My regret is that I did not travel to Syria in early 2011 when I had the chance. A friend went and loved it. I planned to go that summer but family matters intervened so it was put on hold for later in the year. Then the rogue trader matter blew up at work so that was the next 19 months of my life taken care of.
And by the time I got up for air, the whole region was in flames.
Moral: go to places when you want to not "later". I still hope to do a tour of the Middle Eastern part of the Roman Empire: Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Libya, Tunisia and Egypt, then Turkey, Sicily (again) and up north through the heel of Italy. But for the moment it's a dream.
A couple of years ago I had the opportunity (which I took) to buy the book collection of Barbara Parker who was the second wife of the Archaeologist Max Mallowan (Whose first wife was Agatha Christie). Whilst much of the collection were books on the translation of Cuneiform and texts from the Hittite and Assyrian Empires, it also included a series of notebooks from Mallowan's excavations in Northern Syria before WW2. If anyone is interested the notebooks and some details of the collection are now available at
Digitising the collection and making it available online caused a small but gratifying stir in the archaeology community and as a result I have been in regular contact with the teams who, until the start of the civil war, had been working on the ancient stone age sites in Northern Syria. One of the sites that is the centre of interest at the moment is the Tell Sabi Abyad Project which is finding settlements dating back to the 7th millenium BC.
Obviously since hostilities broke out they have had to pull their teams out and there is real concern that these sites may well be destroyed. Like many others my regret is that I have not yet had the chance to visit these sites but I do live in hope that I will get out there one day.
My regret is that I did not travel to Syria in early 2011 when I had the chance. A friend went and loved it. I planned to go that summer but family matters intervened so it was put on hold for later in the year. Then the rogue trader matter blew up at work so that was the next 19 months of my life taken care of.
And by the time I got up for air, the whole region was in flames.
Moral: go to places when you want to not "later". I still hope to do a tour of the Middle Eastern part of the Roman Empire: Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Libya, Tunisia and Egypt, then Turkey, Sicily (again) and up north through the heel of Italy. But for the moment it's a dream.
A couple of years ago I had the opportunity (which I took) to buy the book collection of Barbara Parker who was the second wife of the Archaeologist Max Mallowan (Whose first wife was Agatha Christie). Whilst much of the collection were books on the translation of Cuneiform and texts from the Hittite and Assyrian Empires, it also included a series of notebooks from Mallowan's excavations in Northern Syria before WW2. If anyone is interested the notebooks and some details of the collection are now available at
Digitising the collection and making it available online caused a small but gratifying stir in the archaeology community and as a result I have been in regular contact with the teams who, until the start of the civil war, had been working on the ancient stone age sites in Northern Syria. One of the sites that is the centre of interest at the moment is the Tell Sabi Abyad Project which is finding settlements dating back to the 7th millenium BC.
Obviously since hostilities broke out they have had to pull their teams out and there is real concern that these sites may well be destroyed. Like many others my regret is that I have not yet had the chance to visit these sites but I do live in hope that I will get out there one day.
Thank you. I will look at this in more detail tomorrow.
A classic Mail piece, that. The November figure supports their thesis better than the more recent one, so hey, they headline November. The graph showing UKIP and LibDems absolutely level within MOE for months is captioned "UKIP cement their lead over the LibDems", while the more obvious changes of Labour's lead vanishing and then coming back are ignored.
The biggest issue is a lack of school systems/learning ethos or - more commonly - systems that are not backed up by managers. They want to brush 'behaviour' under the carpet to massage the stats, and put pressure on staff to put up and shut up.
It's difficult to exclude - again, the figures - and almost impossible to expel.
Attendance is another big factor - schools are now penalised on this, so a lot of resources are spent ensuring that (generally challenging) poor attenders are in school. (I was a 'determined' truant when at school and the school did nothing about it - my parents didn't know until some way down the line - but ignoring it isn't an option now; I'm not saying you should, but it's another factor in the mix).
Some parents are a pain but most appreciate it when you try to instil discipline. I've had parents asking to have their kids moved to my classes as I've got a 'rep' (according to one student).
I'm in a tough school but I don't have problems with behaviour. I only saw a phone in my classroom 3 times last term, and they weren't being used - but it still meant a detention.
The kids like it, learning comes first, my 'results' are good (though of course you may only have them for a year out of five so it's not as simple as that).
My biggest battle is with management and I stand firm, using my own systems and refusing to use theirs. This causes a hell of a lot of stress - as does trying to get managers to do their job properly - but I'm stubborn and stick it out because I value what I do and feel I owe it to the kids. The 'new, dynamic' head spent two years trying to get rid of me for 'challenging authority' until he gave up.
Many good teachers give up the battle - which can be Orwellian and, tbh, absurd - because they don't have the energy anymore.
There are bad teachers, yes - but a lot of comment on 'teachers' being the main issue in schools is, frankly, dim.
When?
My school in the 70s the management were pro-discipline and it was the new teachers coming out of the teacher training colleges that were actively anti-discipline and actively undermined it.
My experience having worked at a quango in the education field is that my ex-teacher colleagues were pretty shit at management. Mainly because they try to treat adults as children, which of course is what their experience is. So I am not surprised if management within schools is generally poor.
My point was about the difference between the teacher's and school manager's attitudes towards discipline in the 70s.
I posted this article from the Mail with @antifrank's excellent contributions on the upcoming year in politics down thread in mind. I thought that the main thrust of the article pointing out that the more Nigel Farage becomes known to the public, the less popular he becomes backed up antifranks predictions of how the party will fare once the Euro elections are done and dusted and the voters mind then turn towards the upcoming GE.
I think that antifrank was on the money with his predictions for both the Indy Ref and the Labour party polling as well. I must admit that the complacency of the Labour party really does surprise me after what happened up here in Scotland in the run up to the Holyrood elections. On the issue of tactical voting, we are experts up here in Scotland. It would be a mistake to assume that all Libdem tactical voters in former Conservative held rural areas in Scotland are necessary SNP or Labour voters.
A classic Mail piece, that. The November figure supports their thesis better than the more recent one, so hey, they headline November. The graph showing UKIP and LibDems absolutely level within MOE for months is captioned "UKIP cement their lead over the LibDems", while the more obvious changes of Labour's lead vanishing and then coming back are ignored.
It would be a mistake to assume that all Libdem tactical voters in former Conservative held rural areas in Scotland are necessary SNP or Labour voters.
Good to see you are still around. I thought you might have disappeared during my absence!
I agree with you about many current LD voters. Since those who weren't right wing, abandoned the LDs for SNP or Labour 2 or 3 years back, it's not surprising that many of the remnant share Tory ideas.
Maitland Mackie (in whose farmhouse - when his Dad was in charge - I first saw TV) is wholly typical of such LDs.
I was catching up with the threads earlier, and Rod Crosby had listed the Scottish Conservative MP's now sitting in English seats. My previous local Conservative councillor under the old single ward system was an incredible popular chap who was a former English farmer! I remember offering to help him do his leaflet drops as his ward covered a large rural area, but he always refused and did the whole leaflet drop himself. He reckoned it was the best way to meet and hear the concerns of locals personally, he never missed a local event or meeting in any village either. He became a bit of a legend locally, it was a shame he had to stand down when he took up a job involving his other passion, the Cairngorm National Trust.
It would be a mistake to assume that all Libdem tactical voters in former Conservative held rural areas in Scotland are necessary SNP or Labour voters.
Good to see you are still around. I thought you might have disappeared during my absence!
I agree with you about many current LD voters. Since those who weren't right wing, abandoned the LDs for SNP or Labour 2 or 3 years back, it's not surprising that many of the remnant share Tory ideas.
Maitland Mackie (in whose farmhouse - when his Dad was in charge - I first saw TV) is wholly typical of such LDs.
Comments
https://sites.google.com/site/themallowanarchive/
Digitising the collection and making it available online caused a small but gratifying stir in the archaeology community and as a result I have been in regular contact with the teams who, until the start of the civil war, had been working on the ancient stone age sites in Northern Syria. One of the sites that is the centre of interest at the moment is the Tell Sabi Abyad Project which is finding settlements dating back to the 7th millenium BC.
http://www.sabi-abyad.nl/Page.aspx?pageType=page&pageID=315
Obviously since hostilities broke out they have had to pull their teams out and there is real concern that these sites may well be destroyed. Like many others my regret is that I have not yet had the chance to visit these sites but I do live in hope that I will get out there one day.
I think that antifrank was on the money with his predictions for both the Indy Ref and the Labour party polling as well. I must admit that the complacency of the Labour party really does surprise me after what happened up here in Scotland in the run up to the Holyrood elections. On the issue of tactical voting, we are experts up here in Scotland. It would be a mistake to assume that all Libdem tactical voters in former Conservative held rural areas in Scotland are necessary SNP or Labour voters.
I agree with you about many current LD voters. Since those who weren't right wing, abandoned the LDs for SNP or Labour 2 or 3 years back, it's not surprising that many of the remnant share Tory ideas.
Maitland Mackie (in whose farmhouse - when his Dad was in charge - I first saw TV) is wholly typical of such LDs.