This is Northumberland Calling 1.12.23
Nothing says Christmas like a drunk tank (name the song)
Hello America (especially central Ohio)! This is Northumberland Calling
Increasingly celebrities are entering the book market, not for just their memoirs but also works of fiction or children’s books. The name being the selling point. Oftentimes, they are in fact ghost written by authors who earn a pittance of a set fee. The current domination of the children’s book market may not be good for creativity in the long run, Katherine Rundell, an award-winning children’s novelist claims. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/celebrity-authors-too-dominant-in-childrens-fiction-market-5nvm6nqcf or https://archive.is/Uo4Nz
Because this is a more complete account of what happen with the stabbing in Dublin on the 23rd. The thing which made me smile was how Irish one of the witnesses was – talking about ‘the fella’ It is sometimes forgotten that Irish English and British English differ. It was also good to learn about the Angel of Parnell Square (Leanne Flynne, childcare worker) who wrestled with the assailant and was stabbed in the process, the Brazilian bike driver who used his helmet and Warren from Wexford as well as his autistic daughter who ran to get help from the hospital. https://m.sundayworld.com/crime/irish-crime/angel-of-parnell-square-hero-school-worker-put-life-on-line-to-save-kids-during-stabbing/a31822084.html
Because there is nothing like knowing your mind, the three times gender change Lady Carbisdale (born a man, changed to a woman went back to a man and now a woman again) complained that homophobic remarks were uttered at council meeting in Scotland. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/29/ardgay-castle-homophobic-scotland-trans-lady-carbisdale/ or https://archive.is/9vk5Q
Even the Guardian is starting to have to say that rape is rape, even when perpetrated by Hamas. “ Why do people who would probably happily judge an allegedly predatory actor or MP based on little more than hearsay seemingly struggle to entertain doubts about the sexual conduct of a terrorist, as if to do so would somehow be a betrayal of the Palestinian cause?” A question many would like answered. A surprisingly sensible op-ed from them. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/01/israel-hamas-war-rape-israelis-palestinians
Safe spaces are no longer enough for students and lecturers. Coming soon (if it hasn’t already arrived) to a campus near you -- compassionate pedagogy. Like most things Progressive, it promises much but ends up infantilizing students and lecturers. It relies heavily on the Identity Synthesis model but has been enthusiastically taken up by administration. This essay explains what it is, how it works and why it ultimately will fail https://www.cieo.org.uk/research/compassionate-pedagogy/
Compassionate Pedagogy could be one of the reasons for the rise in Cambridge students claiming to suffer from ADHD or mental health issues and thus getting extra time to complete exams or indeed getting what is essentially speed to increase their focus. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/cambridge-students-fake-adhd-to-get-more-time-in-exams-cqws0gn92 or https://archive.is/EXEBX
However behaviour in Scottish secondary schools has massively declined in direct response to restorative justice techniques, another Progressive technique which appeared to offer much. Sometimes, what seems to be a good idea is fool’s gold. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/violent-and-disruptive-behaviour-surges-in-scottish-schools-wbzhpvswj or https://archive.is/X8TV1
Shane MacGowan (lead singer of the punk-folk band the Pogues) died yesterday. Some people might be surprised that he was still alive. He was famous for his hard living and rotten teeth as well as his song-writing ability. The Pogues are probably best known for the Fairy Tale of New York with Kristy McColl which is a popular Christmas song and regularly censored (over here at least the BBC try to censor two words.) NB if you watch the 1987 music video, Matt Damon appears as a NYPD officer. Winston Churchill’s words on the traditions of the Royal Navy trended in the UK because of the singer. (Rum, Bum and the Lash or just Sodomy and the Lash) MacGwan truly broke the mould. The song is tipped to go to Number 1 this year (censored or not0. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/artists/shane-macgowan-the-story-behind-fairytale-of-new-york/ or https://archive.is/of1Ni
The price of hospital care in 11th century Cambridge was prayer. And now a study has been done of the bones from the St John cemetery. It yields some interesting results but pretty much what you’d expect from a graveyard of the impoverished. They used skeletal, isotopic (aka tooth enamel) and genetic (aka DNA) techniques to determine the facts, not simply skull measurements as the study from the Museum of London did. Thus far, then there is no real Identity Synthesis revelation as they did look at the hard data. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/bones-reveal-life-in-11th-century-cambridge-hospital-66xrp76d7
Kathleen Stock was in today’s Telegraph about the new trans scandal enfolding in the UK. Basically the gender clinic has been ignoring the Cass Review and has continued to opt for the affirmation model and has increased its use of puberty blockers, despite no research projects being greenlit or indeed protocols agreed from what people can tell through Freedom of Information requests. If you keep the same people in place, they will keep using the out-moded techniques. Activist organisations still have pathways that they use to enable their desired outcomes to happen. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/01/new-nhs-trans-scandal-unfolding-across-country/ or https://archive.is/CrAdJ
Finally, it is bitterly cold today. No real snow, just hard frost. Paddy has decided to curl up the blankets in the sun room. Hopefully he will be better behaved at gun dog class this week. Last week, he decided that bothering other dogs and doing his business inside were more to his taste. Dogs really know how to bring their owners down several pegs. He is young. He will learn.
I have finished my 2nd set of editor directed revisions on the Viking. Fingers now crossed that all is well.
Fairytale of New York! My wife and I serenade each other every year.
I am sorry to hear about Shane.
Awww, Paddy! You would fit right in at the Chana Goanna House of Chaos, with one cat who vomits on the rugs and upholstered chairs, the other cat who has now taken to escaping onto the deck, where she’s chased around by the Doberman puppy, who still occasionally takes a dump on the dining room floor when he’s not pestering the Belgian malinois, who decided to bite my mother-in-law this past weekend. As for me...I just warn guests not to expect too much in the way of order or cleanliness.