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.