Monthly Archives: May 2021

Mental health

Posted on 10th May 2021 by Ian

It is Mental Health Awareness Week, in tutor time in school today there was a short animated video encouraging students to talk about the issues they face. (Two protracted periods of school closure will have far more devastating impact on … Continue reading →

Posted in The stuff of daily life | 2 Comments

Culinary oneupmanship

Posted on 9th May 2021 by Ian

The BBC report of a 1913 menu being found during renovation work at a Liverpool cafe shows there is a long tradition of using cuisine as a mark of social class. How many Liverpool diners would have been familiar with … Continue reading →

Posted in This sceptred isle | 3 Comments

Musical perspectives

Posted on 8th May 2021 by Ian

Yesterday was difficult. Some children have become feral in lockdown. Perhaps it only exacerbated an indiscipline that was already there. Managing behaviour of the disengaged who are indifferent to sanctions is difficult. Lessons become occasions of containment, getting through material … Continue reading →

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Disliking invaders

Posted on 7th May 2021 by Ian

The Normans were the first group I remember in the history lessons at High Ham Primary School.  Perhaps it was the 900th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings in 1966 that had propelled the invaders into the mind of the … Continue reading →

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Vogon local authorities

Posted on 6th May 2021 by Ian

The polling station was a marquee in a pub car park. Standing in the queue meant having to hear the loud conversation of a group of drinkers whose vocabulary chiefly consisted of obscenities used as nouns, adjectives and verbs. There … Continue reading →

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