Politics

It is the way of the world that are will always be winners and losers, and the winners always come up with ways of consolidating or improving their position. There is no better example of this than the current political climate in Britain. The campaigning for the General Election on May 6th is well under way, and I can't really believe what the politicians are saying with their
promises to do this and that if they get in. I'm sorry, but I have gone beyond this kind of kidology a long time ago. No politician can deliver what you want no matter which party he is in. Politicians rub their hands in glee when they win a seat in Parliament and they know that a gravy train is waiting for them at the nearest station, though now of course they have to be a little bit careful at what they claim as expenses. No, most politicians will always look at personal opportunities first, I'm convinced of it, and the constituent will always come a distant second in the priorities race. Take Labour's time in office since 1997. Don't they remind you of a watered down version of the Conservatives? I remember the time when they won in 1997 very well. I
wrote a letter to Tony Blair on my way to work on a train to Liverpool one early morning in 1995, which I didn't send in the end, going on about how our country needs a Labour government to rid of the hated Tory rule, who had proved that they don't give a shit about the ordinary working people here in Britain. The continous relevations in the tabloids about
Conservative MP's screwing their secretaries and basically just doing what they wanted, and seemingly getting their jobs back after a spot of 'gardening leave' just pissed me off so much.
But it just wasn't the content of the revelations themselves that pissed me off. It was the blantant disregard to decency and honesty, which I believe that Tony Blair and his government would adhere to, and wanted to see in politicians. I must have been quite passionate about politics or the state of the country (which really I suppose go hand in hand) during this time. I believe it must have been the accumulation of 11 years of the Tories in power that produced this frustration and vented onto my writing pad that morning. I don't feel exactly the same way now. The hope I had back in those days has long disappeared and has been replaced by a cyncism that has almost turned to apathy. Apathy must never be reached, though. It's the rock bottom of
human experience, and would surely signal the end of human civilization if it were to become compulsory. That will never happen, certainly not as far as I'm concerned anyway. When you
study history as long as I have you get a sense or feeling on what's important, or should be important. Being apathetic means that decisions are not made and making decisions is what
changes things. Indeed history is the study of human decision making. There's almost a science attached to it. What was one of Newton's laws? For every action there is an equal reaction. Well, the history books are full of actions that provoked reactions, whether equal or not. For an effective government to function there must ALWAYS be winners and losers, the 'haves' and the 'have nots'. Take employment. There can never be jobs with decent, liveable wages for all of us. It's impossible. The competion would be cut-throat, and literaly the stress and anxiety would change our personalities so much that a 'kill' or be 'killed' behaviour would prevail. Imagine a world where everyone has degrees and were highly skilled, and all competing for the same positions. Everyone wants to better themselves, elevate to the next level in wealth and social standing, but its important for our society to work if some never find their way up the ladder. Ever wonder why people do menial jobs? It's because it has been drummed into them that that's all they are capable of, which must have started at school. We are graded and assessed in school and our path in life is pretty much established there. They are needed, because others would not do it. Where would we be without shop workers, for example? Some may say that these kinds of jobs are transient, but I've seen the same people working in the same shops for years, and apparantly quite content to carry on. Not my cup of tea, but it fits into the life plan of some people. So when a politician promises to cut unemployment or create more jobs, he's really saying he's going to cut the unemployment figures down, which are highly interpretable anyway. The words and the delivery he uses are directed at the individual because it's the individual's vote he's after. Analysing the discourse of a politician is quite fascinating. Try and hear what the politician is really saying behind the words that he chooses. They are trained to say the right things, at the right times of course, especially when an election is coming up. Still, a skilled discursive psychologist could literally read his mind.

Health. This one's easy. If everyone was healthy and living longer the population would increase so much it would place enormous pressure on resources. It is a tricky balancing act. Too many ill people and the same can happen, affecting the well being of the economy. The very profitable pharmaceutical industry can't afford to have too much healthy people about, or they would not make as much money. Think about it. People smoking has been an enormous source for raising taxes for years. If everybody stopped smoking imagine the difference it would make to the budget! It's just not in their interest to help people quit. You have to wonder why after all the years and the money pumped in as to why a cure for cancer has not been found. Imagine the effect THIS would have on so many industries if ever one was discovered. I find that strange. How many times have we heard on election campaigns that promises are made to make the health service better? Every one of them! And do they? Even today the health services are in a shambles so despite the billions spent nothing has improved. So, there's another 'promise' that I won't take too seriously either. I got a chance to see the Live Sky debate last night and I encouraged the boys to see it so that they can try and see what its all about. It's Simon's first election and he didn't have a clue who he was going to vote for. I was particularly interested in what Ben's view was, 14 and still in school so not much interest at this stage of his life about the current state of the country. To my horror his first impression was that Cameron appealed to him! Then as he viewed more of the debate he soon realised that Cameron was not for him and that Brown was the one that appeared to make sense. At the end of the debate Simon, on the other hand, told me he was more confused than ever! Which is not surprising because, of course, all 3 of them were saying that they want to do the same thing, but were saying it in different ways. All 3 parties were claiming that they had the 'winning ticket' to a better Britain, but all 3 can't be right! The confusion was heightened for Simon, I think, because they were all pretty evenly matched, so not one of them came out on top, as one of the polls suggested. In hindsight it probably wasn't the ideal debate for a first time voter to be exposed to, especially as Simon has never been interested in politics before. He would rather it all go away, but his politicisation will, I'm sure, change the way he views his world from now on.

A terrible tragedy

On Monday night Ben lost one of his best friends from school. Reece Statham was killed with the rest of his family on the M6 motorway coming home from visiting his grandparents in Birmingham. It is such a terrible loss it has been headline news in the UK since. Four children and two adults lost due to the careless driving of a truck driver is the result of this tragedy. I hope the police throw the book on him. Understandably, Ben was distraught when the news was given to him on Wednesday, and he is still distraught as are many at the school. He has not been able to face going to school especially as poor Reece was in his form class as well as in many of his subject classes. Many will miss him as the tributes given and the flowers laid at his house in Llandudno show. Ben, together with a couple of friends and teachers, went to give flowers at Reece’s house this afternoon which was very brave of him, and it was good for him to confront the tragedy in his efforts to try and deal with his grief. Our thoughts are with his grandparents at this terrible time.

Tom's christening and that school!

Last week-end we went down to Suffolk to attend little Tom’s christening. It was held at the parish church of Copdock where Tracy and I were married in 1990. It was a bit weird going there again, first time since a little after the wedding, and it seemed a lot smaller inside now than I remember it then for some reason. Am I still growing! Surely not. Tom is the son of Tracy’s niece, Emma and her husband Keith. We had a great time, it was nice to meet up with family again, and Tom was a star through the whole thing. He seems to like Ben, smiling and laughing away whenever Ben was around him. Tracy’s other niece Jessica was also there with her fiancé, Alan, recently having announced their engagement. It was good to see her happy again and moving on with her life.
It was no surprise to us that our usual thorn in the side, the boys’ school, threatened the enjoyment of this happy occasion. Nothing surprises us with that place, continually getting things wrong and seemingly trying to make life difficult for us. In the past they have reported an Education Social Worker on us because I phoned the head to inform her that Ben was having a hard time going to school. I won’t reveal the specifics but it was about a month into his first year and he was having a hard time coming to terms with the situation that had developed at home. So, thinking it was the right thing to do, I informed the head teacher and said I need help as I didn’t know how to get him over this. Without any sympathy to our plight she forcibly told me that if I didn’t get him to school the following day the school would prosecute us!! This is a head teacher dealing with a parent who actually believes in education and has children who are polite and well behaved! Needless to say we took him in and he was worse than ever, despite the head of year reassuring us during the day. Ben later told us that the method he took to check on Ben was to go to his class and ask Ben in front of the whole class if he was ok! IDIOT. Of course he would say that! He didn’t go in the following day (understandably) and was reported to the ESW by the ever so helpful Mr Parry. He really showed himself up by being the head lap dog with this little incident, and I saw him in the head’s office as we were driving from the school. So much for me getting “help” from them! Luckily there was a school nurse there who helped us pull Ben through or God knows how Ben would have turned out. She was marvellous, but I won’t go to any teacher or member of the management at the school ever again. There are loads of things the boys have told us in the last 3 years of incidents that have happened which they have witnessed themselves, that would make any parent of a child in that school shudder, but perhaps all schools are like this, which if true is disturbing to say the least.
The week leading up to the trip is a typical example of the incompetence displayed on a regular basis. After writing letters to the form teachers of the boys at the beginning of the week to inform them that they had been invited to the christening, they were told to fill in a holiday form. Now bearing in mind that they were only going to be away for 2 school days, we did fill in the form anyway. We noticed that it said on the form that it was meant to be used for annual family holidays only, but hey, they know what they are doing, right? Sent it in and waited for a response. Got a letter from an assistant head to say that we need not have filled in the form and that a letter to the form teachers would be sufficient, and a reminder that it was not advisable to take pupils out of school during term time. HELLO! IT WAS FOR A CHRISTENING IN SUFFOLK! TAKES HALF A DAY TO EVEN GET THERE! What goes through these people’s minds? Do they expect us to leave the kids at home or with other relatives, while Tracy and I go down without them? Wouldn’t our relatives be wondering where they were and be upset that they were not there? So, after receiving the letter I phoned the school to sort the mess out, and that we had already written letters to the form teachers. I got told that everything would be sorted and that the boys would be registered as away due to family commitments. Finally, we can rest easy that the school knew and had recorded the correct information. Really? Too good to be true, I’m afraid! We went down by car, got booked in the hotel, and went to visit Tracy’s parents. Tracy checked her mobile and what do you know, a message from the school made at 2.50 enquiring that they were worried that Ben had not turned up to school! Ten to three they phoned! He had been missing since quarter to nine! And why were they phoning anyway? We had told them about the christening, remember?
So, I phoned again on the Monday morning to straighten things out again. When we got back they gave us more grief, regarding Simon’s EMA payments. The agony just goes on…! So, visit the blog next time to read the next hilarious chapter! What a Carry On… as

School

My kids have been back to school now for a whole week, and after a long break (longer for Simon) it's amazing that things settle down quite fast. After a couple of days of readjustment at the beginning, things have, thankfully, gone back to normal The summer is already a distant memory, and the realisation of its twilight period (darker evenings, christmas cards in the shops etc.) is starting to kick in. Ben is in a much better form class than last year, where it was the worst that teachers had seen, which says something about the general behaviour of the kids going there. Simon, being in the sixth form, was taken aback at the 'pep talk' given to them by the head teacher, who basically warned that some of them were lucky to be there and laid into those taking history as there were too many taking the subject! I, as a parent, would have liked a few encouraging words for them and congratulations for getting there, inspire them rather than drag them down. What do I know, eh?
Is this a record I wonder? Barely an hour and half into his new school, a lad was permantly excluded from John Bright School, for setting off a fire alarm. They are pretty strict on this misdemenour because of an epidemic of such incidents when the new school was started. Mind you, fire alarms were being deliberately set off in the middle of exams last summer term. I have some pretty strong views on school policies but I know that complaining and giving an opinion to those 'in charge' is a waste of breath; I've tried and it makes no difference and it just frustrates you to hell! Simon was attacked by a pupil in the middle of a PE lesson, with 2 teachers present, and the person we reported it to kept it quiet from the head for 3 MONTHS! And all the time we thought that the school were dealing with it! By the time the head did find out it was near the summer holidays, and she excluded him for just 2 weeks. The teacher who was at fault was retiring so she obviously tried to ride her time out and had no concern for Simon's welfare. This an incident that has affected Simon deeply, and for a long time was very bitter about everything. By going to 6th Form is a sign that he is getting over these experiences.

Ben's birthday today

It's Benjamin birthday today. He is my youngest son and was born in Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor. And he did go to school today (under protest!). Besides he had a humanities test and most of the class knew it was his special day! He got up extra early to open a couple of presents and a few cards, and one present arrived from Play.com on the day, which was the new Tomb Raider game on PS2. He is as I write playing on his other new game, Spiderman 3, on his Wii console.

Happy birthday, Ben!