Prickly subject.

Stood outside around 9.15 talking to Corin, and watching the cat doing his "stalk the hedgehog in the bush" routine, when suddenly the moggie legs it, because the hedgehog has scuttled out of the bushes straight at him.

I nipped back inside and got the magic picture box, and ran up the street to wear the cat was standing guard. No street light, and I could just see the outline of the hedgehog, who was stock still on the pavement. The cat went, I stayed and took a few "point and hope" photos in the darkness with the flash.

Was pleased, particularly as I have never seen a hedgehog close up (I was only about a foot away from him, but the camera was seeing, not me). Those spikes look nasty and I am now unsurprised that the cat ran away. I'm also loving the leaf stuck on one of his spikes above his eye.

I've just watched "life.turns" - it's awesome. Brought tears to my eyes that we can contribute to something like this.

I have to have a little rant also. I had a similar rant last year, but it was about the way the media report the GCSE results each year. I have chosen to ignore the newspapers this year. But I looked on a local news website today, looking to see if our press release had been reported. I stumbled across some comments on an article about the state of play for Manchester boroughs in the results. It was a positive, balanced article. What I am utterly furious about is a comment that someone had left, which said that the improving results were nothing to do with hard work, but simply that the exam system was getting easier. His evidence for this? Firstly, his own opinion that "all of the school leavers I meet are think as s**t". Secondly (this is the blinder) - "Most of them are illiterate when they leave scholl [sic]".

I won't go on, because in some respects that particular commentator stuck his knife straight back into him/herself (I am assuming of course that s/he wasn't being ironic). BUT I do take offence, on behalf of my students, at the generalisation that all school leavers are "thick as ..." Unless I am wrong, the younger generation are not the only ones to have people with lower than average intelligence and fewer than average qualifications amongst their number. I will vouch for the fact that there are a significant number of our students who are intelligent individuals, with common sense, a positive attitude and a willingness to learn and improve themselves. I don't think those personal attributes make them "thick as..."

As for hard work ...don't get me started (the comment was probably written by a NEET who is scrounging off the welfare state)

Rant over.



(NEET - Not in Employment, Education or Training : It's the politically correct phrase for a lazy skiver, or someone who genuinely can't get work but who is trying (you see how I presented a balanced viewpoint there?))