Watch da Road

As a PSHE teacher, I have to teach riveting and important topics like road safety. I'm doing this with my Year 8s and using a teaching pack called 'Street Safe'. It provides all sorts of teaching suggestions, including a rap song to force people to slow down. It gives an example 'to get the creative juices flowing'. I won't type the whole thing - the best bits are as follows:

"I know a guy called Jay and he thinks he's BIG
He liked to drink Glen's down "swig by swig"
Got hit by a Mercedes nearly split his wig
Left the logo on his face, messed his looks up kid

(Shakespeare would be proud with those rhyming couplets, no??)

Listening to loud music crossing the roads is DUMB
As well as being drunk out ya mind now son
So use ya brain, or ya life could be done
Don't be like Jay, stop 'N' look don't Run

Blazin, not payin attention
Run a old man over, who was cashing his pension,
Threw him throught the air with the power
Cos he was driving his Corsa, hundred miles per hour

Cruisin wid ma mate T all around town
He was actin too crazy; I said "turn the sounds down"
But he didn't hear, too late the car spun around,
Crahed into a pick-up truck, it made a crunch sound


- Mercury Music Prize next year - watch this space - thank god Lennon is dead - he'd be turning in his grave if he was alive...

You've gotta laugh - homeboy.

Had quite a good weekend. Lehna came on Friday and we went to 'Ning' - the oddly named but brilliant Thai and Malay restaurant in the Northern Quarter. I had Pad Thai - a traditional dish by all accounts - and it was lovely, really geniune too according to Lehna who knows a thing or two about SE Asian food. The beer which I've heard so much about - Beerlao - didn't come cheap (£3.95 a bottle), but it went down well, especially with this type of food which makes you pretty thirsty.

Saturday morning - up relatively early (no monging until 12 like last week) and off on the train to Edale in the Peak District - did a quick walk halfway up Kinder Scout and it was lovely - will definately be making a few more trips eastwards while I am in Manchester.

Came back, dropped Lehna off at Piccadilly, marked some books then went out for a few drinks with James, Chris, Rach and Heather.

Sunday - more marking (done properly it takes bloody aaaages!), then off to The Waterhouse for Sunday dinner and a reunion with the Jaffa Cakes - friends from my trip to Israel. Conversation naturally revolved around the teaching profession and the Holocaust (riveting) and it was good to see everyone on home turf. Then it was home and - guess what - more marking, and some planning.

A pretty full weekend, much fun was had - I'm doing something every weekend until half term - plenty play will keep me sane as the work keeps rolling in - I've not got Sunday night depression - things must be looking up...

Tory party conference this week.

Definately due another rant!

Not posted since 12th July and my has a lot happened since then! A few days after my last post I took myself of to Berlin for a few days and soaked up the sights, sounds and smells. Then a couple of weeks after that I went to Jerusalem. Had a fantastic time in so many respects. Since then, my life has revolved round one thing: Crompton House School - me and Chris are settled into 'Alan Towers' - the 'Pleasure Palace' - or whatever you want to call it. It certainly was disconcerting to arrive and find that, as a result of our heterosexuality, we were in the minority. In the spirit of equality, we neglected to drape a swastika out of our balcony-cum-pation (it's just not cricket) and are becoming well known amongst 'the boys' (we even had a drink on canal st. this week - I'd been to see Tony Benn but that's a different story) and of course the girls. Their favourite pastime is playing rugby.

Ah, I love the gays. Anyway CHS - as expected, my feet haven't touched the ground. All going reasonably well, a few issues here and there, PSHE lessons are a bugger for managing behaviour and I'm finding that there are so many more things to worry about when you're no longer an NQT. For a start, seeing pupils over an extended period of time, not to mention the quality of the school, means that tracking is a serious issue. I'm chasing up more pupils more than I ever have done before, not because they're crap (they've not got any competition from St. Aidans - RIP) but because I'm trying to be conscientious. Anyway, the main thing is that I'm enjoying it.

I've also enjoyed the politics - my enthusiasm hasn't yet quite rubbed off on the pupils:

AS Student - What lesson have you got now Sir?
Mr Owen - PSHE, Year 9
AS Student - I bet you wish you had us for Government and Politics...?
Mr Owen - Do I??! I could blab on about party systems all day
AS Student (under her breath) - Don't we know it...

So far so good anyway. Politically, I've been pretty active recently - went to some Labour Conference finge meetings recently (IDS, Polly Toynbee, Martin Narey, Liam Byne on Child Poverty and middle England's response and a Socialist Campaign Group Meeting with Tony Benn, John McDonnell, Diane Abbott et al.) and actually finally joined the party for a quid. Not bad! The boss is a Lib Dem councillor - I need to stop making my lessons so overtly partisan and, in particular, stop slating the Liberals for their unelectability!!!!!

So, busy busy...I'm sure it will all settle down, come half term at least!

Ciao!

The Balkans

About a day after Lehna returned from SE Asia (actually I think it was the same day) we booked three weeks in the Balkans, or former Yugoslavia, or whatever you want to call it. To be honest the thought of visiting this part of the world had never really been high on my agenda. However, a decade after the inter-ethnic conflicts which completely devastated the region, it was a perfect and interesting time to go.

We flew to Split in Croatia on 21st June with the intention of traveling down the coast before crossing into Bosnia, moving up through that country, going into Slovenia and finally ending up in Venice, Italy. The journey to Birmingham and Split airport was pretty much faultless; due to some mysterious botch up with the rail ticket booking, Lehna had to fork out another £25. However, that was soon forgotten and we ended up in Split's Old Town at about six in the evening.

It was at this point that throngs of locals tried to thrust upon us spare rooms in their own homes or 'pansions'. Although Croatia has recovered physically and politically from the events of the 1990s, the economic situation is still far from rosy. That is why at pretty much every bus and train station frequented by tourists you will see middle aged Croat women asking you to stay in their home. After a series of polite 'no thank yous' we set off to find our own pre-booked accommodation.

This, we were soon to find out, would also be in someone's house - but not before we were nearly deceived by our host's neighbour. When we thought we had found the right place he told us that there 'was no hostel here' and tried to shoo us off his property. It was only when we were 25 yards down the street that our host appeared and welcomed us in. It appears there is a certain degree of ugly competition between the pansion hosts of Split.

After an interesting couple of days in Split which included a walk up the tower of Diocletian's Palace, we set off by boat to the island of Korcula where we camped for two nights. This place was lovely - our camp was a stones throw away from the beach and about a 30 minute walk from the old town. The town was stunning - much nicer, as I would later find out, that its bigger cousin Dubrovnik, and a million times better than Venice despite the fact that the city gates are adorned with the Venetian coat of arms.

Having left Korcula we left for Dubrovnik where we spent one night, again on a campsite. Dubrovnik is one of those places you 'have to visit' when you are traveling through Dalmatia. George Bernard Shaw called it the 'pearl of the Adriatic'. I can see why, it really was beautiful, however, the amount of tourists spoiled it for me. Like Venice it is a popular cruise ship destination and the crowds didn't make for pretty sightseeing. Furthermore it was quite big and overbearing which was nothing like the pretty quaint atmosphere evoked by the Old Town in Korcula.

From Dubrovnik we got the coach up to Mostar in Bosnia and Hercegovina. Due to a strange state of affairs whereby Bosnia territory includes about 4 miles of Dalmatian coastline (the town of Neum is Bosnia's only seaside resort) we crossed into BiH, then out into Croatia before going into BiH again. Having entered the country for the second time the bus moved into the heart of the country and it was probably at this time that we both realised that what we were being presented with was a completely different kettle of fish. Take 'Pocitelj' for example, this was one of the bus stops on the way to Mostar and the first major town we came across. Apart from the obvious shell fragments and bullet holes, this town looked like a complete 'dead-end'. There was graffiti everywhere, the shops looked completely run down and the whole place seemed really sorry for itself. There Bosnia was of 1992-1995 is so difficult to explain and I can barely get my head around it. The sheer quantity of ethnic groups makes it difficult to comprehend - Bosnians, Bosnian Serbs, Muslims, Croat Muslims - the list is endless. I had a fruitless search for a book that would help explain things more clearly so will try here from a few scrappy pieces of research:

Unemployment and inflation escalated in the last 1980s in the wake of Marshal Tito's death. This alarmed countries like Slovenia and Croatia who in turn held multiparty elections and declared their independence. In Serbia, Slobodan Milosevic feared that this would threaten the 700,000-strong Serbian communities in Croatia and BiH. When Slovenia and Croatia declared independence in June 1991 civil war broke out - the first European War since 1939-1945. A series of ceasefires and UN interventions resulted in a ceasefire in January 1992. However, by this point the war had spread into BiH, regarded as a powder keg because of its volatile ethnic mix (the country is 40% muslim - ethnic divides are nowhere as visible as in Mostar where one side of the river is Christian and the other, Muslim. Plenty of Jewish people are thrown in for good measure as well). When Bosnia wanted to leave Yugoslavia the Serbs let rip with violent attacks on Mostar and Sarajevo, the former was almost completely destroyed (including, most symbolically its 500 year old bridge) and the latter was hled under siege for 3 years. Food and supplies were smuggled in through a tunnel which began at the city's airport. It was during this time that 'ethnic cleansing', a process not seen in Europe since the Holocaust, was committed by Serbs on the Muslim population. This, together with the conflict, raged on until 1995 despite UN intervention. The Dayton Agreement of that year finally brought an end to the war. The resulting situation is that BiH is roughly a decade behind. Of the three places we visited (Mostar, Sarajevo and Bihac (a heavily mined city on the Croat border) the scars of war are self evident - bombed out buildings sit uneasily next two bars and shops, ghostly reminders of a conflict still clearly in the minds of anyone above the age of 20. In cemetaries, literally every grave stone says 'died 1993' and in Sarajevo shell holes in the streets are filled with thick red paintas permanent reminders of the the terrible ordeal endured by that city.

But for all this, things are looking up for Bosnia. The tourists are starting to come back. No that they'd been away for that long. As an independent communist state freed from Moscow's interference, Westerners were free to come and go as they please. This is starting once more - as a UNESCO world heritage site, the Old Bridge area of Mostar is an absolute must for visitors and was easily our favourite place. We agreed that Bosnia is the sort of place that we would love to revisit in 10-15 years. By then, I expect (and hope) that it will be fully back on its feet once more.

After the cultural highs of Mostar and Sarajevo our trip entered a lull. For a start, the much anticipated white water rafting and Bihac didn't happen when we realised that we needed to book in advance. Then after one night in the town it was off to Zagreb where we had the most depressing and drawn out search for accommodation ever. We were just about to board a train for Llubljana when we found a 'cell' in a Youth Hostel which charged £18 a night. Bit of a con but it was somewhere to rest our heads. The following day we transferred up to Lake Bled in Slovenia for five solid days of camping, bike riding, hillwalking, rowing (?) , jogging (!) and monging by the lovely Alpine lake. I'm not going to say much more about this except vent my minor frustration with the amenities and provisions of the modern 'camper'. We carried everything we needed for camping on our backs and to be perfectly honest it was all we needed. The only thing which we agreed would have made things slightly ore comfortable would have been a small table and chairs for our meals. We did NOT need a fridge-freezer, sky television, a DOORMAT, a microwave or a wireless-enabled laptop. For people who turn up in camper-vans which are bigger than my parent's house i do not consider this camping. To be honest, I would rather stay in one of the swanky hotels nearer to the town of Bled. At least here I wouldn't be trying to be anything I wasn't.

Rant over, after five nights we had one night in Llubljana. The least said about this place the better. Don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing the place itself - Lonely Planet calls in 'Pure Mitteleuropa, with cafes and culture galore'. All we did was clothes shopping and get drunk. As a general aside it may be worth point out some on the cocktails that were available in 'Skeleton Bar' - 'Juicy Balls', 'Blow my Woody', 'Orgas,', 'Bloody Orgasm', 'Bloody Screaming Orgasm' and (my favourite, but most definately the most un-PC) 'Sex in disabled toilets'. I didn't have 'Sex in toilets' and so will be unable to comment on the subtle differences in taste.

The bus journey to Venice was grim. I'd had more cocktails than I could count and my throat felt like I'd swallowed a cheese grate from all the Marlboros I'd smoked.

Venice itself wasn't great either but for different reasons. Our accomodation in Llubljana had been some Halls of Residence - on the whole clean and cheap. In Venice we paid three times as much for filth and the most uncomfortable bed known to mankind. If you ever find yourself in Venice, do NOT stay at the Hotel Giovanini. Venice itself was nice, but like Dubrovnik it was spoiled by the sheer numbers of tourists, only more so. The prices were horrendous too - 4 euros for a cappuccino certainly doesn't float my gondola. Personally i thi kwhen you've been in the tourist game as long as Venice, you become complacent. Prices rise without a proportional rise is the quality of service offered. So much so that in some cases everything is generally poor. In the most depreived areas of Bosnia we received the best meals and accomodation for a fraction of the cost that we did in Venice. The best pizza was in Sarajevo for £3, certainly not the 'tomata sauce on a piece of concrete' which I received in Venice. After a few tiresome days in the city we went to the airport, flew to Liverpool and then homeward.

I recognise that some parts of this tale have descended into rants. I don't want it to appear that I had a bad time because that certainly isn't the case. I'd never been on holiday for more than 9 or 10 days before and I had a wealth of new experiences and saw places that most people never really go to. I definately want to visit Bosnia again, particularly Sarajevo so I can see how the place is finally starting to pick itself up. I think we both agreed that if we go to that part of the world again we shall still firmly off the tourist trail - perhaps to places like Romania, Albania, Macedonia and Bulgaria. They all have a lot to offer and I'm looking forward to making a return trip at some point in the future!

Without rules, where would we be?

If we all follow these simple rules, our classroom will be a much friendlier place where we are more likely to learn and succeed!

1. We will raise our hands when Mr. Owen asks a question and wait to be picked (unless he asks us personally).

2. We will not shout out.

3. We will keep four chair legs on the floor at all times.

4. We will bring our basic equipment to all lessons. This means a pen, a pencil and a ruler.

5. We will wait our turn and not interrupt Mr. Owen when he is talking to other pupils.

6. Mobile phones, MP3 players and Ipods will be neither seen nor heard in Mr. Owen’s lessons.

7. We shall respect everyone else in the class.

8. We shall always try our best!

Always ask if you are struggling!

All but over?!

Hillary Clinton's narrow victory in North Carolina and Indiana may not be enough to save her. She needed a big win to offset Senator Obama's lead and not even the so-called 'superdelegates' may be enough to avoid the inevitable. The trouble is, Clinton will not give up until the bitter end. Think about it, she's been planning this campaign for years and now with only a few months to go until the general election she's going to want to know that she fought tooth and nail - the trouble is, this will mean defeat for the Democratic party overall. I'm not the first to point out that this bitter contest is leaving the McCain team rubbing their hands with glee. At the time of writing it seems as though he is by far and away the frontrunner. His military past gives him a certain amount of credibility - and not to mention his moderate Republican policies which has made many people realise that another GOP President would not be a Bush reincarnation.

That's why liberal America has something to smile about. Whoever wins, the White House will come in from the right. Furthermore, whoever McCain faces it's going to be an interesting contest - with Clinton we of course have the first possiblity of a female President but with the more likely candidate, Obama, we have the possiblity of the first black president - perhaps even more astonishing, especially only 44 years after the end of racial segregation in the deep South. However, I don't think race will be Obama's downfall - his inexperience may be the harbinger of defeat on this occasion. I forget his exact age, but he's in his forties, was elected to the Senate only a few years ago after a stint as a legal eagle and his record cannot compare to either that of Clinton or McCain. A commentator recently said (I think it was Freedland in the Guardian) that if Obama were to be elected, the worldwide anticipation and excitement that this would create would remove the possibility of a successful presidency - quite simply, expectations would be far too high to match outcomes...He's been looking very tired recently too. Whilst he's shrugging off Clinton, McCain is preparing for the contest in November. Expect to see a Republican President in the White House this time next year!

It looks like the party's over!

The only decent thing about the recent elections was the fact that the BNP didn’t win in Carlisle. Labour lost two seats to the Tories and in the ward where I reside – St. Aidan’s – the Labour incumbent retained her seat. The BNP, despite pushing all manner of racist garbage through the letterboxes of these streets in recent weeks, were well and truly defeated. Nationally the BNP polled much worse than expected due to the relatively high turn out. The most high-profile victory was Richard Barnbrook in Dagenham. I’m sorry to say that he used to be a teacher.

Overall, the Labour party were completely annihilated on Thursday. Parties of government are expected to do badly in local elections. Blair received an electoral ‘bloody nose’ prior to the General Election of 2005. However, this defeat for Gordon Brown was worse, much worse. So bad in fact that Labour have not fared so badly since 1968. Back then Harold Wilson was in Number 10 and within two year he was defeated by the Heathite Conservatives. Brown knows his history – the man who waited his entire political life for his current job must now face the real possibility that it will come to an abrupt end in 2010, barely three years after Blair handed over the reins and hardly long enough for Brown to fulfil his potential. It also ought to be remembered that Blair never faced an election off the back of an economy in recession. Governments survive or fall by their handling of the economy and that which saved Blair may be Brown’s downfall.

Martin Kettle writes in today’s Guardian that the great New Labour experiment is over. The party which for so long wasted away in the doldrums of the left has now come ‘full circle’ and the Conservative party are once again returning to their natural role of governing party – I say ‘natural’ because history shows the Tories have held power the longest. If Labour are defeated in 2010 – and that now looks highly likely – the party will face an interesting predicament. It will undoubtedly have to reform. Steering the same path will be out of the question. Cameron has always been a big fan of Blair and his government will be the natural heir of Blairism. Even though a return to the days of 1983 would be catastrophic, I see little alternative to a leftward shift for the party. Quite clearly it will have to define itself in opposition to the new Conservative government. Thatcherism has become Blairism – the torch will soon pass to Cameron and a leftist alternative is now the only option for Labour. I’m not talking about socialism – quite simply the party needs to return to its core values of justice, equality and standing up for the working man. Recently, it has been the party’s failure to do this which has given rise to the exploitative tactics of the BNP. The white working class feel disenfranchised by Labour (the proposed abolition of the 10p tax rate was the epitome of this and the most symbolic aspect of Labour's abandonment of the working classes) – the party needs to a new reforming agenda which will reach out to its core constituency. The sooner it does this the better. Whether this can be done before 2010 is questionable. In any case, I cannot see it saving Gordon Brown who now finds himself in the same position as John Major in 1995 – two years to go as a ‘lame duck’ Prime Minister.