Educational Establishments’ Current Financial Irresponsibility

A large proportion of the taxes paid by the British public goes towards the support of state (public) educational establishments. This is right and proper so long as it is spent wisely.
Having spent a lifetime in industry and frequently experienced the financial requirements and prudence necessary for the survival of companies, my husband is constantly dismayed by the lack of fiscal control currently exercised by schools. Examples of this relate to discretionary spending and lack of improvements in work force quality, competence and efficiency.
A company experiencing financial difficulties will introduce several measures of additional control including discretional spending. In spite of educational cut backs, including many cancellations of schools building projects, discretionary spending still seems to persist with little apparent control. How can it be right to allow head teachers to continue spending significant sums of money on luxurious hotels for 'team building' when there are not enough funds for potentially essential schools building programmes and when there will probably be a call later in the academic year to cut the working hours of some ancillary staff?
Improvements in work force quality, competence and efficiency are normal in a commercial organisation seeking to survive. At times of economic difficulty such needs are intensified. Over the past few years companies have made it the norm to remove the lowest performing staff - typically 5%. The benefits of cost cutting - overall workforce improvement with employees working harder to avoid being in the lowest rated 5% and opportunities for new and better talent - are very clear. Even without these measures there can be grave consequences for any manager off-loading poorly performing staff to another part of the organisation. At best such activity is regarded as avoiding proper management practice, otherwise known as laziness or incompetence, and unfairly giving the problem to another manager with overall detriment to the company. In the commercial world, such failures in management can lead to serious disciplinary action. How can it be right or acceptable to the people at the top of the educational organisation that there have only been 18 teacher dismissals for incompetence in 40 years?
In the past Barry has worked with Peter Gershon and Martin Read (ex-industry leaders employed as Government advisors on public finance) both of whom will be very familiar with normal financial controls, particularly in times of difficulty. Are their voices ignored?
This is a criticism, not of teachers, but of the top levels of management at or near ministerial rank. It is at that level that matters relating to financial discipline and work force competence must be set. It seems that Ed Balls, the minister responsible in the Labour government, was pretty incompetent. Can we be assured that the current Government will do better by delivering more effective financial controls, introducing effective plans to improve teacher quality, removing inept teachers and disciplining head teachers who fail to comply?

It’s simple . . .

When an elderly person has spent some time in hospital, following a fall perhaps, or an infection (actually, infections usually occur after the elderly any person has been admitted to hospital) tests of preparedness to return home or to remove to another care facility are conducted. Sometimes, when a patient has demonstrated confusion, mental states are checked – 'What's your address?' or 'What day is it today?' (I am frequently unsure what day it is now that I no longer have the framework of a working day, so I don't think that's a reliable marker!) Otherwise the tests are used to assess mobility, strength and a degree of organisational ability in addition to mental capability.
One test that seems to be standard involves making a cup of tea – or coffee, I suppose, if tea is not the patient's beverage of choice. It reminds me of one of the tasks that used to be set for 5 and 6-year-olds – describing in correct sequence the stages required to make a sandwich, which is probably actually definitely more taxing than making tea or coffee. That reminds me – my grandson made tea a few months ago. When he brought the mugs to us - (We're not posh, we don't often use cups and saucers. You get more tea in a mug than a cup and don't have to keep getting up to refill it, not that we're lazy, of course!) - but as I was saying writing typing, Callum brought the tea to us. It was nice and hot but had lots of tea leaves floating in it. Gillian said tactfully, 'How did you make this, Callum?' 'I put a spoonful in each mug and poured in the boiling water,' he replied, clearly puzzled. It's the logical thing to do when that's the way tea is made – at home – with tea bags. Actually, I have no objection to some tea leaves in my mug but a complete teaspoonful is too much. Since then Callum has made tea correctly in the teapot.In the hospital utility room/kitchen, specially equipped with the appropriate requisites – a short flight of steps to check safety and ability on staircases, cooker, fridge, pots, pans, baking trays, mixing bowls, kettles, tea pots, mugs, cups and so forth – the patient is invited to make tea. Some fall fail at the first hurdle obstacle, unable to find the tea (often in a tea caddy labelled TEA). Difficulties over the choice of kettle should not arise – some are electric, others are heated on a hob. The examinee may be wondering how many people are expected to take tea and whether they would prefer cups or mugs but this is not to be taken into account – it is simply the ability to make a pot of tea that is being assessed. Now, some might fail because they are of the 'old school' – warm the pot and then empty – whoever does that?? (Me, occasionally, trying to impress . . . generally I like to 'shock' the flavour out of the tea leaves!) Others may omit to boil the water and attempt to produce a good brew with cold or tepid water. Yet others may not have the strength to lift a full kettle or teapot.
On the basis that making a pot of tea is an indicator of one's mental and physical abilities I must confess to failure in the first category! At the weekend I made tea many times but twice omitted the tea leaves! So, on those performances, I would definitely not pass the competence test!

Macro Monday clematis and rose

As is so often the case I've lost the labels to these clematis so have attempted to identify them using books and the internet.Neither of them are fragrant.

The closest I've found to this one, climbing through the trees in our front garden, is Clematis 'Athena' but our clematis lacks the darker veins on the reverse of the petals - any clematis experts out there? Please?

I'm almost convinced this one, climbing over one of the arches in the back garden, is Clematis 'Pille'. At this time of year it is rampant, a mass of blooms, buds and colour.

These are buds from the old climbing rose 'Mermaid', though I think it behaves more like a rambler. It has very many sharp thorns and though the buds and blooms don't seem susceptible to damage from insects, something has been munching the leaves! It was introduced to the UK in 1918.

The buds open to pale creamy-yellow single  flowers which fade to white. I seem to remember this rose having a beautiful perfume but the scent is barely discernible this year.

Thank you to Lisa of 'Lisa's Chaos' for organising and hosting this meme. Click on her name to visit and see more mesmerising macros.

Microfiction Monday #32

Thank you to Susan from 'Stony River' who organises and hosts this entertaining weekly meme. She provides a picture and the challenge is to create a story in 140 characters or less. Click here to read more marvels of microfiction – and perhaps be tempted to join in.

On seeing this illustration several things leapt to mind and had to be firmly squashed! Here's what survived ;-)

#1: She squinted but couldn't decipher the instructions. She always forgot to read them before getting into the shower. Laser eye surgery was definitely on her to do list.
(140 characters)
#2: So this was the elixir of life but must she drink it or apply it? And did she really want to live forever in the present economic climate?
(138 characters)
Finally, especially for Susan! #3: Susan mused. If it stopped the dreadful itch she'd try it. She'd smell like bad eggs – so? It was sticky too so would patch up the walls.
(137 characters)

haiku my heart friday

Thank you to Rebecca from 'recuerda mi corazon' who organises and hosts this weekly meme. To see more haiku please click here.

Fuchsia bells swinging

Gently in a soft zephyr

Look like bright fairies.

‘Animal’s People’ by Indra Sinha

'I used to be human once. So I'm told. I don't remember it myself, but people who knew me when I was small say I walked on two feet just like a human being.'
These are the opening lines of an extraordinary novel that I read a couple of years ago. Shortlisted for the 2007 Man Booker Prize, it is narrated by the central character, Animal. He recounts his story in shocking detail, the difficulties and obstacles of his existence set out without sentiment and often with robust humour. His language is, by turns, lewd, obscene and scatological; his two major preoccupations revolve around walking upright again and sex! He tells how life changed after 'that night' when an explosion in an American chemical factory in his slum changed life forever. There is a vibrancy about this story as Animal demonstrates his resilience as a severely disabled youth living at the lowest level of poverty in the fictional city of Khaufpur, the City of Fear.
Rather disingenuously the author, Indra Sinha, who now lives in France, claims, 'Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.' In fact, the city bears a striking resemblance to Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh, where on 3^rd December 1984 the American company Union Carbide, manufacturing pesticides, released 40 tonnes of lethal gas into the atmosphere. It remains the world's worst industrial disaster. More than 500,000 people were exposed and 15,000 people died, 8,000 within the first weeks, others in the ensuing decades.
Survivors of that nightmare are subject to spontaneous abortions and stillbirths and the babies that survive to be born suffer from a range of disabilities – some are blind or deaf or brain-damaged, others have missing or distorted limbs or facial disfigurements. Water is essential for life, yet the source for the people of Bhopal is toxic, abandoned chemicals still leaking into it, nearly 25 years after the initial disaster.
In June, 2010, seven former employees of Union Carbide, now a subsidiary of Dow Chemical Company, were found guilty of 'death by negligence' and fined around $2,000 each and sentenced to two years in prison. How can it be classified simply as negligence when in 1982 thirty major hazards were identified at the Bhopal plant but were not rectified while the same thirty major hazards were fixed at the company's identical plant in the USA? It shows, at the very least, a cynical disregard for life in Bhopal. Dow Chemical Company absolves itself of any liability for the tragedy in Bhopal because it did not merge with Union Carbide until 2001. However, it has undertaken all responsibility for more than 75,000 asbestos related law suits in the USA. These claims date from the 1940s and 1950s to the present.
India's cabinet has approved a decision to attempt to extradite Warren Anderson, the former CEO of Union Carbide. BP has spent $1.6 bn on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, in which 12 people died. It is expected to spend much more. Union Carbide has paid $0.6bn in compensation.
I have not included any photographs other than the one alongside this article – they are pitiful and horrific and immensely distressing. I, with thousands of others in the west, have the luxury of being almost certain that children and grandchildren will be born whole and straight and healthy. The women of Bhopal can have no such optimism.

Retirement

This item was in our local community magazine. I don't know who wrote it so can't credit it.
'Working people frequently ask retired people how they make their days interesting.
Well, the other day my wife and I went into town. We went into a shop for about five minutes. When we came out there was a traffic warden writing out a parking ticket. I said, 'Hey, come on, give us senior citizens a break, can't you?' He ignored me so I called him a moron. He glared at me and started to write another ticket for having worn tyres.
My wife then told him he was unintelligent. He finished the second ticket and put it on the windscreen with the first then started writing a third ticket for some other small infringement. This went on for about twenty minutes because the more we abused him the more tickets he wrote.
We didn't care at all. We came into town by bus. Now that we're retired we try to have a little fun each day – it's important at our age.'

SkyWatch Friday Season 4 Episode 52

Early July sky over Berkshire, UK - 6:46 pm

The SkyWatch Friday team organise and host this weekly meme, for which we thank them. To see more skies around this beautiful world please click here

Midweek Blues

Rebecca from 'The Dusty Cellar' organises and hosts this meme. To join in or to see other offerings please click on the logo.

Pansy Blue, one of our blue Burmese kittens. Genetically, blue is a dilution of black. Her mother was brown, her siblings chocolate or brown. No lilacs in this particular litter.

In different lights Pansy looked more silver than blue.

A blue background complemented her colour.

Here she is curled up with a chocolate friend. To us she was, quite correctly, 'blue' - but to the uninitiated she was grey!

ABC Wednesday Y is for Ying Tong

It's ABC Wednesday again - time to scratch the brain cells for something new. Thank you to Denise Nesbitt and her fine team for organising and hosting this weekly meme. To see more Ys and perhaps join in please click here.
The Goon Show was a British radio comedy programme that was broadcast from 1951 to 1960. The Ying Tong Song was a typical sample of the idiocy that prevailed throughout the series. It was performed by Spike Milligan, who wrote it, Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe. All three were musical, Milligan and Sellers performing in jazz bands on various instruments, Milligan particularly, and Secombe possessing a fine tenor voice. 
I thought this might only resonate with an audience familiar with the Goons but found that the Muppets had also performed this song.Thus we have a clip from the Goons followed by one from the Muppets. Enjoy! . . .but don't try to make sense of it!

haiku my heart friday holly berries

Thank you to Rebecca from 'recuerda mi corazon' who organises and hosts this haiku meme. Click here to see more - and perhaps be tempted to join in.

Ilex 'Golden King'

Pale now, they'll  ripen

To scarlet winter glory,

Brightening dull days.

Weekend Reflections #41

Thank you to James from 'Newtown Area Photo' who organises and hosts this lovely meme. To see more reflections and perhaps participate please click here.

6:30 on a misty late June morning with the promise of heat to follow. The channel markers guide yachts through the narrow channels of the Beaulieu River in Hampshire (UK) a birdwatcher's paradise.

Friday Flash 55 The bride

It's time for Friday Flash 55. To join in write a story in 55 words (no more, no less) then tell Mr. Knowitall by leaving a comment on his own Flash 55 post today.

 She stepped gracefully from the carriage and posed for photos, one hand on the horse's harness. Moving forwards she was abruptly halted. The horse had stood on her train and ripped off her headdress. As she stooped to retrieve it he snatched a mouthful from her bouquet then nudged her over.

Were these bad omens?