“Patriotism is the last resort of a scoundrel” This was the classic first term subject for the University debating club to get their teeth into. Of course, each year we would make the mistake of debating whether or not patriotism was a good or bad thing. In so doing, we missed the point that the… Continue reading My country right or wrong?
Tag: Public Theology
The responsibility of universities and the A- Level results scandal
So now the fall-out from the response to the fall out starts. Attention has moved from our concern about the impact of last week’s grading debacle on students to how it will affect Universities. Universities are now being presented as the new victims. They had no choice but to offer places to those who met… Continue reading The responsibility of universities and the A- Level results scandal
The A Level Results scandal – a moral issue
I have written already about some aspects of the A Level results fiasco. So far I’ve written about the political fall out and the technical and administrative errors. It is important when we consider things that we think through all the implications. However, central to the scandal is a moral issue. The moral issue is… Continue reading The A Level Results scandal – a moral issue
The A Level Results scandal – a political disaster
Whatever you may think of previous education secretaries, I suspect that even the most controversial (Ken Baker, Ken Clarke, David Blunkett or even Michael Gove) would not have made such a horrendous hash of exam grades during the pandemic. First of all, they would not have come out and said that exam grades based on… Continue reading The A Level Results scandal – a political disaster
Losing Sleep and a hill to die on
The other day I talked about the issues we choose to lose sleep about and not feeling compelled to lose sleep about everything that others are passionate about. Well, I’ve just started reading a book by Gavin Ortlund called “Choosing which hill to die on.” The imagery is about defending your position in battle and… Continue reading Losing Sleep and a hill to die on
Why I still think #EatOutToHelpOut is wrong … but what it might achieve
I have been arguing since it was announced that Rishi Sunak’s “Eat out to help out” scheme was a bad idea economically. You see, the assumption seems to be that the measure will encourage people to start eating out in restaurants again. The problem is that the thing that has stopped people eating out over… Continue reading Why I still think #EatOutToHelpOut is wrong … but what it might achieve
Don’t lose sleep over it
Apparently I’m cold and unfair! What has provoked this? The answer is that I choose not to lose sleep over the challenges that the private school sector face as a result of COVD-19. The Economist has written an article explaining that schools have been hit financially and the ongoing crisis is likely to lead to… Continue reading Don’t lose sleep over it
We won’t beat COVID-19 if we don’t understand the problem
This is a fascinating report from the BBC on Coronavirus on my home city, Bradford. I had already seen some reports of smaller towns and villages which are included within the metropolitan district complaining that they had been included in measures because the local authority did not want to make distinctions within its boundaries. Meanwhile… Continue reading We won’t beat COVID-19 if we don’t understand the problem
Fighting a pandemic, how have we done so far?
As life begins to return to normal, it is perhaps a good opportunity to look back on the past few months and reflect on how the UK has done so far in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. I say “so far” because we are still not out of the woods yet. The virus is still… Continue reading Fighting a pandemic, how have we done so far?
When did lockdown really start (or “Is Matt Hancock re-writing history?”)
When did the lockdown really start? Does it really matter? Well, potentially yes. You see there’s been some heated discussion in the last week or two about whether or not the Government delayed entering lockdown and whether or not this cost lives? There seem to be two potential answers to this. The common answer is… Continue reading When did lockdown really start (or “Is Matt Hancock re-writing history?”)
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