Newnight education debate

Very interesting debate on education in tonight's edition of newsnight. Thought the Teacher that they had on underlined the problem best. A C grade in english 10 years ago was around the same standard as an A grade now and today's C grade would have only got an E 10 years ago. A drastic adjustment on standards needs to undertaken by the next administration (Ed Balls is going to do 'sweet FA' as his article in the guardian showed. The League tables here mean bugger all, the fact that we are slipping down the international league tables in English, Maths and Science is far more important.

An important anniversary

Today is an important anniversary in the history of England and Wales. It's the anniversary of the Battle of Crécy in 1346 where severely outnumbered and seemingly doomed our forces slaughtered around 14 thousand of the French for only 300 losses (both figures are historical estimates) because of the use of (predominately Welsh) longbowmen. It is also rumoured to have given birth to the famed 'V-sign', that ultimate gesture of defiance as alledgedly, the French knights had threatened to cut off the two bow drawing fingers of any archer captured so the archers waved them at the French in a symbol of defiance. As the french approached they were cut down by thousands of arrows raining on them. This tactic was also a decisive factor in the battles of Poitiers and later in the now legendary battle of Agincourt. The skill of the longbowman was also the reason that Owain Glyndwr was able to successfully stage a rebellion against English rule for over a decade (Though his men tended to use the longbow with guerrilla surprise attacks rather than conventional battles). Until the development of armour that succesfully repel these powerfully struck arrows, the two drawing fingers of a longbowman were probably the most deadly weapon in the history of warfare.

Why have I brought this up today? Well, this week we found out that our net contribution to the EU was going to increase by 60% to over 6 billion pounds (thanks Tony!) whilst the French have steadfastly refused to reform their CAP subsidies so I feel the urge to send them a little message...walk up to the Champs Elysee and flick v'd at any Frenchman I see. I may even enquire about the return of Calais and the Aquitaine while I'm there. The poiny of this story is that we never used to surrender to the cheese eating fops all those years ago, we should stop doing it now. In fact, I'd love to see an economist analyze the cost 6to our economy of leaving the EU, I honestly think we may not see an overall impact at all. So for one final flourish :-

Lol! Some days it's good to be me

I'm not one to gloat at other people's misfortunes but the news that Liverpool lost another game tonight did bring a smile to my face. I thought it was supposed to be their year? It wasn't just me that found it funny. Sir Alex Ferguson and Lord Giggs of Salford and Ely (A knighthood's not enough for him! He's always been an over-achiever!) had a good giggle too.




Oh and in politics, SNP justice minister was made to eat shit in public at Holyrood and McAvity Brown still is in hiding. Oh, and another bad poll for labour too. So I bet a few others are laughing too!

Tie me kangaroo down

Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne, Merv Hughes, Joe Mangle, Dame Edna, Kylie Minogue,Crocodile Dundee...Crocodile Dundee! Your boys took one hell of a beating!

Good old Tommy Atkins

First off, a big hat-tip to Ollie Cromwell at the Red Rag for bringing this to my attention.

As many of you will be aware, several Labour figures have been attempting to smear the head of the british armed forces General Sir Richard Dannatt because of his criticisms of the MOD's support to our troops. Their latest effort was to try and dig up some dirt on his expenses, just days before his retirement. Now, the good general is understandably miffed and, displaying the combined tactical nous of Julius Ceasar, Oddyseus and Uncle Bob (à la the Total War series of games) he has pulled a veritable flanker, publishing his expenses online and spiking our defence ministers' guns as reported in THIS article in the Telegraph. His expenses were about £5000 a year which considering part of his role involves entertaining foreign dignitaries and diplomats is remarkable. The man even shops at Lidl's for these things for christ's sake (Not that there's anything wrong with Lidl's, better fruit and veg than any of the major supermarkets and they sell Lobster at a fantastic price!).

Sir Richard is now just days from retirement after 38 years of serving this country in several theatres of war yet our government sees fit to try and sully his flawless reputation. But here's the thing, we the british public truly love our soldiers. They get sent into harms way, in the most dangerous environments of war, often under-equipped and under-manned though always with the best training in the world. We know this, they know this and yet the soldiers go anyway. Even if the country does not support the war, we back our troops unfailingly (Witness the dignified way the town of Wootton Bassett line the streets of the funeral processions for our soldiers several times a week). What General Dannatt has had the temerity to do is be honest with the public and ask the Mod for the equipment and manpower needed to do the job. So what have labour done, well, what they do best of course they've attacked and attempted to smear him. They are acting like sub-human scum. I have drafted off a letter to my MP, a junior foreign office minister explaining my feelings towards the defence secretary and his staff for their reprehensible actions.

I wonder if the General has considered a role in politics now his military career is over. Perhaps he could run against smearer inc chief Kevan Jones. I'm sure the other two major parties would give him a free run against the mendacious little shit or failing that, put the two together in alocked room for twenty minutes as a leaving present for Sir Richard.

Unlike the present government, this blog supports our troops!