What is up with car drivers or in a lot of cases, van drivers? Where does all that aggression come from? A few weeks ago a taxi drove towards me at speed on a pedestrianized roadway and then proceeded to abuse me. A few days ago I got two fingers from a white van driver who was driving in thick fog with no lights and talking on his mobile. I have recently been almost run over by a Fed Ex van driver.

Apparently a law has been passed which allows van and taxi drivers to drive however they like.

Don't news reports love stories about the weather? The main headline on on countless BBC news reports is the "Big Freeze". It is reported as if we aren't aware of it. Called me old fashioned but isn't news supposed to INFORM us? I haven't seen the historical records but I do believe that it has snowed in the UK before. It snows at least once every winter. Yes, it has generally been heavier this year but should it really dominate the news? Do they say, for example,

"Something which happens every year has just happened again in parts of the UK."

I recently watched the superb satire of Chris Morris and his show "Brass Eye" from the late 90's. It was a fantastic portrayal of news obsessed with having correspondents "on the scene" that just repeat what we have just been told by someone in the studio; the childish use of graphics to illustrate the simple points; and the journalists as actors when they do their walks to camera. If you watched it now without knowing what it was it would probably look more like the actual news that the so-called serious journalism of the BBC and others.

I am not a journalist but I simply have to look out the window to see what the news is telling me. And I would be aware that it going to cause disruption. The "mainstream" news has reached the point of self-parody. The best satirists in the world couldn't do as good a job as the news itself.

Treasury memorandum, 1945:

"We have to devise techniques for bringing influence to bear upon other countries' internal decisions."

British Government's Definition of Terrorism:

"Terrorism is the use, or threat, of action which is violent, damaging or disrupting and is intended to influence the government or intimidate the public and is for for the purpose of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause."



Tony Blair, 12 April, 1999, talking about NATO's actions in Kosovo.

"We will carry on pounding day after day, until our objectives are secured."

Jack Straw, Former UK Foreign Secretary,

"It [the crisis in Iraq] does have to be resolved, yes to deal with Iraq, but also to ensure that the authority of the international order is maintained."

Mr Murdoch on China,

"The truth is-and we Americans don't like to admit it-that authoritarian societies can work."

In a BBC report,

"An Italian man said to have a history of mental problems has been arrested."

I couldn't work out if they were talking about Berlusconi or his attacker.

I recently saw an ad by the Teacher Development Agency for new teachers. It struck me as odd as there now so many teachers who don't have a hope of finding work mainly due to the new workforce rules which allow non qualified staff into classes.

I sent them an e-mail asking for information on how much they spend on advertising. Thee figures blew me away.

They spent an unbelievable £8, 082,722.42 on advertising in several formats during 2007-2008. This represents a £500,000 increase from the previous year. That would be enough to employ almost 400 teachers. The money that is thrown at these education quangos is becoming obscene.

Out of curiosity I had a look at what sort of budget the above department has. I came across some interesting figures such as:

"We are able to provide the cost of taxi travel claimed by Departmental officials from administrative budgets for 2007-08 and 2006-07 as follows:"

2007-08 £247,738
2006-07 £268,857



"The data provided is based on rail bookings dealt with by DCSF's Business Travel Provider Carlson Wagonlit Travel. Location details are not recorded for travel using hire car and grey fleet, only the mileage is recorded.

The annual travel costs for rail travel between sites are as follws"

April 08-Feb 09 - £840,984

2007-8 - £834,433

2006-7 £1,254,536



"Details of expenditure on private sector consultants incurred by the Department in 2007-2008 is £4,863,000.00.

The expenditure recorded relates to admin costs and does not include costs that may be charged to a programme account."



"The Office for Government and Commerce (OGC) framework agreements for Organisational Consultancy ? Organisational Development Education and Children?s Services, provide rates across a range of consultancy grades including Junior Consultant, Consultant, Senior Consultant, Principal Consultant, and Managing Director/Partner. The daily rates differ for each organisation, but, across all the agreements, the range is £475 to £1900, as at April 2008."



So we are all losing our jobs because we are not "economically viable" but the department can spend almost £5 million on consultants in one year. The more I look at stuff like this the angrier I get.

With all the talk about budget restraint and belt tightening while supply teachers see their jobs fly out the window I had an interesting look at the deadweight GTC's budget for 2009-10. Read them and weep:

Registration: £4.4m

Communications - £3.7m

Regulation: £3.6m

Governanace, fee collection and administration: £3.5

Networks and the TLA: £3.4m

Policy and research: £2.5m

So that's a total of a staggering £21 million of teachers' registration fees. Of that they are spending £3.7m on "communications" which I assume means advertising etc. Then there all the other departments such as OFSTED and ESTYN, the TDA, the DfES, the Department for Children, Schools and Families, and so on. If it wasn't serious it would be funny.

'It's not torture. Pyramids can be used as a control technique... Don't cheerleaders all over America form pyramids six to eight times a year?'

Guy Womack, defence lawyer for a US soldier court martialed in the Abu Ghraib detainee abuse scandal.

"Servicing the target."

US Army term for killing the enemy.

'Shortening the list of politically sensitive individuals by means other than detention.'

Assassination of political enemies, as described by the South African State Security Council in the Apartheid era.

Paul Meyser, Lehman Brothers;

"We must shift America from a needs to a desire culture. People must be trained to desire. People must want new things before the old have been entirely consumed. We must shape a new mentality in America. Man's desire must overshadow his needs."

Edward Bernays (one of the forefathers of modern propaganda) in 1928,

"Conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organised habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in a democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of this government."

"Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way: stop participating in it. "

Noam Chomsky

Referring to the bombing campaign in Afghanistan in 2001, he said,

"The squeeze will carry on until the people of the country themselves recognize that this is going to go on until they get the leadership changed."

[The deliberate targeting of civilians is a war crime under Geneva Conventions.]

I was reminded of a quote of a US ambassador during the Reagan years when he talked about the "unpeople" of the world living "miserable lives" and therefore not important if they are the victims of our crimes.

I was thinking of this when watching the news reporting the death of 5 UK soldiers who were killed by an Afghani police officer. We had the interviews of family members and fellow soldiers. It was followed by today's news of Gordon Brown's recommitment of his intentions to keep British troops in Afghanistan. Clips from his speech were followed up by interviews with a military 'analyst' and the mother whose son is in Afghanistan. This took place on a so-called 'alternative' news channel.

The victims of crimes usually have a different view of things. What is outstanding about all this coverage is that even the concept of asking the local population for their views on what should be done in their country is unthinkable. What would we think if a country invaded the UK, killed a few thousand people in bombing raids and then discussed amongst themselves what the next course of action should be but no matter what that they should support their 'boys on the frontline'? Also you would have the President or Prime Minister of that country arguing, quite rightly, that continuing the occupation is necessary to stop international terrorism. What would we as the victims think of that?

Does anyone even realize how the Taliban came into existence? Well, they were a very disparate, small group in Afghanistan opposing a government of Noor Mohammed Taraki. His government instituted such outrageous reforms such as legalizing unions, canceling all debts of farmers, introducing progressive tax and giving men and women the chance to go to school. Even after the Soviet army left in 1989 most of the local population fought on the side of the government for another 3 years but succumbed to the seemingly bottomless pot of the estimated $6 billion war chest provided to the fanatics courtesy of the CIA. We all know what happened after that.

The "unpeople" who have a history like that might have a more relevant opinion on their own affairs if anyone bothered to report it.

I was watching some morning TV today and was watching a mouthpiece from British Airways give his thoughts on BA returning its first ever loss. He said BA was going to "reduce its cost base". That is an original euphemism for job losses, I have to admit. He then went on to proudly boast that they have shed thousands of jobs and will probably shed a lot more.

What sort of economy have we created when you can now publicly boast you are going to sack thousands of people?

The UK is plunging towards depression if it isn't there already. And yet,despite this the major political parties are racing to the bottom in announcing how many cuts they are going to make. The lunatics are definitely running the asylum. The true unemployment rate could be closer to an unbelievable 25%. This would make it on par with the Great Depression of the 1930s which lasted almost a decade.

"The example of a successful elected Marxist government in Chile would surly have an impact-and even precedent value for-other parts of the world, especially in Italy; the imitative spread of similar phenomena elsewhere would in turn significantly affect the world balance and our own position in it"

The reactionary Sydney Morning Herald "journalist" Miranda Devine has written another one of those hate mongering pieces; this time about cyclists. Not unlike some other sad people such as Jeremy Clarckson, who say stupid things in the hope of getting a reaction because they believe in a school of thought where a lot of people saying bad things about you is a lot better than far fewer people saying nice things.

It all came about when some CCTV footage was released in Australia of a cyclist riding illegally on a motor-way who narrowly escaped getting run over by an overtaking bus. The CCTV footage inside the bus then showed the cyclist who had caught up to the bus abusing the driver in a very aggressive manner.

Nobody is defending the cyclist's abusive tirade but to use this incident to then make ridiculous sweeping statements without a shred of evidence is simply spreading hate and encouraging people to be even more aggressive.

For example she says;

"The road is not there to share. Roads are built for cars. Pretending otherwise is unfair to motorists and cyclists alike."

What an ignorant statement. It also ignores points of law which says that bicycles are legal vehicles that have to obey and follow road rules.

She then continues to embarrass herself by saying that gridlock is mainly caused by bike lanes; other sports enthusiasts such as joggers and rowers are far less aggressive; there is a conspiracy to create slow, unsafe roads to force us out of cars; and that cyclists behave like "jackbooted Soviets."

Whatever she's on I think she needs to go into rehab.

"The [2004] tsunami that cleared the shoreline like a giant bulldozer has presented developers with an undreamed-of opportunity, and they have moved quickly to seize it."

Seth Mydans, International Herald Tribune, March 10, 2005.

"Direct physical brutality creates only resentment, hostility and further defiance....Interrogatees who have withstood pain are more difficult to handle by other methods. The effect has been not to repress the subject but to restore his confidence and maturity."

The world majority "often opposes the United States on important international questions," so that we must "reserve to ourselves the power to determine" which matters fall "essentially within the jurisdiction of the United States as determined by the United States."

"If certain acts of violation of treaties are crimes, they are crimes whether the US does them or whether Germany does them, and we are not prepared to lay down a rule criminal conduct against others which we would not be willing to have invoked against us."

"Among the the most elementary of moral truisms is the principle of universality: we must apply to ourselves the same standards we do to others, if not more stringent ones. It is a remarkable comment on Western intellectual culture that this principle is so often ignored and, if occasionally mentioned, condemned as outrageous."

One of today's headlines was the trial in the Hague of Radovan Karadzic. We had the pictures of weeping women and forensic scientists at sites with buried bodies, etc. Phrases like 'ethnic cleansing' were used. A quote from one of the prosecutors at the trial in the Hague is as follows:

"When you speak to a woman who tells you that 21 members of her family have been assassinated, you can easily measure the importance of this trial."

There are people with similar experiences that are from Chile, East Timor, Argentina, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Panama, Brazil, Columbia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Iraq, Palestine, Haiti, South Africa, Angola, Sudan, Uganda, areas of Yugoslavia that were bombed by NATO, Rwanda, just to name a few. Ask yourself why the people responsible for these crimes are NOT on trial.

This is just another example of the truism that war crimes are committed by 'others'. We are involved in 'conflicts', 'transitions', 'right to self defense' or 'defending democracy'.

Orwell must be having a huge laugh.

On the US war against Nicaragua,

"...a sensible policy [should] meet the test of cost-benefit analysis" of "the amount of blood and misery poured in, and the likelihood that democracy will emerge at the other end."

The choice facing the world is "stark and dreadful and inescapable: shall we put an end to the human race; or shall mankind renounce war?"

"If we secure the supplies of oil now available in the world we can do what we like."

On the introduction of 'capitalism' to Russia,

"Only a blitzkrieg approach during the 'window of opportunity' provided by the 'fog of transition' would get the changes made before the population had a chance to organise to protect it previous vested interests."

"The worst thing about communism is what comes after."

Is it me or has a law been passed that says you don't need to indicate when driving? Where I live, whenever I drive around almost ever car infront, behind and beside me doesn't bother indicating. It is excruciatingly annoying at roundabouts. Also, as a cyclist it can be downright dangerous. How much effort is required to move or lift one of your fingers a few millimeters?

I always find it ironic that many cars that do this are the ones with those painfully annoying 'Baby On Board' signs.

The other day a car almost drove into me as I was going throgh a roundabout because he didn't indicate he was turning right. He then started shouting at me that I should have known he was turning right because from his side he was in the right turning lane. Yes, that's right, stupid me, I should have known what he was doing and if we did collide and I had to tell my insurance company they would of course blamed me because I am not a psychic.

An article on the BBC website about a month ago. What astounds me is how everyone including OFSTED, GTC, teaching unions and even parents have their heads firmly buried in the sand.

How much longer can we stay in denial?


http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/england/london/8249669.stm

I think the impact constant anti-social behavior is often underestimated. I think a lot of people could relate to some of the behavior displayed on the Panorama report, even if it is far less dramatic. There is even a new term, NFH, or Neighbors From Hell which has entered the lexicon which suggests it is a common problem.

It is always the victims that have to put out. The perpetrators get visits from the council, they get warning letters, more warning letters, more visits. The behavior might die down temporarily by which time the process goes back a few steps. At a previous address I once complained about a neighbor living in a council house only to be told by the guy from the Housing Office that I was the only one complaining, implying that I was exacerbating the situation. I suggested to him that I had to work to pay a mortgage to be able to live in my house whereas my neighbor stays at home all day, bored and pays far less. Shouldn't they be even more stringent in how council tenants, in particular, behave? He reluctantly agreed.

Something else which aggravates anti social behavior is the pack mentality. A lot of this type of aggressive behavior would be reduced if people where moved around and integrated rather than 'dumped' together in area where they congregate and cause trouble. Aggressive people own their own can be far less aggressive.

Alcohol is a big factor. This country definitely has a problem with alcohol. It is obsessed with it. When some relatives from Australia came out here about 18 months ago they couldn't believe their is a chain of shops called 'Bargain Booze'. Wouldn't we be horrified if we sent our kids to get some bread and milk from the local shop called 'Crack House' or 'Opium Den' or 'Bong Joint'? Are we surprised when we see very young kids drinking alcohol when it can be bought cheaper than a soft drink? We shouldn't be.

Thee question is whether we want to get control of our communities back or not.

Watched the BBC Panorama report on displays of racism and anti-social behavior on an estate in Bristol. The displays of racism broadcast were quite disturbing but it could have been in a lot of places around the UK. I think that it is also just a part of the wider problem of what is called 'anti-social' behavior.

This type of behavior is symptomatic of the new social 'underclass' that I feel has got very little to do with wealth. Traditionally class structure was based on wealth. Working class, upper class etc. Wealth is definitely a factor in level of health and educational achievement, for instance. Class nowadays is more influenced by social or cultural factors. If the stereotypical young 'chav' won he lottery would they invest in an art collection or would they just buy more expensive alcohol?

However, from what I can tell in my job as a teacher who has dealt with a lot of kids similar to those seen on Panorama, is that we are creating a generation of unsociable, un-aspirational illiterates, who never venture further than their local and who can not even begin to understand the concept of people looking different. The ambitions of lot of kids I have seen in schools is just to get a good mobile to play with and get as drunk as possible by the end of the week. I remember watching a report on the BBC about the fake kidnapping of Shannon Mathews in Leeds lsat year. A police officer was talking about the first line of enquiry in a kidnapping case is to speak to members of the immediate family. He said that this usually involves about 20 people. In this particular case he said it involved about 200 people!

Most behavior is learnt and we have to break the cycle. There are a many reasons that contribute to dysfunctional classes and behavior. I believe a major culprit is the educational system. Most schools only concentrate on the students who get them good exam results. Schools should ultimately be places where we try to improve people and equip them with the skills to be better people. They fail miserably in my opinion. Most teachers do a fantastic job but the educational system is not fit for purpose.

Another culprit is the economic rationalism (or the economic irrationalism as I like to call it) that's been in place since Thatcher and continued with even greater gusto by the Blair/Brown partnership. Their economic policies have destroyed much of the social fabric of the country. So much so that UNICEF ranked the UK bottom of 222 European countries in the quality of childhood in 2007. Another survey last year had similar results.

There is an element of moral panic in all of this but to say it is all a fabrication is also wrong. Racism an anti-social behavior didn't just arrive yesterday. The football hooligans and National Front thugs didn't disappear so is it any wonder we have a lot of ignorant thugs standing in groups in front of shops and on street corners?

Interesting comments from Terry Leahy, Chief Executive of Tesco, about the state of the UK education system. Whatever his motives, he is right in pointing out that apart from the 'elite' in schools whose job it is to better the exam results statistics we are churning out a generation of an illiterate underclass.

I recently worked on a temporary, part-time basis for a literacy department in a local college and during my induction they told me that around a staggering 20% of young people have primary school level literacy and numeracy skills. As a teacher I could understand it. The UK has a very poor reputation internationally. In my home state of New South Wales in Australia the Teachers' Federation advises people not to pursue teaching in the UK if anyone is thinking of going.

At least Mr Leahy didn't echo Rupert Murdoch's comments of a few months ago which was just more teacher bashing. I do think with seemingly a lot of business leaders suddenly being interested in education they are trying to get a head start at corporate involvement in education. John Criddlaand of the business lobby group, CBI, said as much when he said in the Guardian on the 13th October, "the CBI is putting so much effort into the partnership between business and education, to tackle these challenges."

However I do think that Mr Leahy is at least partly motivated for Tesco to get a slice of the action if/when more private investment is asked for. If he genuinely wanted to contribute more to education he could start by having the whole of Tesco pay the same rates of tax as the rest of us, for instance.

Quite often,

"One would get a signal that a certain Kurdish village would have to be bombed..."

Would it be possible for Trenchard to take control of Iraq? This would entail:

"the provision of some kind of asphyxiating bombs calculated to cause disablement of some kind but not death...for use in preliminary operations against turbulent tribes."

"I do not agree that the dog in a manger has the final right to the manger even though he may have lain there for a very long time. I do not admit that right. I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken
their place,"

'MAp Airports says it has completed the internalisation of its management, with several senior management changes.'

While addressing German press and Chancellor Angela Merkel, Mr Rudd said it was unlikely any progress would emerge from the Major Economies Forum (MEF) 'by way of detailed programmatic specificity'.

"Everyone in Israel is literally glued to their radio and television sets."

Contrary to popular belief, conventional wisdom would have one believe that it is insane to resist this, the mightiest of empires.... But what history really shows is that today's empire is tomorrow's ashes, that nothing lasts forever, and that to not resist is to acquiesce in your own oppression. The greatest form of sanity that anyone can exercise is to resist that force that is trying to repress, oppress, and fight down the human spirit

According to a survey conducted by uswitch.com the U.K. has the lowest quality of life compared to 9 other European countries. They concluded that:

Best quality of life can be found in France and Spain.

The worst can be found in the UK and Ireland[1]

Depressing: UK workers can expect to work 3 years longer[2] and die 2 years younger than their French counterparts[3]

Cost of living: consumers in the UK are paying above the European average for fuel[4], food[5], alcohol[6] and cigarettes[7]

Health and education: the UK’s spend on healthcare[8] and education[9] is below the European average. Only Ireland and Poland spend less on healthcare, but Ireland has more doctors and hospital beds and Poland has more beds than the UK[10]

Longer life: Germany, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden all enjoy longer life expectancy than the UK[3]

Retirement age in the UK has dropped, but it is still the 4th highest in Europe[2] UK enjoys highest net household income[11], but workers in the UK get lowest holiday entitlement in Europe[12].

It's only going to get worse.

Be scared, very scared!

The political genius that is Peter 'Mandy' Mandleson has decided to sell a wheelbarrow load of public assets that will be lost forever to private hands to help fill the coffers. Like anything else that is privatized they will be sold for next to nothing to some dodgy company or consortium with a very poor track record. Sales are always just a one off.

I might be way off but wouldn't it be better to tackle the issue of tax avoidance which costs an estimated £6-13 billion (probably much more) PER YEAR? Some companies are getting away with paying as little as a 2% tax rate because all the profits are exported overseas quite legally to tax havens. For those lucky enough to earn average or below average wages we have to pay rates of 20%+. How fortunate we are.

Gordon Brown has embarrassed himself yet again with his abandonment of the rules of expenses. He forgets to mention that it was he that changed the rules in 2004 to make it much easier for MP's to claim expenses for far more things. Can anyone believe a word that comes out of his mouth?

I found the recent controversy regarding the racist remark made by someone on Strictly Come Dancing rather interesting. For me it highlighted the huge divide between classes in the UK. When the reality TV contestant Jade Goody made exactly the same remark she was labelled uncouth and so on. When an upper class male says the same thing it is almost laughed off. So if you say a certain word and you are from a working class background you are racist but if you say the same word and from "better stock" then there is no problem.

Good on you Cadel! You did for Australia!

"Anyone who sacks a worker for not going into work today is a bum!" - Bob Hawke, Australian Prime Minister when Australia II won America's Cup for first time.

"A world in which it is wrong to murder an individual civilian and right to drop a thousand tons of high explosive on a residential area does sometimes make me wonder whether this earth of ours is not a loony bin made use of by some other planet."

"I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its people."

By Henry Kissinger, relaying orders from Nixon on December 9, 1970

" A massive bombing campaign in Cambodia. Anything that flies on anything that moves."

"I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe - I believe what I believe is right."

"I never apologize for the United States of America, I don't care what the facts are."

"Violence is necessary. It is as American as apple pie."

"Any dictator would admire the uniformity and obedience of the [U.S.] media."

"Gain wealth, forgetting all but self, a demeaning and degrading doctrine that had to be driven into people's heads with no little violence. Normal human sentiments had to be crushed; they are inconsistent with capitalist ideology, which celebrates private profit as the supreme human value and denies people rights beyond what they can salvage in the labor market."

By Noam Chomsky

"If the Nuremberg laws were applied, then every post-war American president would have been hanged."

Ed Balls has just announced a 5% reduction in the education budget. He uses phrases such as "wage discipline" and "restraint". Why weren't these terms used when bailing out the banks which are still gorging themselves? I wonder if similar logic will be applied to London 2012, Iraq and Afghanistan? Schools are already using unqualified staff to teach so what next? I've got an idea. To start with if you scrapped OFSTED and ESTYN you would save around £15 million. Then schools would not to waste money on consultants telling them how to pass inspections. You could scrap academies which the government has recently stated they are committed to rolling out. You could scrap PFI schemes in education where there is a library full of evidence showing that these schemes cost thee taxpayer far more money than the public sector. I think any parent should be veery concerned at these worsening developments and get in touch with their local MP to demand that their children be ALWAYS taught by qualified staff and that education is too important to suffer budget costs at the same time we are building future white elephants for London 2012.

Phone didn't ring to get called to school yet. I am getting a bit despondent as I think day to day work may be going the same way as the dinosaurs. Schools are now using any staff except teachers. I think anyone with a child going to a school in the UK should be afraid, very afraid of how schools now operate.

Anyone who will follow my blog we soon realise a reoccurring theme will be the highs and lows of being a supply teacher. Still haven't been called in for work yet. Crossing fingers for tomorrow after I type this.

Hello. My name is Anthony and this is the first step of my new blog. For those interested  I am going to tell the story of an Australian who moved to North Wales in 2001. I will write about all the things that interest me and drive me mad at the same time. Things like working in the UK; politics in the UK and Australia; drugs and corruption in sport; incompetent public servants; my hatred of chavs; people who don't indicate at roundabouts; international politics; and other such matters affecting the nation.