The old [W:clematis] plant is slowly strangling the even older shed into submission; or perhaps it is the plant that is holding it up. You do not get the full flowery effect from the webcam so here are a couple of pictures….
Clematis
Himself
Why home education sucks (Part 735/B)
Apparently it is Open season on home education (whatever that is) which tells us something of the bizarre parallel universe in which home educators (whoever they are) seem to live – ever the hapless victims of oppression and discrimination. In their topsy turvy universe everything is painted in the darkest colours possible. Children do not just go to school they are “sacrificed… to daily incarceration” Home educators constantly decry the use of propaganda by the state whilst creating their own version of the [W:Black Legend] and the Big Lie; of course their version is not propaganda, their version is the truth for they have a secret gift that will lead them to a promised land.
Not satisfied with turning education into a quasi-religous cult the home educators are now conspiring with the state to turn the current freedom of parents to choose how they wish to educate their children (as enshrined in Section 7 of the Education Act) into a dichotomy between School or Home Education. This is their most sinister and pernicious act.
While presenting themselves as victims of the heavy handed state they seem to have missed the irony that they can cite the Human Rights Act to defend themselves and use the Freedom Of Information Act to gather information from officialdom. I wouldn’t be surprised if the evil/nazi/pinko/leftist/commie/fascist (delete as appropriate) government starts forcing them and their children to roam the countryside – freely.
How many people are put off educating their children otherwise than at school by all this home education nonsense? Someone should set up a database to monitor the situation.
Freedom Summer: Against The Hyperregulation Of Everyday Life
I do find most self proclaimed libertarians to be little more than self interested, [W:cherry picking], bigots (it’s what you do rather than what badge you wear that counts) whose inane ranting only distract from issues which need serious discussion but the Manifesto Club (which evolved out of the Revolutionary Communist Party) do seem to mostly avoid the silliness and tackle the serious stuff with style and wit. Their Freedom Summer should be worth keeping an eye and/or ear on.
One Love in the global village.
Long before the Interweb had been thought of [W:Marshall McLuhan] had come up with the idea of the global village which followed on from [W:Network theory] which had explored social networks and developed the idea of [W:Six degrees of separation].
Now we have Playing For Change which records a musician singing a song and takes it around the world so others can contribute to the piece.
My First Dictionary
When I log in to the administration side of the blog’s software there is a link to some other random WordPress blog. A recent link provided a link to My First Dictionary which made me laugh out loud. R is for Reticuloendotheliosis. Splendid.