THE CULTURE THAT CRIED WOLF

The story of the boy who cried wolf is primal, told to us in childhood and virtually etched in our synapses. It is a formative fable whose impact is universal, one of those stores which, while ostensibly aimed at children, actually help to set out rules of good conduct and effective ways of behaving which […]

EDUCATING, TEACHING LEARNING, MAINPULATING

The following is now virtually anathema in many modern educational circles. A teacher or lecturer walks into a classroom/lecture theatre. She delivers a lesson/lecture based on prepared notes consisting of a combination of an established, ‘traditional’ body of knowledge in a particular subject area enhanced by the most up-to-date results and findings in that subject. […]

WHATS SO WRONG WITH NOT JUDGING?

A contemporary phrase, repeated mantra like in a wide variety of situations, is “not being judgemental”. The phrase (which in a positive negative variant can have an ism attached to as in “non-judgementalism”) is meant to clearly indicate that the person saying it brings no prior judgement or prejudice to meeting other people or any […]

DRUGS: MEPHEDRONE AND THE RUSH TO BAN

More often than not the subject of drugs and rational discussion and debate are mutually exclusive entities as emotion and the search for quick, easy solutions take precedence over all other considerations. A vivid example of this has occurred over the past few weeks. Several deaths in quick succession have been reported in the press […]

WHAT FUTURE FOR PUBLIC SERVICES?

Glasgow City Council is the largest of 32 local authorities in Scotland  with an annual budget of £2.4 billion and the city’s largest employer with a compliment of some 36,000 staff (the second largest employer in the city is the National Health Service; Glasgow’s workforce is largely concentrated in the public sector). Recently buffeted by […]

FAT FOOD

It is not often that one’s rantings and ravings get confirmed. But two weeks ago the Scottish Government launched an “anti-obesity strategy” which in its aims, objectives and potential implications could be a virtual textbook example of what I have called pseudo-benign liberal totalism or PBLT (see posts Liberal-Fascism, Nonsense or the Way We Are […]

THE WORST APPROACH TO ALCOHOL

Four weeks ago, I wrote about the current high-profile focus on alcohol use in Scotland (The Trouble with Alcohol: posted 26th January on Meikle’s Blog). One of the striking aspects of this present ‘campaign’ is, apart from concerns about irresponsible promotions of alcohol and the absurdly low prices of some brands of liquor, which can […]