On the road

I wasn’t actually accused of being a Tory, but not far off. An evening spent with friends talking about politics, with me squatting like an ugly old toad to the right of the debate, feeling distinctly unbalanced and very frustrated. It started off with my saying there were things in the Tory manifesto I could not disagree with, like no more triple lock on pensions, and no more universal free school meals. It went on to include arguments about alternatives to capitalism where it seemed to be suggested that the concept of a limited budget was fallacious and unnecessary, and slipped into the arena of what I instinctively perceived as ‘fake news’ with the claim that 51% of the UK population currently live in poverty. I was grumpy and vociferous and walked home in the rain chuntering.

The Triple Lock I really don’t know enough about it to be absolutely sure, but my feeling is that there is no justification for pensioners to continue to enjoy the benefits of above inflation/RPI increases in the money they receive from the state when public sector workers - many on relatively low salaries - have had years of no or below inflation pay awards, and where it is the younger generation who are the ones who have been disproportionately negatively affected by austerity. I would rather whatever money is available (of which, more later) went toward a living wage, pay awards in line with inflation, and support for schools and the NHS.

Winter Fuel Allowance Similarly, it seems ludicrous that well heeled older people should receive a Christmas bonus, even if, as was argued, some of them (and I would wager a very small proportion) give it away to the needy on an ad hoc basis. Better to give greater support to those in fuel poverty, and let those that can pay their own fuel bills. And whilst I accept the point that means testing might, in this instance, prove to be a more expensive option than the status quo, that isn’t an argument, surely, against the principle of means testing in the round.

Money for Everything I may have misunderstood, but it felt like it was being argued that there is enough money for everything, rather than a limited budget within which choices about spending have to be made. My understanding is that all parties, including Labour and the Greens, have carefully costed their policies through redistribution of wealth, rather than claiming a cornucopia of cash. And if such choices have to be made, then I want them to be based on creating a more equal and more civilised society in which basic needs are met for all, and the benefits of good health, housing and education are distributed fairly to everyone.

51% in Poverty By questioning this statistic I was not dismissing the plight of the poor. I wanted to know the criteria for ‘poverty (what does it mean?), but also suspected the percentage itself was wrong, and so looked it up. The best I could find was an article in the Guardian about children attending public schools in the US (link posted separately). And whilst I wouldn’t deny that a shocking proportion of both working and non working people in the UK are struggling to get by whilst the top 5% earn frankly ridiculous amounts of money, that doesn’t make unsubstantiated or possibly fabricated claims right or indeed helpful. In fact, such claims, when examined, dangerously undermine justified, but possibly less dramatic realities about the appalling and vomit inducing levels of inequality in the UK. This is the kind of fake news grit to the Trump-and-his-vile-cronies’ mill which must be countered with the bright light of properly researched and peer reviewed facts unearthed by social scientists and the very best journalists, and a million miles away from the click bait claims which litter social media.

Universal Free School Meals I don’t understand why the Labour Party wants to use limited resources to buy lunch for the children of parents who can well afford to feed their own kids, when the mechanisms are already in place, and are indeed well established for providing free school meals to children in need. Some of us suspect that the coalition government’s granting of universal free school meals for infant aged children was a sneaky way of limiting the numbers of children eligible for the pupil premium and thereby cutting costs to the very schools that need the money the most. It is not inconceivable that this could be exacerbated by Labour’s current free school meals proposal, surely not the outcome they are aiming for?

It’s Complicated It’s a complicated business and I am woefully ignorant on the details, and probably not very good at presenting my point of view, particularly when I’m feeling ill and have drunk too much. It’s been helpful to reexamine these arguments in the cold light of day, and hopefully I haven’t completely alienated myself from people whom I respect and care for a great deal.

Apart from my Monday and Tuesday commitment at HGPS (+ 2 extra days just before half term), and three very welcome days at SRPS in Jan, I’ve neither been offered nor pursued as much supply work as I perhaps ought to have done.  Odd days here and there, including an eye-opening stint at a local preparatory school (a breeze), but not enough really according to my superego.  And whilst I spend too much time planning RE and Science for HGPS and do my 40 hours/month for HW/AWL, I can’t help but worry at my capacity for idleness, and at the utter improbability of my holding down a full time job ever again (and certainly not one in education, where I continue to find so much that exasperates and frustrates me).  

HGPS is hard work, but I’m enjoying Science in Y4 (instead of music in Y1) and am hoping that a very scary and unpleasant accusation dating back to the first day back can be put behind me without further repercussions.

As well as finding it difficult to read (it took me over a month to finish The Long Road to the Narrow North, and because of the piecemeal way in which I nibbled through it, in spite of its obvious merits, it felt like hard work), I have also found it impossible to write.  Mum’s being in hospital (and she only came out 10th Feb after her admission on 27th Dec) seems to have sucked up an inordinate and incomprehensible amount of time and energy, even if, in reality, my involvement has been limited to an extra Sunday afternoon and evening in Birdingbury/Walsgrave before my two days at Henley Green.  A strange and presumably distracting mixture of low-grade anxiety and guilt seems at the bottom of what feels like a particularly unproductive period, although, of course, the sapping effect of winter can’t be discounted.

After the potentially life-threatening effects of the pulmonary embolism that brought mum back to Walsgrave at the end of December had been dealt with, she continued to suffer increasingly from colon-related pain and discomfort, which culminated on 15th Jan in a shocking early morning faint and fall, followed by a 5 hour operation later the same day, involving the removal of her lower intestine.  Which, as it turned out, came just in the nick of time, her seriously ischemic bowel having been on the verge of perforating.  Unsurprisingly, given the how ill she has been and how significant her surgery, her recovery has been a very long roller-coaster, including along the way periods of morphine-induced semi-delirium, pain, weakness and fatigue, as well as a large wound which, whilst healing well, has taken an age to close. Being home again is good, for her, for dad, for us all - and although she doesn’t yet feel quite herself, and finds this frustrating, she seems on the road to recovery, and is coping really well with the practical implications of her surgery.