Monday 15 August 2011

Give them BlackBerry cake!

Privilege has always bought advancement, and will continue to do so.

The demise of the meritocracy may be the result of the failed policy of left-wing egalitarianism, which in educational output, has resulted in constantly lowering standards of competence.

This has and still does manifest itself in an over reliance on worthless paper qualifications, coupled with the political will of recent governments to encourage and enable a policy of ‘degrees for all’, without regard to inherent aptitude.

The proliferation of universities during the time of the previous government, with scant regard to providing for a practical and vocational skills-based workforce, is an unrealistic policy, both socially and economically.

The emphasis on Tony Blair’s vision of university places for 50% is naïve and of little use when many of the student population still do not possess competent levels of literacy and numeracy on leaving school.

We are churning out a stream of quasi-literate individuals, of whom the vast majority are unable to compete with a privately educated Oxbridge elite.

The solution is the redistribution of resources from overburdened higher education, towards effective practical and developmental education during school years, and major investment in vocational and skills training.



Ref:
Posh and posher indeed
Andrew Neil | 11:18 UK time, Thursday, 17 March 2011

A new report from the much respected international think-tank of rich countries, the OECD, sheds light on some of the social mobility and education themes I touched on in my recent BBC2 documentary Posh & Posher.

Thursday 12 May 2011

FROM SLUTSPEAK TO CRINGEIFY IN ONE EASY LESSON

The Slut-brigade are hanging their coats on a very shooglie peg.

In the name of Woman I reclaim 'Amazon', with all it's positive connotations.

'Slut' makes me cringeify ..... horrible, horrible.

Tuesday 10 May 2011

I’M DEAD THEREFORE I WAS



William of Ockham pared away
Until he had nothing left
He had thought until he wasn’t
His being quite bereft.
He went to pot, his beard grew long
His razor simply rusted;
To die, he employed his kitchen-knife;
Ockham’s Carver can be trusted.
 
Sin singleton

Wednesday 16 March 2011

The Broch Coo 'an ode to the victims of the Japanese Tsunami'


I thocht I heard the Broch coo
It didnae frighten me
It sang a sang o' gentle pain
And dragged me out tae sea!


We floated out and crossed the bar
And turned towards the west
She bellowed gently in my ear
'Ye didnae bring yer vest!'

We floated on into the mirk
Until great Triton blew
We swirled, and dirled, and held
our wheest
Then paddled out of view
I woke, I slept, I raged, I wept
But all in vain twas 'ere
We sank beneath the steel grey wave
To end our days down there
Scroggie Januaria, March 2011


Illustration:  Sunset Song, Jane Cartney, 2011
© Oraculumsulmareexcoeurd'Ecosse & Jane Cartney

Wednesday 9 March 2011

And Thus It Came To Pass

The Wisdom of the Scots

A propos the actions of the murderous Libyan regime in recent days, this came to mind:  In 2009 scotsvernacular blogged in response to Andrew Neil's Daily Politics blog

Why are 'we' so keen on Gaddafi? 
Andrew Neil | 11:29 UK time, Thursday, 24 September 2009
Just a quick thought of a blog today, after all the excitement of the Lib Dems in Bournemouth.
As I watched Colonel Gaddafi (the Libyan dictator formerly known as Mad Dog) harangue the UN general assembly yesterday, calling the Security Council terrorists and ripping up the UN Charter, it made me wonder why our government was so keen to have close and friendly relations with him.

Much diplomatic and commercial wooing has been going on -- we learned just how much during the al Megrahi affair -- allegedly so that Britain gets access to Libya's oil and gas reserves.
But don't we depend more than enough already on unsavoury and unstable regimes for our energy supplies?
Why would adding Colonel Gaddafi to our list of suppliers make us any more secure? Any who would not rather cut back a little on their energy consumption rather than see any of their money end up in this guy's coffers?
I look forward to your answers ....

354. At 3:39pm on 29 Sep 2009, scotsvernacular wrote:
It is time to stand up and exercise our moral and ethical clout. There is no place in decent society (and by inference world society) for the condoning of the antics displayed by Colonel Gaddafi (the Libyan dictator formerly known as Mad Dog), and which you describe so succinctly. [A propos Mad Dog, the word guttersnipe springs to mind.]

Must we continually demean ourselves in pandering to the antics of pathologically deviant despots? The answer must be a resounding NO!

You also say, 'Why would adding Colonel Gaddafi to our list of suppliers make us any more secure?'

I fear that the very opposite would result from this action: This would signal an open invitation for all pathological recidivist deviant depots or would-be despots, around the world and at home, to spring into action. The potential which may be unleashed is too horrific to contemplate!

We must heed the numerous warnings which history has taught us.

Perhaps it may be apposite timing to not only withdraw from the current scenario with Libya, but to break off all diplomatic links for the foreseeable future until Mad Dog is no longer a threat.

We must acknowledge that WE OWE IT TO HUMANITY, AND ESPECIALLY THE OPPRESSED CITIZENS OF LIBYA AND OTHER TYRANNICAL REGIMES, THAT WE ACT WITH COURAGE AND DECENCY TO ASSERT OUR MORAL AND ETHICAL CLOUT.

We do NOT need Libyan oil - we have trusted oil suppliers, and the technology in place to supply additional energy resources. And coupled with the will to halt our wasteful energy use, and the overt encouragement by the next government to change our ways (some simple straightforward moral guidance - not nannying - perhaps?) there is really no need to panic. The current scenario is based on pure and simple greed and selfishness.

Zarathustra's sibyl
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Monday 3 January 2011

VAETTIR * by Barrie Singleton


His eye, alone, perceives unmeasured loss
as manned ships bring man-rumour in their wake
of new beginnings and a nailed man-god
eclipsing Mother Earth for new-name’s sake.
The sanguine skies care naught what they portend:
menstrual or placental or fell-let;
henceforth shall blood of man an ocean fill
till he drown in its tide, and time forget.
The Vættir’s bones, of earth and ages wrought
absorb this fatal blow and yet endure.
Caught twixt two worlds and denizen of none
he waits till Hel should judge his heart quite pure.
From cove and strand young warriors sail forth
to lodestone-lure, they tip horizon’s sill.
The Vættir’s lupine wights one with those kin
in empathy anticipate a kill.
Ere long the boundless sea is bound with lanes
its archetypal freedoms compromised;
great ships of war and plunder navigate
each masthead-flag despising and despised.
Then rampant male goals and values rise
in unchecked Bacchanalian excess;
the Vættir weeps to see The Feminine
purged from the Earth to ultimate distress.
Shamanic guardianship the world around
cut down to break connection with the Earth;
unknown to new-robed guardians of truth
takes with it all we ever had of worth.
Thus magic dies, displaced by empty word
and Earth - defiled - endures calamity.
The Vættir, mid the trees, absorbed as one;
held evergreen, awaits eternity.

© Barrie Singleton 2010

Painting & Concept Sketch by Ihsan Alnasrawi, Vaettir: The Last Nature Spirit
© Ihsan Alnasrawi 2010
http://www.ihsan.co.uk/traditional/vaettir_the-last-nature-spirit.htm

* Vættir (Old Norse; singular Vættr) or wights, are nature spirits in the Norse religion