A Warm Welcome To ...

... the first British bike I have ever owned.

I picked up the new bike from the dealer's today, in between the showers. It's a 2005 Triumph Bonneville in a rather fetching silver colour. Thank you for bearing with me as I have tussled and twisted over the choice of the replacement for the Pan, but I think I have made the right choice.

Here's the new baby:



Tomorrow is forecast wet, with showers and longer periods of rain, so I will probably finish off some assignment marking for the Uni. Sunday should be dry, so that will be a chance to take myself off for a ride and a bit of fun. I'll report back afterwards.

Tomfoolery update

It seems that someone had the same idea, only did it properly.

Well, at least mine was ten years ago.

Lead Learner?

Via a letter in today's Times, I am still choking with disbelief that a school in London has abandoned the title of Head Teacher, and replaced it with Lead Learner. This is an extract from the website of the school:

Meet the Lead Learner

My name is Matt Chappel. I am called the Lead Learner instead of Head teacher because we want to show how important and exciting learning is for everyone at Thornhill, not just the children.

Very democratic, chummy and right-on, I'm sure. And he won't be so traditionalist as to have a profile photo - no, our Matt's Lead Learner page has the exciting news:

(Drawing of lead learner coming soon!)

I know that

"This site was planned, designed and constructed by pupils at Thornhill Primary School"

but why a drawing? What's wrong with a photograph? I hear that children are allowed to operate cameras these days.

I'm sure that Mr Chappel is a nice chap and doing a great job at Thornhill, but this kind of thing just depresses me. I did teacher training a long time back, and the buzz word then was 'facilitator'. You couldn't teach, as that would imply that you were somehow better or more knowledgeable than the 'kids'. You had to be someone who merely stood by and 'facilitated' their learning, as if the only thing stopping them cracking quantum theory was the lack of a suitable learning space and a qualified adult to make sure that the conversation went the right way.

Listen: teachers know more - a lot more - than their pupils [1]. That's why they are standing at the front, and not at the back of the class rolling a spliff, or whatever kids do these days. The head of all the teachers is the Head Teacher, and this person has, or should have, authority. Authority to keep the teachers working on the right lines, and authority to make the children behave well enough, and for long enough, to learn something while they are there.

A Lead Learner is just another cosy adult, who makes you feel inadequate because he is better than you at Learning.

I am so glad I got out of education when it was still relatively sane.

[1] Pupils, not 'students'. Pupils are in compulsory education; students are voluntary. Why are we so keen to suck up to children's ideas of self-importance? Trainee barristers don't mind being called 'pupils'.

Gordon Brown's Legacy

Froma commenter called Mazza1230 on the Grauniad's politics blog, a rather nice take on the magnificent legacy that Comrade Brown will leave us.

At last Gordon Brown decided to throw the towel in and resign. His cabinet colleagues decided it would be a worthy gesture to name a railway locomotive after him. So a senior 'Sir Humphrey' went from Whitehall to the National Railway Museum at York, to investigate the possibilities.

"They have a number of locomotives at the NRM without names," a specially-sought consultant told the top civil servant. "Mostly freight locomotives though."

"Oh dear, that?s not very fitting for a prime minister," said Sir Humphrey. "How about that big green one, over there?" he said, pointing to 4472 Flying Scotsman.

"That's already got a name" said the consultant. "It's called 'Flying Scotsman'."

"Oh. Couldn?t it be renamed?" asked Sir Humphrey. "This is a national museum after all, funded by the taxpayer."

"I suppose it might be considered," said the consultant. "After all the LNER renamed a number of their locomotives after directors of the company, and even renamed one of them Dwight D Eisenhower."

"That?s excellent," said Sir Humphrey, "So that's settled then? Let's look at renaming 4472. But how much will it cost ? We can?t spend too much, given the expenses scandal !"

"Well", said the consultant, "Why don't we just paint out the 'F'?"

Couldn't resist this

I don't know if they are BA staff, or just pretending (and I don't really care), but these two are a pleasure to watch. Oh, and to listen to, forgot that bit. They can see to my in-flight needs any time.




Update: What is it about women who can sing? I mean really sing?