Education-Education; Police nags; Mont less; Picture this; And Pachyderm peril. Plus Serious and sensitive.

Before the off something serious and sensitive: and yes I can do serious and sensitive.

I was contacted by a nice young lady yesterday, here is her email:

Hello,

I'm working on a programme for Channel 4 on palliative / end-of-life care. We started looking into it around the time The Patient's Association came out with a report detailing bad quality of care and a lot of it seemed to happen with people at the end-of-life stage. We started looking into it more and found that while there are some of the best palliative care specialists in the world working in this country, that expertise does not necessarily filter down to more general staff and care. Lack of training coupled with a lack of resources seems to mean that a fair number of people are suffering at the end of their lives.

We want to make a film where we follow a number of people in end-of-life care.

Here is a brief explanation of what we're working on:

Hardcash Productions is in the initial stages of research into making a programme on palliative care for the terminally ill in the UK for Channel Four. Hardcash is a leading independent television company specialising in documentaries and current affairs documentaries. Our website www.hardcashproductions.com, gives details of our recent work.

We are looking at issues of care, pain management, specialist training, and communication between medical staff and both the terminally ill themselves and their families. Our plan at this stage is to look at these issues through a small number of personal case histories – ones that are on-going. We would like to speak to patients, carers and family members who are in palliative / end-of-life care at the moment, whose stories would potentially illustrate the issues we mentioned above.

Finally, I should tell you that we have a consultant on this programme who is an expert in palliative care, we understand how sensitive this issue is and we will absolutely handle it with the utmost care.

So please ask around to see if anyone you know currently in palliative / end-of-life care would be interested in telling their story to us. It would initially just be for a confidential chat. We could take it further later on if they feel comfortable enough to do so
.

I'm keen to speak with someone familiar with this issue at Angus Dei. A doctor named Rita Pal directed me to your site.

Could we have a chat?

My contact details are below.

Kind regards,
Caroline

Caroline Marsden
Hardcash Productions for Channel 4
020 7253 2782 (office)
07931 303 318 (mobile)
caroline@hardcashproductions.com


We did have a chat but my experience of the “palliative care” that ‘M’ received is not relevant because it was over four years ago and things “have changed” since then (I wish), however if anyone out there is interested in participating contact Caroline through the above info, or you can leave your contact details with me and I will pass them on.

This is not something I would normally do but I feel that this type of programme is necessary to either show that end of life care is “palliative” or is substandard; after all it is something we will all need.

Anyway, back to ‘normal’.

BF3 on firework night, I don’t have to worry about the cat because she is stone deaf and likes to sit on the battlements to watch the pyrotechnics uttering the feline equivalent of “Oooh and Aaaah” unlike DD who has to fortify her mud hut to protect her house guests.

There is a plethora of my type of ‘news’ today so I have picked my favourites.





First up:

What is the use of History?

Adolf Hitler was a German football coach, say one in 20 children.

And one in six youngsters said they thought Auschwitz was a Second World War theme park while one in 20 said the Holocaust was a celebration at the end of the war.

The survey for a veterans' charity also found one in 10 thought the SS stood for Enid Blyton's Secret Seven, and one in 12 believed the Blitz was a European clean-up operation following the Second World War.

Scottish-based charity Erskine, which provides nursing and medical care for veterans, said it would now take part in a nationwide scheme to educate schoolchildren about the two world conflicts.

The charity questioned 2,000 children between the ages of nine and 15 about their knowledge of the key people and events of the two wars.

While a quarter admitted they did not think about the soldiers who died in the conflicts, and 40 per cent said they did not know when Remembrance Day was, 70 per cent of all those surveyed said they wanted to learn more about the two wars in school.

So what are kids being taught in history classes?

BYO GEE GEE

Hertfordshire police is keen to boost special constables in the countryside, and said that those who already own horses should be able to use them as transport.

It is the first in the country to promote such a scheme but believes it could catch on if successful.

Insp George Holland, who came up with the plan, said it would help cut down on carbon emissions and encourage farmers and gamekeepers to sign up as special constables.
Speaking to Police Review magazine, he said: "The thinking behind allowing the use of their own horses is that it is not only environmentally friendly but there are also lots of people who otherwise would have not been interested in joining who might now be."

He said that it was “ridiculous” that many of the current officers are not from a countryside background, despite Hertfordshire being 80 per cent rural and said the new officers would “provide a better service to rural areas”

He said: "There are very few people in the force from a rural background - and that is ridiculous.

"We anticipate that it will provide a genuinely better service to rural people and boost their confidence that the police really do care and are dealing with issues that matter to them."

Insp Holland said that the new initiative hope to attract “community members such as gamekeepers, horse riders and farmers” as they are familiar with the countryside and could be key in helping solve crimes in the area.

The force already has already recruited 14 dedicated “country cops” who are due to start their new jobs next week, but plan to sign up another 16 officers by the New Year.

One officer, who did not want to be named, said the new squad had been dubbed the 'Bumpkin Bobbies'.

He said: "It's fantastic that we're getting a new team of officers on horseback who can trot all over the countryside solving crimes.

Good idea?

Mont Blanc on the move

The snow-capped Alpine giant Mont Blanc has shrunk by 18 inches in two years, experts said on Thursday following an official survey.

The new height of the tallest peak in western Europe, which lies on the three-way border between France, Italy and Switzerland, is 15,782.3 feet, just over half that of Nepal's Everest.

The volume of snow and ice coating the summit has also dropped by about a tenth, topographer Bernard Dupont said, adding that this could not be linked directly to the effects of climate change.

Mr Dupont said climate change indicators could only truly be measured on a scale of 30 years or more and that ice temperatures and precipitation levels further down the mountain, at around 9,800 feet, would be a better guide.

The expedition, which included the mayor of Annecy, the French town that is a candidate for the Winter Olympics, also found that the highest point on the mountain had shifted 85 feet closer to Italy but remained in France.

Maps, reference guides and school books will be updated accordingly.

Even the mountains are trying to emigrate.

Virtual Health and Safety

Organisers of a Guy Fawkes Night party in Devon claim health and safety officials have forced them to watch a film of a bonfire rather than the real thing.

The event, dubbed 'non fire night', at Ilfracombe Rugby Club will see about 2,000 revellers hold sparklers and gather around a big screen showing footage of a bonfire.

Recorded images of a roaring real fire will be projected onto the 16ft by 12ft screen mounted on a scaffolding stand - at a cost of £300.

Organisers say they were put off having a real fire by the 'mountain' of paperwork and regulations set by council chiefs, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Officials at the authority said that to have a real fire they would require five qualified fire marshals and metal barricades to keep people at a safe distance.

The non-fire night will also involve giant heaters, lighting and a smoke machine to give the crowd the taste of a real bonfire night.

Sounds of crackling wood will also be broadcast on loudspeakers and £2,500 fireworks will be fired into the air.

"Certain regulations make it difficult for us to have a real bonfire. It is not really a financially viable option," said club captain Leo Cooper, 25.

"The bonfire is often the focal point so we decided to have a big screen that would do the same job."

But local resident Amy Collins, 26, complained: "The whole point of Guy Fawkes Night is to watch and smell a real bonfire. I doubt Guy Fawkes would have been able to blow up Parliament with virtual gunpowder."

Personally I would rather see virtual fireworks; at least you could turn the sound down.


And finally:

Elephant on the road

Only from over the what not in Oklahoma:

A couple driving home from church nearly slammed into a giant pachyderm that had escaped from a nearby circus late Wednesday. "Didn't have time to hit the brakes. The elephant blended in with the road," driver Bill Carpenter said Thursday. "At the very last second I said 'elephant!"'

Carpenter, 68, said he swerved his SUV at the last second and ended up sideswiping the 29-year-old female elephant on U.S. 81 in Enid, about 80 miles (129 kilometres)north of Oklahoma City.

"So help me Hanna, had I hit that elephant, not swerved, it would have knocked it off its legs, and it would have landed right on top of us," he said. "We'd have been history."

The couple, who own a wheat farm, weren't injured. But the 8-foot, 4,500-pound (2.4-meter, 2,040-kilogram) elephant was being examined Thursday for a broken tusk and a leg wound. A local veterinarian said it appeared to have escaped major injury.

"I thought this can't be happening. Out here you could hit a deer or a cow, but this can't be happening. The good Lord was with us," Carpenter said. The elephant's tusk punched through the side of the SUV, tearing up sheet metal.

After sideswiping the elephant, his wife, Deena, flagged some people down and used their cell phone to call police.

"The dispatcher didn't believe her: 'You hit a what?"' he said. "I told my wife, I don't know whether to cry or laugh."

Enid veterinarian Dr. Dwight Olson said the elephant was hiding in some bushes just off the highway when he arrived shortly after the accident. Handlers from the circus were able to calm it down, and Olson cleaned the leg wound and gave it some pain killer.

The elephant was taken Thursday to the veterinary school at Oklahoma State University for a follow-up exam.

"I don't believe there's a broken bone, but I don't have an X-ray room big enough to examine it," Olson said.

The elephant had escaped from the Family Fun Circus at the Garfield County Fairgrounds earlier Wednesday after something spooked it while it was being loaded into a truck with another elephant, Olson said.

David Sacks, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said late Thursday the elephant is owned by the same license holder of two elephants that escaped after getting spooked by a tornado in WaKeeney, Kansas, last year. The license holder is Doug Terranova, Sacks said.

A booking agent for the circus, Rachael Bellman, said she was unaware of the incident, and a telephone message left with circus officials wasn't immediately returned.


The quote “The elephant blended in with the road," has got to be the best this year.


Angus

AnglishLit

Angus Dei-NHS-THE OTHER SIDE

Angus Dei politico

Jobsworths; Fat skunk; Naughty-naughty; Hanging out; and ‘Soft Beer’

It seems that the cervical cancer vaccine may not have been responsible for the death of Natalie Morgan, Panic over?

I watched Gord yesterday giving his “speech”, not impressed; the whole thing smacks of desperation, even the Sun has pulled out, but I do hear that Brighton is a nice place to retire to (take note labour).

Today is “retune” day for free view viewers, finally those annoying pop up reminders will go away.

Couple of points; when is lunchtime exactly? And about 20,000 older set top boxes will cease to function, so be warned.



First up:

Buggy brain-dead

Lee-Anna Futcher must now pay £50 to get the brand-new pram back after it was confiscated because it may have caused an obstruction in the event of a fire.

Miss Futcher, 28, left the buggy in the communal hallway of the council flats she lives in as she struggled up two flights of stairs with her seven-day-old baby Mason and bags.

But before her partner Matthew Clark-Bradbury could return home two hours later and haul it upstairs with him, the over-zealous council officers struck.

At first the couple thought the £350 Silver Cross buggy had been stolen. They searched the area around the flats and then contacted the local council to report it.

It was only then they discovered it had been impounded for health and safety reasons.

They have four weeks to pay the money or the buggy will be disposed of by Bournemouth Borough Council in Dorset.

Ian Shaw, the council's housing manager, said: "The health and safety of our residents is our number one priority. It is our responsibility to ensure fire escape routes are clear and the importance is evident when you read the tragic story of the tower block fire that killed six people in Camberwell in July.

"Housing officers asked residents to keep the exit routes clear and not to leave obstructions in the corridors. However, as this proved unsuccessful, we sent letters to all residents informing them we would have to take action to remove items ourselves."

Council Jobsworths.

Bacon Butty Blowout

An obese skunk has been put on a strict diet to help wean him off his addiction to bacon sandwiches.

The mammal, named Mr Bumble, was given to the RSPCA by his previous owners when he became too much of a handful. He now lives at Tropiquaria Animal Park near Watchet, Somerset where he is being put through a dietary regime involving long walks.

Mr Bumble weighed one stone when he arrived at the centre, around double his ideal weight.

Park owner Chris Noisier told the BBC: "We're now working on dieting him down to what he should be and clearly bacon butties are not a normal part of a skunk's diet in the wild."We're putting him on the vegetarian option at the moment.

It's very much like a human weight watching issue."He is getting to meet lots of new people so there's lots going on in his life and I suspect it's making up for the lack of his old favourite food."A skunk's natural diet in the wild features carrion, insects, mice and a range of greenery.

Native to North America, the creatures have become popular as house pets in the UK. But increasingly they are being found abandoned after a law was passed preventing the removal of their scent glands.Vets' examinations have been unable to determine whether this happened to Mr Bumble.


Sorry; I thought this was a story about the other type of “skunk”

Make your minds up

Successive Governments have removed the powers of teachers to “punish” badly behaved schoolchildren, so much so that the only thing left to them is detention.

But now wide eyed and clueless Ed Balls has decided that schools which fail to tackle bad behaviour risk being punished by the education watchdog under new rules being unveiled by the Children's Secretary.

Ed Balls will also issue a new leaflet to parents warning them they must take responsibility for their child's behaviour at school or face sanctions.

The Behaviour Challenge outlines what heads and governors can do to improve behaviour with the support of parents and pupils.

Speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton, Mr Balls will say: "Parents want their children to go to an orderly school with a strong head teacher who won't tolerate bullying or disruptive behaviour in the classroom.

"Our new Behaviour Challenge will ensure that every school has good discipline. And, we will back head teachers, and expect all parents to back teachers too, so they have the confidence to use their powers to the full so they can get on and teach and all children can learn."

So is the Gov going to give teachers powers to take action, or is this another election ploy?

Don't pee on me

A crocodile attacked a young American tourist as he tried to urinate in a lagoon near the Mexican tourist resort of Cancun, police said.

Andrew Dales, 20, confessed he had been on a mission to relieve himself when the crocodile suddenly snapped at him, said police spokesman Alejandro Solorzano.

Dales suffered "multiple bite wounds" to his leg and neck and was also left with a head injury after the reptile knocked him to the ground, Mr Solorzano said.

Lagoons in the area are dotted with crocodile warning signs.

Piddling Numpty

And finally:

To beer or not to beer

The Unicorn Brewery in Cheshire is making what it calls "soft brews", a dry fizzy drink made with English hops and malt that look like a beer with a full frothy head, smell a bit like a beer, but are completely free from alcohol.

The drinks are then flavoured with fruit juice, to add a small amount of sweetness to the otherwise dry drink. The bottles come in three flavours: citrus, apple and blackcurrant.

While the drink is brewed along the same lines as a beer, no yeast is added and therefore no fermentation can take place.

The soft brews hit the market as the low-alcohol drinks sector is enjoying substantial sales growth, while wine and beer sales in Britain are struggling. According to market research company Nielsen, the low-alcohol sector has increased sales by £25.3 million, or 11 per cent in the last 12 months.

The drinks cost £3.99 for a pack of four 275ml bottles.

So it’s not an alcopop then just a pop.

Angus


AnglishLit

Angus Dei-NHS-THE OTHER SIDE

Angus Dei politico

THE NEXT GENERATION- PARENTS AND CHILDREN

Just one topic today, I saw this on the BBC NEWS website, Four in 10 teachers have faced verbal or physical aggression from a pupil's parent or guardian, according to the Association of Teachers and Lecturers.

And of the 1,000 teachers surveyed, a quarter said a pupil had attacked them.

Over a third of teachers in primary schools said they had experienced physical aggression, compared with 20% in secondary schools.

The government says teachers have sufficient means at their disposal to punish disruptive pupils.

Almost 60% of those questioned for the Association of Teachers and Lecturers' survey thought pupil behaviour had worsened during the past five years.

The survey questioned over 1,000 teachers from primary and secondary schools.
The responses appear to suggest that bad behaviour is not the preserve of secondary schools.

What is going on?

One teacher at a primary school in England said: "A six-year-old completely trashed the staff room, put a knife through a computer screen, attacked staff and we had to call the police.”

"Another six-year-old attacked staff and pupils with the teacher's scissors."

Another teacher said: "I and other members of staff were physically assaulted daily by a five-year-old (including head-butting, punching).

"He was taken to the head to 'calm down' then brought back to apologise.”

We are not talking about teenagers here, these are five and six year olds, what kind of parental control is being used? Bugger all by the look of it.

But most teachers (90%) reported that "disruptive behaviour" constituted talking in class.

"Persistent low-level rudeness and disruption seems to have become a fact of life in education today and no longer raises eyebrows or seems to merit special attention," said Dr Ian Lancaster, a secondary school teacher from Cheshire.

Old fart that I may be at least we had respect for teachers; and that I think is the problem, no respect.

The children at school now are the offspring of Thatcher’s generation, remember Thatcher? If you want something take it, sod everyone else, and get what you can. Thatcher.

The media go on about the education system and how it has “dumbed down”, the schools are blamed and the teachers are blamed, the parental role in the “system” seems to have been largely ignored, kids spend seven hours a day at school and seventeen hours a day at home.

And yes I know that parents can be sent to prison for not sending their children to school, but forcing a child who obviously doesn’t want to be educated, and behaves like a yob when they are in school is not the answer.

One child can damage the education of thirty other children (or whatever the class size is nowadays) and if that child is allowed to disrupt classes day after day then education is dumbing down because the other twenty nine pupils in that class will not be able to fulfil their potential.

Some education is boring (at least it was in my day-Dammit, I said it!), but that is what out of school hours are for, to learn, to read and explore the things that do interest kids, and that is the role of parents in education-to encourage, and teach respect, to instil into their children that without an education kids will be at a disadvantage when it comes to employment, and the rest of their lives.

Perhaps I look at the world through distorted glasses but I know kids that want to learn, and parents that want their kids to learn and take pride when achievements are made and good manners are used, and I can see the kind of adults they will be, responsible and caring, adults that will pass on their outlook to life to their kids.


"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for the rest of his life." Chinese proverb

Angus

NHS Behind the headlines

Angus Dei politico

NHS-THE OTHER SIDE

THE THREE R’s

I must admit I am a bit bemused by the hoo-ha over Primary School Education BBC NEWS

The Cambridge University report Children in England are getting a "deficient" primary education because schools are focusing too much on maths, English and testing, Their right to a broad curriculum is being "needlessly compromised" and their lives "impoverished" by the "standards agenda".

It has been a while since I was in “infants” as it was known, and I must admit I enjoyed it, I know times have changed, but isn’t “primary” education there to prepare very young children for “secondary” education, by teaching them to read, write and “add up”.

Reading is essential, it enables kids to access the vast number of different topics that are in book form, writing is again essential because it enables kids to express their views on the vast number of topics in our world.

Arithmetic is essential because it enables kids to function in the world by being able to control their finances.

And of course all three are essential because it enables kids to get a job and earn a living.

The key word is of course “enable”, to enable a child is to allow them to use their imagination and gifts to follow the path they want to, to discover new things, to be an historian, or a weather person or maybe an actor or a writer.

To enable is to be able to want to learn and progress through their whole life.

The real problem it seems is that there is too much testing of young children, and parents “expect” this is not about how proud a parent feels, or how much they can “one up” because their child is “better” but it is about the kids and their futures.

I remember that we had one exam per year to decide which stream you would be in the next year, there were small tests during the terms but it was done in a way that it didn’t seem to be a test.

Maybe it is a matter of attitudes, maybe the style of teaching has changed or maybe it’s that the kids are pushed too hard, not by the schools but by parents, because the harder you push a kid the harder they will push back.

"The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet." Aristotle

Angus

NHS Behind the headlines

Angus Dei politico

STATE OR PRIVATE EDUCATION-CHOICE OR NECESSITY?

It appears that quite a lot of parents are applying to local councils to have their children educated in state schools.

BBC NEWS

These are the parents whose children are in Private education but, because of the “Crunch” they can no longer afford to pay the fees, and some private schools are closing due to lack of pupils.

This debate between State and Private Schooling has been bubbling along for many years.

The “reasons” given by the “Private” club have been-private education is better because of the ratio between teacher and pupils, and that they want the best education for their children.

But suddenly the economy has changed their minds and now it seems that “quality” of education is not as important as MONEY.

So it seems that State education is OK if you haven’t got the money but Private education is Ok as long as it doesn’t hit your assets too hard.

Cynical: yes, but it does show the power of money (or lack of it).





‘ALLO JOHN GOT A NEW SHUTTLE?

For sale: used space shuttles

Yes you can now buy a second hand Space Shuttle, Couple of Million miles on the clock, bits tend to fall off, no engines, air con, power steering, built in toilets, space for 12 people, delivery included-£28 Million no offers.

You can buy an engine- For those organizations looking for a piece of the action but financially strapped, NASA offers a lower-priced option: six to 10 decommissioned shuttle engines will also be made available at the low, low price of $400,000 to $800,000 each—plus shipping and handling.

The other snag is that you have to be a U.S. educational institution, federal agency, state or municipality, and have a climate-controlled building to put it in.

Oh well, there goes my Chrissie present.





And keeping with the space theme-BBC NEWS

NASA finds 'missing' Mars mineral –it seems that mars has “Carbonate Minerals”, showing that Mars is not too acidic to live on.

Very interesting, now, if only I had a shuttle I could go and have a look (and yes I know the shuttle is not designed to travel to Mars).

And finally-would you wear an aftershave that smells of Hamburger?

Burger chain markets meat scent


American fast food chain Burger King is marketing a men's fragrance with the scent of meat.

Called Flame, the company says the spray is "the scent of seduction with a hint of flame-broiled meat".

The scent is on sale in New York for $3.99 (£2.65) and through a website that features a variety of romantic images - but no actual burgers.

Its character the Burger King is also seen reclining almost naked in front of a log fire with whipped cream.


If you are seriously “aroma deprived” and can’t afford this, just stand by the extractor fan outside any Burger King and you will smell of Hamburger for bloody hours.

Angus

http://www.nhsexposedblog.blogspot.com/