence, by this admittedly defeatist analysis, three terrorists can have the military impact of several US armies. It would be incredible if Al Qaeda had not noticed the strategic importance of the ease of lorry jumping in Britain.

THE POLICE ARE NOT BLAME

During the autocratic rule of the Blairs, when all lived under the diktat that immigration must not be mentioned, police officers learned to accept the widespread flouting of our immigration laws. If an immigrant was arrested for some offence, officers had to notify the immigration officials. At the weekend the police usually found no immigration officers on duty, as the government would not pay the staff overtime. At other times the few immigration officers available were impossibly stretched by the massive increase in their work. As a result the practice was established for the police to write the address of the nearest immigration office on a piece of paper and to tell the offender to attend there on the earliest date of opening. Both police and immigration knew that the person in question would disappear, but this was the age of Blairite spin and of the imperative to live the politically correct constructs.

THE IIMMIGRATION OFFICIALS ARE NOT TO BLAME.
As we have seen above, staffing levels in the Immigration Service were not raised sufficiently to deal with the pressure of mass immigration. The service is under-funded and under-resourced

THE GOVERNMENT IS TO BLAME
The government is to blame for the failings of the Immigration Service for the reasons given. .The government does not give sufficient priority to the all-important task that immigration officers perform. As an example – among the main facilitators of people smuggling are the lorry drivers, who can make a good living from the bribes on offer. The government does not make sufficient effort in tracking down the lorries involved and investigating the trucking firms. There have been woefully few prosecutions and the penalties may not be adequate to constitute a deterrent.

The government has made a tactical decision which is glaringly wrong by trying to stem illegal immigration with officers stationed in the interior of the country. Once immigrants have their feet firmly on British soil, the elaborate provisions of the welfare services swing into action to fix them here and extravagantly funded legal services can guarantee lengthy procedures to fight the cases of those who chose to come without legal rights.

Instead, the government’s priority should be to adequately police the national borders, to prevent immigrants from setting foot in the country. No person or vehicle should be permitted to pass that strip of border which is deemed not to be British territory if the documentation is unsatisfactory and if they raise problems with the security detectors.
Those failing should be immediately re-directed to their foreign port of embarkation as is permitted under international law.

During the last year the government has permitted us to learn of the high level of criminal immigration that has occurred with absence of border controls. It should not be complacent about the opportunities for terrorist immigration, past, present and future.

The suspension of teaching caused by Exclusions Policy

2008-03-10T19:07:00.004Z

In Conservative Home on 9th March 2008 a young female teacher described an incident in her school, when a Turkish pupil refused to turn off his mobile phone and verbally abused her. Eventually the school's exclusion mechanism had to be set in motion.

The writer of the blog, Graeme Archer, describes the incident and then reviews its educational consequences.

After Mr. Archer goes on to discuss the solutions proposed by the Conservatives, to meet the problems of such schools

Finally the readers' comments that follow express a range of reactions, mainly from Conservatives.

I have posted this as it provides a fuller picture of the thinking of ordinary Conservatives on educational matters beyond the usual sloganising about Grammar Schools.
To read the article click the following link:

The restoration of school discipline

All parents have the right to choose the right school community

2008-03-08T12:09:00.002Z

We want schools with kids like ours

In the Times Janice Turner points out that some sections of the population - Catholics, Muslims, Jews - have the right to demand the school community in which their children will learn. Middle class parents are denied the same right by bureaucrats, going to extreme lengths to frustrate them. Is this discrimination fair or acceptable?

Read her article with the following link:

Schools with kids like ours

Unafraid to repeat myself, I made the following comment:

The nonsense of school lotteries is pure Stalinism. We have the ruthless central direction, the total denial of consumer choice and the characteristic arbitrary application, with other sections of the population, who count for more in the eyes of the administrators spared their impositions. All this tells us that the gratuitous interference of local authorities in education must end.

The future lies in smaller community schools, offering freedom of choice. With bureaucrats banished they will be developed by parental and local involvement. They will not be privileged, because the specialist area of the curriculum will be organised over a partnership grouping of a number of schools, with equal access gained by ability and commitment.

These are not new ideas but we need self confidence and commitment to achieve them, freed from the dinosaurs of the past.

The failure of socialism in Sweden

2008-03-02T21:22:00.003Z

Sweden's mad quarter of a century of socialism

On 26th February 2008, Mr. Fredrik Reinfeldt, Prime Minister of Sweden, gave a talk at the London School of Economics and Political Science. The subject that he presented was: "The New Swedish Model: A Reform Agenda for Growth and the Environment"

The speech can be read in full from the Swedish Embassy:

The New Swedish Model

The passage that interested me the most was the following:

At the beginning of the 1970s Sweden also had the fourth highest GDP per capita measured in purchasing power parity. Sweden was blooming. Then came Sweden's mad quarter of a century.

Growth fell off. Unemployment rose. The quality of welfare declined. What, then, were the factors that made the Swedish model stop working?

The economic downturn that followed the two oil crises in the 1970s of course had a negative impact on Sweden. Also, the financial crises and macroeconomic shocks of the early 1990s had substantial consequences for the Swedish economy. But these shocks also affected other industrial countries. And it is difficult to argue that Sweden was particularly vulnerable to the international business cycle.

This alone cannot explain why Sweden fell from fourth place in the OECD's ranking of member countries by GDP per capita around 1970, to eighteenth place in 1997.

Instead, I would argue that the explanation lies in other factors. The vital balance between the institutions in the model disappeared and socialism swept over Swedish society.

We saw budget deficits and high inflation undermine macroeconomic stability. In many respects this was the result of irresponsible and short-sighted political actions.
We saw a sharp rise in taxes, especially on labour, together with an expansion of benefit systems that undermined the work-first principle and made it less worthwhile to work.

The education system was distorted and Swedish schools focused less on knowledge.
Changes in international competition were met with subsidies rather than reforms. Free enterprise was not encouraged; instead it was questioned.

We saw a rise in unemployment and the percentage of working-age people supported by various social benefits and subsidies rose from 10 per cent in 1970 to about 20 per cent in the present decade.

What took a hundred years to build was nearly dismantled in twenty five years.

My personal interest arises from the number of times from the 1970’s onwards, my left-wing colleagues told me with absolute dogmatic certainty that, although Socialism had run into difficulties in most Western European countries, Sweden was a shining example of a Socialist country, with a thriving economy and with social policies the rest of the world would do well to emulate.

Similarly,I was told with equal force that the Communist East German economy was the most prosperous and most stable in the world, immune from the buffeting of market forces in the Western world. The fall of the Berlin Wall, whose existence caused these same colleagues no problem, showed East Germany to be an economic basket case.

It is consoling that time writes its own history, plain for all to see. It is sad that so many prefer not to read it.

DNA Database CCTV Passports Individual Liberty

2008-02-26T21:19:00.005Z

In today’s “Times” David Aaranowitch argues the case for a national DNA database to fight crime and accuses those who oppose the idea of paranoia. It is a great relief for me to see a strong voice raised against the majority chorus of those who condemn surveillance cameras, passports and now DNA records as unacceptable assaults on our personal freedoms.
Read the article at
National Paranoia

Philip Johnston of the Daily Telegraph won a prestigious prize, in the Summer of 2007 for writing an essay about such threats to personal freedom in contemporary Britain. I was moved to anger and in a long post that I wrote in this blog on the
2nd of August. I argued that these aristocratic protests about perceived minor inconveniences to personal dignity, distracted from the real curtailment of liberty that had occurred in Blair’s Britain with the bureaucratic imposition of political correctness, with the multiplicity of laws to control our lives, the establishment of areas we were allowed to think about and the permitted scope of opinion in these areas decreed by the absolute power of the left wing media in alliance with the labour government. In contrast Philip Johnston’s own list seemed like minor irritations of little validity.

I have thought myself a lone voice since, but today I have been encouraged not only by the Aaranowitch article but by the number of Times readers who have been able to rise above received opinion. I liked in particular the down to earth comment of
S. Barraclough of Huddersfield. He answers those who have claimed in their comments that we are sleepwalking into a surveillance society, where we are constantly watched. He asks:

So? What are these people worried about, being seen by 'someone' to be picking their noses? If they knew that someone was lurking around the next corner to mug them, wouldn't they be happier to also know that a policeman was on his way to arrest him [or her, as it is increasingly becoming]. I am perfectly happy to know that someone is keeping an eye on me for my safety, as I have no intention of doing anything illegal. I am therefore suspicious of the motives of anyone who objects to MY safety being thus improved.

To give unconscious proof of the exaggeration of the opposing case, some comment linked contemporary Britain with Fascist and Communist Germany. Professor Terry Hamblin, Bournemouth rationally dealt with this:

A full DNA database for the UK would be non-discriminatory and completely justifiable. We do not have a police state in this country and giving the police the technology they need to bring villains to justice would not create one. Goodness knows the detection rate is low enough. The safeguards against '1984' are a free press, an independent judiciary and an open parliament. Only the last is in jeopardy as members seek to conceal their operations from public scrutiny. DNA not only catches criminals, it exonerates the innocent. CCTV not only deters vandals and petty criminals it helps to find lost children.

For my own comment, I chose to make a brief personal statement

If I am asked to give a DNA sample, I know that I am cooperating in a process that will save innocent people from the monsters we have been reading about all week. How pathetic I am if some notion of my personal dignity matters more to me than that.

Privileged children can excel at low-performing comprehensives

2008-02-25T21:34:00.001Z

Privileged children excel, even at low-performing comprehensives

An article by Nicola Woodcock of the Times on February 21st 2008

NICOLA’S REPORT (my summary):
Professors in education from the universities of Cambridge, Sunderland and West of England (UWE), have made a study to analyse the progress of the offspring of “those white, urban, middle-class parents who consciously choose for their children to be educated at their local state secondary, whatever the league table positioning”.
This group attended average or poorly performing schools in working-class or racially mixed areas.

Their findings were that, in these schools, they thrived academically and were often given special attention by teachers keen to improve the school’s results.

In my comment to the Times I pressed the case for the speedy extension of the School consortium movement:

MY COMMENT
These findings reflect the situation in many of the comprehensive schools in our area. To express it with the minimum of tact, the top set in each year constitutes the Grammar School stream, with motivated pupils, dedicated specialist teachers and admirable results.

Although the feature is general in different schools, it does not mean that there is equality of provision across all the schools; this varies principally with the size of academic cohort. The situation is similar to that which occurred when all comprehensives tried to run their own six forms with numbers sometimes so small that many options were not economically viable. The answer was joint cooperation with the formation of sixth form colleges.

The answer that is emerging for secondary schools is similar. Schools will cooperate to pool their resources, providing shared centres, so that pupils form viable groups in all the options, academic and non-academic. This is the purpose of the School Consortium movement.