Welcome to MY world

"A Madrid hospital says Spanish bullfighter Julio Aparicio has returned to intensive care and is fighting an infection after a horrific goring in the throat by a bull.

Aparicio had left the unit and was recovering well on Monday following surgery to reconstruct his throat, mouth and palate, but outbreak of an infection forced a return to the unit where doctors placed him on mechanically assisted breathing."

In 1953'ish I was living in Gibraltar. I had a young Spanish girl who - er - did my washing. She was a maid for a Gibraltarian family and collected my dhobi as she passed my unit en-route home to Spain. I was generally able to arrange to swap my duties so that we could spend the week-end together at her flat in La Linea; the Spanish town just across the border.

When the corrida season started she suggested we visit the bull ring. I had no convictions either way about the national spectator sport so off we went. The atmosphere surrounding the ring was festive. Whole families were there with picnic and wine in those leather bota with very rough wine. Choice of tickets was sun or shade; I soon learned that sun and contents of the leather bottle did not mix.

The first couple of bouts man vs bloody big bull did little for me. In those days the bulls were ginormus compared to today but it all seemed a foregone conclusion. The bull was tried out to see how he charged and moved his head. Then men on horseback moved in with hollow-ended lances and took plugs out of the main neck muscles so as to ensure the animal kept its head low. Then came men on foot who ran at the bull and planted barbed spears near the main injury so as to liven the animal up. Then came to man in the glittery suit who made some - to me - very dangerous passes with the bull. That part was very theatrical but the kill was widely signalled. All the while, an off-key brass band played; changing tune as directed by the President when stage one had to move to stage two.

When the third bull came in I was losing interest. All a foregone conclusion. The overall thing was OK - much as a Premier league football match might be enjoyed. However, as I watched, the whole thing went tits up. The matador was the top attraction and this was the first time he had faced a bull that afternoon. He came in on the assessment stage and made a pass or two in a languid - almost bored - manner. As this is where the bull is still on top form and quite dangerous, there are not many attendants in the ring. As I watched, the bull caught his beautifully garbed tormentor amidships and tossed him high in the air. The bull then seemed to sink back and watch the man as he flew upwards and, as he descended, caught him like a close in-fielder on one horn. This entered close under the diaphragm on the left side and came out on the man's shoulder blade. He shook his catch once or twice and then dropped him.

The bit players ran in and distracted the killer; the bull-fighter would never fight again. The body was removed and one of the other matadors came out, put on a very abbreviated show and the bull was dispatched. Those few seconds changed my perspective for ever and I became a fight fan. Just a few miles inland from La Linea was San Roque which had the smallest ring in Spain. It also lacked the small retreats at the side of the ring where humans could escape beast. The fights were much more evenly contested there.

I never saw another death in the ring. Some wounding. I do not think I would bother visiting a corrida if I were to go back there; football has replaced it in the national profile. Back in '53 we were all a lot less aware of the issues that now centre on cruelty to animals. I became friends with a farmer who operated one of the biggest ranches devoted to breeding fighting bulls and it was a major source of income to the area. The slaughtered animals were sold off cheaply to local butchers and eaten by people who might not otherwise have seen a lot of expensive meat.

Despite all it's troubles, the Government found time this week to write to me and let me have advance information as to it's plans. "Owen Paterson, the Northern Ireland Secretary, announced the publication date in a written statement to the House of Commons.
He also confirmed that relatives of those killed by the Army and the soldiers themselves, as well as some politicians, would see the report in advance of full publication."

The Saville Inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday will hit the streets very soon after 12 years of work. At a cost of almost £200 million we will all know what happened on that Sunday at the end of January 1972. I think I can last out the excitement that generates - I have known since the evening of Bloody Sunday. I was in Londonderry almost by accident. After some nine months in charge of the Army investigation Unit my bosses in London had finally found an officer who had committed some crime so heinous that the only punishment was to send him to Ulster. As part of his indoctrination, I took him to Londonderry to witness the protest march. This would be an opportunity to get close to a Northern Ireland riot which was many degrees more violent than a pub punch up after closing time.

As we went about the sites on the tourist trail, I saw many of the Parachute regiment who normally worked in Belfast and who were regular customers of mine. In chatting, I was told that they were there to inject a little backbone into dealing with any trouble that arose from hangers-on to the peace march splitting off and attacking the troops. So, New Bloke would get two lessons at the one time.

As the march got to near the usual flash-point, we two placed ourselves behind a company of Para who in turn were behind troops from the resident Londonderry battalion. The trouble kicked off when juveniles started to stone the foremost troops. They were then told to stand aside and release the paratroopers. They ran in on foot supported by a number of armoured vehicles referred to as pigs. They ran, we walked up behind them. However, almost immediately I heard the sound of a weapon being fired; just a single shot. I instructed that we should get offside and we left the area and made our way to an observation and command post overlooking that area of the Bogside. We heard further firing but it was difficult to locate the shooter(s) or identify the type of weapon because of the echo effects of the built-up area. In a short while we heard radio reports that a number of civilians had been shot and after about 30 minutes the score was up to 13 dead.

My new OC said he would take a back seat as he had no real idea as to what my unit did in such incidents. I used the radio in my car to summon back-up investigators from Belfast. We set up base in a RN centre where the Para had been accommodated prior to being deployed onto the streets. We commenced interviews - they all knew the procedure almost as well as I did.

By about 10 pm that night it was clear that there had been a serious breakdown in the way such operations were normally handled. By midnight, we had statements from all who had fired and from others who were able to add to that information. I went back to Belfast in the early hours and briefed HQ NI using the statements taken by that time. I had a unbreakable appointment in London and went off to that. By the time I got back, a special team had been set up to deal with the incident.

I never understood the demands for a public inquiry. The first one had many obvious faults. John Major had made a public statement that none of the deceased had been acting improperly. This did not quell the demands and, eventually, the nasty little toad Blair agreed to set up a tribunal as part of the cost of getting what he called a peaceful settlement. Strangely, the loved ones of all the non-combatants slaughtered by the terrorists of both factions were denied any such process. Indeed, all the IRA murderers we had managed to catch and convict were set free and given forms on which to claim damages.

At that time, Northern Ireland was a land of almost instant mythology. One side would make claims as to what happened. Their supporters would take this on board and it became a fact that was incapable of being overturned. The opponents would for ever hold that what had been said was the vilest and most black of lies. That this had happened with the events of Bloody Sunday became very clear in the preparation of evidence for the inquiry and when formal evidence was taken.

When counsel for the victims questioned me, they put their questions as if they were merely seeking confirmation of their established convictions and were not really questioning events. Lord Saville and his two colleagues were most effective in getting the right questions put; I'm not so sure about the quality of the answers.

So, nothing will be achieved. Those who signed up for the mythology will not have their narrow minds expanded, Someone will pontificate and make an apology based upon Saville. There is a strong rumour that Martin McGuinness, the Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland who was a Provisional IRA commander in Londonderry on Bloody Sunday, told Blair that an apology would have sufficed. But no - heritage beckoned and we went into a process which was most likely the forerunner of Blair's disastrous decision to do his poodle trot over Iraq.

This year marks the centenary of the death of Florence Nightingale and 12 May was her birthday. She may well be regarded as the Mother of Army nursing having been dispatched to the war in Crimea after reports in the newspapers described the desperate lack of proper medical facilities for wounded British soldiers at the front. She had a vocation for nursing but her practical training was extremely limited; her forte was organisation and leadership. She was able to significantly improve conditions and her spell in the Crimea led to the formation of the Army Nursing Service in 1861.

From this came a number of military nursing organisations; the main one being the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service. QAIMNS or the ‘Regular' military nursing service was formed in March 1902, as part of a general reorganisation of the Army Medical Services, and included many existing members of its forerunner, the Army Nursing Service, which had provided nurses for military hospitals since 1861. Despite a reluctance in some quarters to welcome female nurses into military hospitals, they proved themselves an asset, both for their nursing expertise, and for their skill in training orderlies of the Army Hospital Corps and later the Royal Army Medical Corps.

My maternal grandmother was a Matron in the QA. My wife was in the QA until I trapped her into marriage. Grandma Edwards was a fearsome figure originally from Southern Ireland. She was a Spiritualist at a time when that religion was fairly widespread and I am told she was a widely respected medium. She was quite spooky and there have been occasions when I have felt that she has reached out to me from wherever she may have gone after the last V2 to land in London put an end to her earthly existence.

The current generation of Army nurses are doing sterling work in Afghanistan. Due to disastrous decisions in the past, the QA and RAMC had been reduced and military hospitals closed and the majority of Army medical staff in Afghanistan are TA personnel serving away from their civilian hospitals.

So - a belated "Respects Ma'am" to Flo and those she inspired.

After a few days of light depression, I feel quite perky this morning. I'm going to get a few things off my chest. May not be totally sensible but - so what. It is my time.

Firstly, The Times did a thing on creatures that live in our deepest oceans, One of them was this beastie. Quite a fearsome item to have crusing about
and look at those teeth! They seem designed merely to grab and stab with no sign of any front dentures to tear things apart or molars to crush its prey. And those eyes - what are they all about given that there is zero light that far down. Snakes have heat sensors to detect prey and to aim their strike so why has this fish not evolved to those instead of these big eyes?

Once again we are submerged in debt stories. Whole nations standing on the brink of extinction if one believes the pundits. I cannot believe this. We have seen what African nations do and it is most certainly not worry about their economy. So, it takes a wheel-barrow load of money to buy a loaf of bread. Solution to me is to revalue things - instead of having to carry half a million of Lubola notes, print half million notes. Easier to carry about.

I also fail to understand another element of this debt thing. Seems that everyone is owing money to another and at the same time is owed money by some other Nation or entity. OK - cancel all existing debts and set up a system that means each country has to live within its own assets. No lending. No borrowing. I read that X company has made Yea many millions and everyone applauds. Yet, no one ever asks who lost out here; Whose funds went down the Swanee and ended up elsewhere as profit?

Shareholders. I worked for a firm where the founder had got on his bike in Newcastle and rode down to London. This in the early 1830s. He was a plumber who did a bit of electrical work on the side. By the 1960s the firm he founded was one of the leading mechanical and electrical contractors in the country. We had some of the best tradesmen and design engineers that existed. Our projects were priced right and executed properly and we had none of the after-completion wrangling with sub-contractors that was a hallmark of our industry. But, all this brain and muscle power was subordinate to the benefits demanded by shareholders. They largely ruled what the CEO and directors did. Most of the shareholders didn't know the difference between a 13 amp plug and a bath plug. But they ruled the roost. Their loyalties were so strong that they were all for it when a major competitor came along and wanted to buy the company. Some two years later, the old ethos was expunged and we were no better than any other Tom, Dick or Harry contractor. So, get rid of shareholders. They hold paper acknowledging that way back someone gave Geordie Lad a quid or two. Right - give them that pound back, tear up the bit of paper and let companies be run by those with the knowledge and drive that made the company what it was.

Further puzzlement to this old feller comes from the question of Banks. We see that some went broke because of possibly buccaneering ways and avarice. Others had to bail them out. This all played a part in the general monetary cock-up. So - why do we need so many banks? We have a Bank of England that could well do all that is needed in terms of banking. I can see that there needs to be two sorts of bank. Mine - plain straight vanilla and no frills. It takes in money and pays it out. Alongside that establishment we have what I understand have been named Casino Banks. Bit shady. Dodgy dealings. They will take a set amount from my 'nice' bank and use it. Flash Harry makes a few quid and wants to buy a few flats for rent. He goes to the Casino Bank. They make a deal with him. Tailored especially for him - terms, repayments etc. - the whole shebang. If he goes tits up - his flats belong to the bank who are free to pursue him for anything not recovered. If the bank fails - tough on him and he gets to keep what he has and that is it.

Bonus payments. Another thing we hear too much about. Given as rewards for good work. Here we come back to my point that your profit is my loss. The argument made regarding bonus payments is that if not made, the individual will trot off elsewhere and we have to pay 'the going rate' Who sets and determines this going rate? Who? - other guys who get paid bonuses.

There is a very simple solution. Set a reasonable salary for those who might be in receipt of a bonus. Offer that. No bonus any more. If some - what I understand is termed as a Big Swinging Dick - demands more - tell him to get stuffed. If he threatens to walk, point out that all salaries are the same so he will not get more money or better terms elsewhere anyway. After some initial scurrying about as the rats all change ship, the BSDs will realise that they are in the same position as us salaried employees. Better paid but that is all. So - they are paid for performance and might not perform in the absence of a bonus? If they do not cut the mustard - point this out. Two interviews without biscuits later - sack em. Happens to us poor salaried slaves all the time.

Not a lot more today. The Two Ronnies have said they want greater involvement from the people in decision making. This can be done quite easily. Ant change or new idea is investigated by some existing commission or such like. They examine the whole thing. They ensure that all angles have been covered so we are not conned with half the facts as so often happens now. Then, they prepare a short - 15 minutes - TV report with the pro and con facts clearly detailed. After a short pause - maximum a week - we all vote. Each home will have a terminal if they do not have internet access. Using a PIN, we vote Yes or No. It is then the Government's job to facilitate anything new and approved or think again on anything rejected. We could even have the actual election run this way. As add-ons, there could be a regular 'What do you think of it so far' where we as the voters can rate our elected representative. Three strikes and he is out.

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. Her bright eyes are intent. Her eager body quivers. Suddenly she begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, her legs carrying her faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

She was always so good in responding to that whistle - it was not silent for her even four or five fields away. I keep blowing it now but she does not respond. One day - not just yet though - I will have to go and look for her.

What is it that causes people to act like this?
It is not as if the tube from my hearing aid is very visible. I do not smell of stale wee. My hand does not shake (very much) I have not inherited any of Prince Charles' cast offs that might make me look like an Edwardian politician.
Ah well - what cannot be ended has to be endured

I see that a defence group has been formed to protest the treatment afforded to a former service man. The basis of the case against the man are summarised "A former Royal Marine has been ordered to repay almost £90,000 which he made as a result of concealing criminal property. A judge at Carlisle Crown Court yesterday decided that Raymond Baty, 39, of Ambleside Airfield, Silloth, had benefited to the tune of £140,283.30 as a result of his crimes. He had been buying, selling and fixing cars for cash and made money which he didn’t declare to the Inland Revenue.
At an earlier hearing – when Baty was handed 100 hours’ community service – the court heard that police had found £24,235 in shoeboxes in his house.
http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/cumbrian-ex-marine-to-repay-87-000-1.711789?referrerPath=home
Not all former booties get treated this was. A descendt of Long John Silver escaped punishment in one of these recovery of the proceeds of crime operations. http://www.thisiswesternmorningnews.co.uk/news/Judge-throws-crime-claim-ex-Marine/article-1949319-detail/article.html
What is getting to me is the idea that former service means one is a paragon of virtue. There is a lot ho hoo hah elsewhere where a former Military Police officer is getting support on his seemingly corrupt trial purely because he has an MBE and 20 odd years of service. They can only say, "He was OK when I knew him" That is rather like Mrs Crippen saying "He was a nice guy when I married him"
http://www.stephen-stratford.co.uk/dr_crippen.htm

I have this impression that things are becoming undone in the aftermath of the reign of Aintworth and his mendacious cabal at MOD. Tonight, there is a BBC Panorama programme dealing with the death of a Staff Sergeant EOD specialist. His wife will be interviewed and is expected to tell her side of the story as to how her husband was treated. Christina Schmid said that Staff Sergeant Olaf Schmid was “flaking” with exhaustion on the day he died because of demands being made on him and his elite team due to staff shortages. Her fears that he and other bomb disposal experts have been let down by the Army were backed by Colonel Bob Seddon, Britain’s senior bomb disposal officer, who agreed that his team was under intense pressure.

In a television documentary made by Mrs Schmid, Colonel Seddon said that he was now “very concerned” about the toll being taken on his staff.
Then, today, we have the resignation of the officer who led the Unit. Could it be that he has, in those ominous terms, 'reconsidered his position'? Was it the alternative to the locked room, tot of whisky and the Mess revolver scenario? Senior officers who slip up get to retire; senior NCOs who slip up are killed.
The Army is known for getting on with the job without too much public bitching - public because they do little but moan when by themselves. I suppose the Legionnaires on the wall in those desperate winters did the same but remained true on post. Now, it seems that the senior Army staff are quick to address their concerns to the faceless ones and the Ministers but hold back off resignation. Some had more direct ways of dealing with armchair generals but in the case of Oz, death was too quick. Mrs Schmid will say "He told her that he was drained, leading her to believe that extreme fatigue may have played a part in his death.

Reading from his letters and recalling his phone calls home, Mrs Schmid says: “He basically said it was absolutely relentless — that they weren’t getting a break at all and that the amount of IEDs that he was doing, that he was asked to do, was just overwhelming. He was flaking at that point, saying, ‘I do need a break from this. I need to step back because I need to recharge’ and I don’t feel that he necessarily had that time.” Relaxation arising from the fact that it was his last device before leave may well have caused him to miss something or his exhausted state may have undermined all his training and experience. The pitcher went to the well one last time too often.

One would not really treat animals this way without RSPCA or PETA intervening. But, our political bosses have no idea what they are doing to fellow human beings. We have just seen a high-power delegation visit Afghanistan on a fact-finding and meet the troops mission. Why they seem unable to understand their briefs in UK is beyond me and I am sure that Beck's genuine visit gave 99.99% of the troops a much better feeling. Visits such as those of Hague, Fox and another used to be described as Seagull trips. They fly in, sh*t all over everything and fly out. The new boys are in what I call the Pro Patria party.

They see that death for one's country is a glorious thing. I happen to think that one contributes more by living and doing good deeds over a longer period and wider community. The real waste of lives, money and effort in Afghanistan comes from the petulant response of Afghan personalities and media to a remark made by Fox. the Defence Secretary, diplomatically prefaced his trip to Helmand by remarking: “We are not in Afghanistan for the sake of the education policy in a broken 13th-century country “. At last, a Cabinet Minister willing to tell it like it is. However, Dr Fox’s characterisation of the country was raised at a meeting with President Karzai on Saturday. The President expressed his deep displeasure at the remarks. A senior Afghan government source said "His view appears to be that Afghanistan has not changed since the 13th century and it implies that Afghanistan is a tribal and medieval society. Despite the sacrifices of British soldiers and the massive support of the British Government we do not feel that there is a mutual respect. His remarks show a lack of trust"

Fox had to issue a smoothing explanation but avoided the opportunity to say "Damn right". He was speaking of education and we have all seen just what happens to young girls denied education and women held back. Would that someone would say "If you don't want us her - fine. We will march to the airport tomorrow to the beat of martial music with flags and standards unfurled "
But no. I suspect that Schmid was not the first to be pushed that bit too far and he was certainly not the last.

Given what the Colonel now has to say, I would have had far more respect for him had he gone out with a bomb suit on whilst personally doing something practical to remove the strain instead of most probably putting on his demob suit and forming up in front of some security company's door.

The latest sting involving Fergie and access will pander nicely to the anti-Royalists. She as a (disgraced) ex and him as a member of Queen Inc.
His role is neatly defined here:
I am not sure what to think of these NoW stings. We do not know all of the preamble prior to the denouement in the set-up suite. When I read of her offering a handshake with her old mate for £500,000, I get the phrase "There but for the grace of God go I"
I even doubt that this is any form of eclipse. She has had headlines before and moved on. Andy is obviously well protected against any allegation of wrong doing. They seem to have a good relationship when it comes to parental responsibilities towards the daughters of their couplings. Who knows? - he is not referred to as Randy Andy for no reason and she is what she is.

The saga of the Gulf of Mexico continues. Perhaps this is a real demonstration of a Mexican Stand Off!
POTUS is getting more and more wound up at what he sees as the weakness of BP in dealing with the matter. He does not have any oil background so may lack the sort of approach needed to deal with the 'good ole boys' that Dubya will have learned at his father's knee. I only had about six years with a US oil company operating in the North Sea before someone made me a better offer but even in that time I learned that oil men are a separate breed. They come in two main flavours. The extremely well dressed, suave and polished sort and the rougher version who may have spent his time on the dirty and dangerous task of actually finding and gathering the black stuff. I found a sure way of classifying these colleagues - the man whose heart and soul was oil wore cowboy boots; even with his Savile Row suiting.
The requirement to push technology out to the outer rim of working blind at great depths engendered a spirit that was very much 'Can Do'. The niceties of the law were not of great consequence - if oil was found, one was almost a hero. The sums of money involved were enormous - much of it at high risk of being a total waste or irrecoverable loss. From my second-row seat, it seemed we had two groups. Those who got the oil out of the ground and those who found the money for them and kept a too officious Government at bay.
BP is in a good position right now. The markets are hitting them but that is just a gnat bite. They certainly have not deteriorated as fast as the cowboy banks did. When - and not if - it all comes down to the post mortem they will be in a position to say that they did all they could - who else has the expertise to gainsay them? The remainder of the industry will work on the basis that dog does not eat dog.
Obama is loud in his denunciations and threats - much like a drunk in a police cell. He is described as a lawyer but I seem to find him as a professor of law which is not the same thing when it comes to knowing what will work in a court and what will not fly.
The flood of condemnation and invective around BP is ultimately to their good. When the whole nation is against them, how can there be a fair an unbiased venue for any hearings or for trial should one result. Some of the protestations are so wild and the offered methods of dealing with the problem so Heath Robinson that they will be rich fodder for any BP advocate to thrown at some of the better evidence.
We are now hearing of suggestions that BP may be shoved aside and others invited to have a go. For sure, few who may have the same sort of expertise and equipment as BP will want to accept the chalice with so much dirt around the rim and step into what could turn out to be BP II - The Sequel. That leaves some Government agency that has engineers. The Armed Forces are fully engaged and more besides. This is not a task for the National Guard!
In the meantime, the oil continues to flow. A true example of what is meant by the phrase 24/7. It could be that we are already at the stage where massive loss is guaranteed - the killer lake is out there and is merely waiting for some trick of the wind to see where it desolates first. There is what seems to be a reliable article on the effects of such an oil spill. It contains a dread forecast: Florida's coastal ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to oil. Florida's seagrass beds, mangroves, and coral reefs provide shelter, habitat and breeding grounds for fish, shellfish, bivalves and many other species. If the oil impacts these habitats, not only will the seagrass, mangroves or coral reefs be impacted, but all of the other species that reside or depend on these ecosystems will also be impacted. According to research previously carried out on an oil spill in Panama, it was predicted that although seagrass beds may recover in a period of 1-2 years, mangrove ecosystems may take up to 50 years to recover, and coral reefs may take as long as 100 years or more to fully recover. Marine birds and sea turtles are two other types of marine species that can be heavily impacted by oil spills. So, the outcome is already desperate; it is only a matter of degree now.
Mankind has achieved much since that Big Bang or since crawling out of antediluvian slime - as your religion see it. Moon rockets, the creation of life itself without any of that nasty coupling, arts and sciences but it takes something such as this to realise just what a tiny dot we are in the scheme of things organised by whoever may be in charge of us all. I think God may really be a woman and what we ere seeing is the onset of her menopause. Those who have shared a home with a 'lady of a certain age' will know just how bad that can get.

I had a query the other day where someone asked me whence came my self-description of being an adrenaline junkie. Did I truly love adrenaline or just the statement?

I think I enjoy the results of the increased level of adrenaline. These may be stated as "Helping the fight and flight stimulus by boosting the heart rate, increasing the breathing rate which allows more oxygen uptake for more respiration so that a lot of energy is available when needed. The pupils are dilated so as to improve vision. It also directs most of the blood supply to the skeletal muscles that help us run or fight and restricts blood flow to the gut and skin by constricting blood vessels to these areas (after all, digestion can wait). It also speeds up the conversion of glycogen to glucose in the liver because glucose is the substrate for respiration (producing energy)."

I was at Ashridge Management College and we were being taken through basic psychology and it seems that I tested at a really high level as a Type A personality. Type A individuals can be described as impatient, time-conscious, controlling, concerned about their status, highly competitive, ambitious, business-like, aggressive, having difficulty relaxing; and are sometimes disliked by individuals with Type B personalities for the way that they're always rushing. They are often high-achieving workaholics who multi-task, drive themselves with deadlines, and are unhappy about delays. Limited research sows a high association between Type As and recognised adrenaline or stress junkies. I have no shame in admitting to much of that but it must be said that the validity of Type A or B testing is not fully accepted by the experts.

I have wide fluctuations in blood pressure as well as hypertension. I have been tested at well above the rate when hospital treatment has to be given as a matter of urgency. I enjoy the sensations attributed to raised levels of adrenaline. I know that I sometimes act in a manner which will spark confrontation or put me under stress. It does not bother me but addiction is possibly an overstatement - my life does not revolve around self-imposed stress.

The image at the top of this blog is a re-creation by me of a document that was shown to me back in 72'ish when I was serving in Belfast. A senior officer from the RUC SB brought it to me under conditions of considerable security and secrecy. He explained it had been found in a search following the detention of a well-known IRA gunman. The central number was the officially registered index of a Morris 1800 car used exclusively by me. I worked in plain clothes and the plate was frequently changed for others not registered anywhere, The other numbers on the pad had been used by me in the couple of months before I saw the document. The description (6'3" etc) fitted me. The writing was not that of the gunman; he refused to divulge where he got it or why but the SB guy and I were in little doubt as to what he might have been going do with the information.

From that contact I worked for over 150 hours with no real break other than a daily shower. Hardly any food intake. I wore out four guys assigned to ride shotgun. Working out where the combination of car numbers might have been seen and setting these alongside known contacts of the gunman identified someone. The handwriting of one of them matched that on the note and he was off to Long Kesh.

I attribute my ability to concentrate on a single issue and put in the level of work that I did that week purely to whatever it is in my genes that floods the system with that hormone. I cannot really answer my questioner better than that.

"Chinese might be willing to handle the Iran issue at the U.N., if the U.S. is willing to handle the sinking of the South Korean ship, the Cheonan, at the regional level without elevating it to the U.N.

South Korea will formally blame North Korea for launching a torpedo that sank the naval ship in March, killing 46 South Korean sailors, The Washington Post reported Tuesday."

This could all get very nasty and intense. Neither Korea is known for their forbearance in blaming the other for just about everything that happens. To then link that situation with the very tetchy matter of Iranian links with countries keen to assist in the matter of uranium could raise the temperature on two fronts.

I've been looking at the published reports and the background to the North torpedo 'conclusion'. Not a lot seems to have surfaced but it might not be so conclusive as we read. Finding a portion of a torpedo with Korean markings would not be difficult. To associate this with the attack is again not conclusive; the South claims they found a match with some explosive on - guess what - a N Korean missile recovered earlier. Seems there was no direct contact of warhead and sunken ship - merely a proximity explosion. This leaves it up to the North explaining that an errant mine was to blame. The South has seeded the waters with mines in the past.

In a contest that will doubtless be won by the most verbose and loudest, the North will win. They have such a firm grip on the hearts and minds of its people and very full censorship that raising the passions in the North would be very easy, Where both sides will have access to nuclear assets, that could be a very dangerous outcome. Another string to my No To Trident bow.

I had a response to my thing about my fading memory - some symptoms of dementia in seniors that make an appearance when the disease first starts:

1 Finding it difficult to remember words to express themselves
2 Getting uncomfortable and disoriented in unfamiliar surroundings
3 Having problems when performing daily tasks like driving, cooking, cleaning or managing money
4 Forgetting the names of friends and family
5 Becoming paranoid and suspicious
6 Placing things and not remember where they kept them
7 Forgetting to keep appointments
8 Unable to learn new information
9 Losing interest in the outside world
10 Change in behaviour -- a withdrawn person can get silly and social while a social person can get withdrawn

Bit like those memes that were all the rage a short while back. Seems that my ability to do well in tests has not deserted my - 7 out of 10 isn't bad is it?

On the average day, I read about 250 blogs, forum entries and extracts from magazines and papers. Thank the Lord (or curse the Devil if you wish) for RSS and Bloglines for making this possible. Of all that I generally find some 10-12 items really interesting and a further 30 that have something about them as to merit a fuller IT search or hard-copy checking. The remainder consist of what I classify as totally unworthy waste of my electricity and fleeting attention. Difficulty is there is no way of determining in advance just which is guaranteed good stuff and what is unworthy of even being torn into small rectangles and hung on a nail in the servant's quarters lavatory.

Of recent times there has been little difficulty in knowing what to avoid. Almost anything that contains 'Cameron, Nick or Labour is just a waste of time. We have suggestions that we all spend our time volunteering to do good works we find pleasing and someone proclaiming that the ideas and standards developed since the 1832 Reform Act. Why do we need such a massive revision? In round terms we were doing nicely thank you until the madmen took over the asylum some 13 years back. Even there, some of their ideas were well founded; it was the manner of their introduction and implementation that was so wrong.

We had an example of the wide spread of opinions as recently as yesterday when we learned that we have to give sanctuary to foreigners planning terrorism in this country. Why - it was feared they might be harmed if they were returned to their country of origin. In our Newspaper Of Record were two articles - one from a proponent of the attitude that the rights and liberty of the individual are paramount regardless of their personal conduct and a former police officer who points out that we are our own worst enemies.

Former PM Brown tried to justify our continued presence in Afghanistan that this was necessary to deny AQ terrorists a base from which they could again bring death and destruction onto the streets of the UK. The events of 7/7 and the latest terror plotting showed how wrong an idea that was. Sadly, the same excuse is being trotted out by the Tory group of our new Parliament. If one can rise beyond the weird theories that 9/11 was an inside job, that again is an example that terrorists can reside inside their target area. The bomb-making manuals are readily available to anyone with a pc and Internet connection. Our gallant service personnel are held in a latter-day Sodom and Gomorrah in pursuance of this flawed argument.

The Com Res poll found that 77 per cent wanted troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan, while more than half thought that the presence of troops there put British streets at greater risk from terrorism.

But the three main parties fought the general election on programmes which include backing for the NATO mission against the Taliban. Between them, the parties’ general election manifestos run to around 80,000 words – but Afghanistan is mentioned only 19 times between them. Labour’s manifesto included the most mentions, 11, followed by the Conservatives' on five and three for the Liberal Democrats'.

The Don't Deport decision attracted very much less media panic than one might expect of a population engaged in the opposition. They just do not care if they have no relatives or loved ones actually involved. Yet, it is this same population that is expected to surge forward as volunteers for some as yet inchoate initiatives. To set Government aside and set up swathes of New Ideas. If the nation has not risen in rebellion at the sort of things we have sustained, what makes anyone really thing there is any interest in getting involved. For every citizen who wants to organise Grow Your Own on Allotments, there will be one who complains of the smell of the fertiliser. And they will not be able to blame The Government. No one has been able to tell me what the members we elected will be doing whilst we have this National DIY mania.

And wanting something does not mean one gets it. Every time there is a gruesome murder we get calls to bring back hanging. But Government does not have free voting and it will never be brought back, The last public hanging at Tyburn took place in 1783; not so far away from that Reform Act of 1832 that Nick wishes to revisit. I am quite convinced that not so far back, public opinion would have been that hanging was too good for the Cannot Be Deported terrorists. Not so far back, Mussolini's body was quartered and exhibited. Just why should we care what happens to those who had a wish to dish out death and maiming in our country?

I have been asked to spread the word about the next in a series of books about The Troubled Years in Northern Ireland.

Ken Wharton, author of a 'Long Long War; Voices from the British Army in Northern Ireland, 1969-98' and 'Bullets Bombs and Cups of Tea; Further Voices of the British Army in Northern Ireland' and 'Bloody Belfast; An Oral History of the British Army's War Against the IRA' is now writing his 4th book.

Entitled '1972' it deals with the worst year of the troubles and is again - as an ex-squaddie it could only be so - an oral account of the troubles from the perspective of the British soldier. It will be pro-squaddie and will again seek to bring awareness of our role in NI to the public view. If you have any accounts of 1972 or know of anyone who toured in that year, please contact Ken at ken _wharton @hotmail.com

Anonymity is offered if you prefer not to have your name published.

Civvie mates share a few experiences; Squaddie mates share a lifetime of experiences no civvie could ever dream of.

I wrote a few days about my sometimes on sometimes off memory. I was browsing today with my Spotify playlist in the

Why is so much ash being produced?

British glaciologist Dr Matthew Roberts, who is working at the Icelandic Met Office, says a great deal of ash is being produced because the eruption is taking place beneath the Eyjafjallajoekull icecap. He says: "It's the interaction of the molten rock, the magma, and the glacial ice which is causing the magma to cool very quickly and to be pulverised into tiny fragments of rock.

"And these updrafts of fine volcanic ash are being lifted into the sky by the enormous steam plumes that have been created by the vast quantities of ice that's been melted."

Why is the eruption so explosive?

Dr Rothery says various factors may have contributed to the explosive nature of the eruption. The amount of gas - made up of water, vapour, carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide - in the magma now arriving in the volcano may have become greater than it was in the original batch of magma when it first started erupting in March, and the ice/water from the glacier is being turned into steam when it meets the magma.

The expansion of gas, which is mainly water vapour if it is from magma/ice interaction, drives the ash skywards, and then convection takes over. The plume is warmer than the surrounding air, and so is less dense despite the ash it contains. How high it rises depends on the initial impetus from the expanding gas, plus its heat content. When it reaches neutral buoyancy, it ceases to rise and is then at the mercy of the wind. The newer magma has proved to be higher in silica than that from the earlier stages of the eruption, which means it is more viscous and is more liable to fracture, forming ash. Coarse ash (more than 1mm) falls out, but fine ash (less than 0.1mm) stays airborne for a long time.

Why is the ash plume still rising?

The ash has been moving at a height of about 30,000ft due to water going into the vent.

According to Dr Rothery, as Thursday's eruption progressed, the best hope was that the interaction between melt water and the continually arriving magma would lessen. Ideally, solidified magma would isolate the vent from the ice and/or water, so that the eruption would become less explosive, and the plume height would decrease until it was no longer a threat.

However, currently the ash column is higher than it was on Friday. A possible explanation is that fractures caused by magma movement and small earthquakes keep allowing water into the vent, at a sufficient depth that steam expansion has no option but to drive the ash fragments skywards.

When will it stop?

Volcanologists say it is impossible to predict when the eruptions might cease, pointing out that eruptions in Iceland can continue for months.

So, not a lot of good news there then. The disruption could continue for a long time yet. We are already hearing much dissent at the pronouncements of the "experts" who place fly/no ply rules. Oh, and can anyone tell me why the bans run from such precise times? If the ban starts at 1pm and ends at 7pm, would you be happy to be on a 12.55am flight or 7.55pm arrival? The flights continue but it is only Sod's Law that sooner or later one of those jugs will go to the well just one time too many. If there were such a disaster, the no fly periods would have to be extended. Apart from the losses allegedly sustained by the airline companies there is the commercial problem of air transport being shut down.

What to do? I have floated this idea once before but here we go again. The foregoing extracts mention the aerosol effect arising from the pressure underground forcing the ash to a height where it drifts at heights determined to be hazardous for air traffic. Solution to me is to reduce the pressure. The first thought is a massive enlargement of the hole in the Earth's surface that the lava and particles are coming from. I note that America has dispatched a team of nuclear scientists to their major oil leak. I don't really think this is a preface to using some massive device; more ensuring that all possible lines of (innovative) thinking are applied. Well, I may be the equivalent of the Little Dutch Boy (careful with the link - do not go here) but who knows? We do have some incredible powerful explosives outside the nuclear armoury. We have laser-guided aiming and can launch missiles with a very long reach. Maybe we can do little with the actual blow hole - what about breaking up or diverting the flow of the ice and water that is part of the ash-production process? The Icelandic people are well used to living in a country of fire and ice and may well have a fairly relaxed attitude to what is happening over large areas of the world. I have run a moderate-intensity Google over what Iceland might be doing. Sight-seeing trips seems to be the answer. There was some TV coverage that suggested they blame a Goddess deep in the bowels of the Earth who turns over in bed every so often. If I not know already the absolute futility of debating an individual's religious beliefs with them I might have words to say about the restless female theory. Sure as hell, something needs to be done. We are in the 21st Century for God's sake. Even if the counter to the admonition to lie back and enjoy rape were not already out there, it is not a sentiment I would ever support. Come on someone - Have A Go. Please.

Yes - I know that is not what the Great Dane said but it the sort of further complication that comes with increasing age.

I can now add insomnia. I've carried out all the suggested things they group as remedies but with no change. I've identified the cause and it is there that I find myself stymied.

I can sit about elsewhere in the house and drop off to sleep without too much bother. But as soon as I get into bed and put the lights and radio off, my brain goes into hyper-drive. It just races away; I will have four of five chains of thought going on at the same time. All lucid and clear and quite independent of each other. There will be a run through multiplication tables, bits of vocabulary in any one of three or four languages, planning for events some three or four months in the future or re-running actions taken years ago
Most annoying - especially when my brain seems to be degrading in many other aspects.

I have in the past gone to bed when the adrenaline was still high but back then I could somehow get the brain to switch off. Now, my addiction to adrenaline gets very little sustenance so it really should be a doddle to calm things down.

This may come across as a further instalment in my carping on about old age. Not my intention. There may be someone who can suggest what I can do to get back into the arms of Morpheus. Sleeping pills - both OTC and on prescription have not made any real difference and I have the same fears as did Hamlet as to where that sleep might lead.

'They think it is all over' is a phrase that has made its way from the football ground into common parlance. Just as well - I would have needed to find another phrase as a base for my blog.

The 100% LD vote for acceptance of the coalition terms was impressive. Either a fair number of them were able to swallow the firm policies and commitments of the hustings or have gone with the flow and work on the basis that a fish starts to rot at the head. It is, however, there and I am sure Dave remembers enough of Etonian prefectorial tactics to remind young Clegg that it did happen when the carping starts.

We might even think we are faced with another mini-election when the referendum into voting hits the streets. There will be the Pros and Cons of the newly established Government and the street-power brigades. Given the size of the Conservative vote in pure numerical terms rather than constituencies, the AV thing will not pass. Will the LD hard-core who only supported amalgamation in the hopes of change then accept the idea is a dead parrot? Will they then claim that AV was not PR and return to the fray? I heard a fine comment on the radio yesterday when someone commented that the whole AV/PR thing was as if Chelsea had been told that the next two teams in the Premiership had more points when added together than they did and therefore, those two were the winners.

Hague stepping out of his shadow and becoming de facto Foreign Secretary was something I had hoped for. Hard luck on the translators when he speaks in Europe! I would have wished to have seen him push for leader; he was too powerful in disposition to have remained as mere deputy. I have to admit that I do not favour deputy anythings - I gained many brownie points as a department head when I eliminated all of the deputy what-nots in a Budget review. They are merely stand-in for the Boss one upwards; if No. 1 is doing the job properly his people know what has to be done and do not need some surrogate leader.

Fox at Defence seems hopeful. His past seems to have been one of opposition to Brown's financial strangle-hold on expenditure even when it was quite clear that life and limb were being directly put at risk by this parsimony. He wrote a very good article in The Times regarding what he saw as a new form of terrorism - control of energy sources as a weapon. His contributions to the Tory centre-right blog show that he can listen as well as speak, Mind you, he has nothing to fear when it comes to contrasting his future performance with that of the total buffoon Aintworth. A dyslexic mute could do better than the cheap Prescott-copy appointed by Brown purely, I am convinced, because of his total inability to understand anything put to him by his staff and senior military figures.

Cable is a man who would have attracted my vote were I one of his constituents. He has depth and the ability to use humour to mask criticism. His comment on Brown transmuting from Stalin to Mr Bean was a classic.

I think my main concern right now is the gap between extreme LD members and the nutter-fringe of the Tory party. We have descended even further to yaa boo politics and there is too much to be done to spare time for sandal-jokes or lord of the manor jibes.

My other concern is for events here in Scotland. I sometimes surprise even myself at how much more I have become interested in this subject. Dan Alexander was Chief of Staff for Clegg and seems to have come out of his shell a bit as a member of the negotiating team. He clearly has a good brain. His Wiki entry reads well - I hope he can find acceptance with the moguls of Alba. I came here when the new governance was fairly young. I realised that they would have to learn to crawl before they could walk but I think it may be time to consult an expert on juvenile development?

My wishes and curses will have absolutely no impact - that is what politics is all about. Generating a false sense of involvement. But at least they have my best wishes and may even provide the occasional target for further such drivel from me.

Back in 1998, after my official retirement, I was retained by my former employer as a consultant. Just three days a week. Quite a nice bit of extra pocket money really. However, after a couple of years I recognised that I valued my complete independence more. I wanted to do a final round up in America before I got too aged and less adventurous, I had got used to turning left on entering the aircraft door and it seemed reasonable to use a fair portion of the pocket money on one last no expense spared expedition ranging around my well loved Arizona.

It was whilst this was in play that I decided I needed some focus. Something to do rather than just potter. I set about writing my recollections of a life I had enjoyed up to that time. To give this structure, I based it upon Shakespeare's idea of the seven ages of man. I researched local papers for events that I vaguely remembered and visited old locations from my junior infants school where I had been crowned King of Cleanliness right through UK venues of my military service and out to the just terminated consultancy.

I was satisfied with my efforts. However, I now recognise that the seven ages format was not the right one. Each decade of my life has had its sorrows and joys. Bewildered baby, struggling schoolboy, troubled teenager, student husband. Then the perils of parenthood, the doubts and miseries that went with middle age through to what I now describe as the sadness of senility.

When young, time was a commodity I had plenty of and it was spent without great thought - impulse reigned. Now I look back at those times and on what I got from those times and it seems I have little from what was a precious hoard. My appetite for life has waned just as my physical deterioration has advanced. My faithful old dog went up to Rainbow Valley some three years ago and there has been no incentive to stay mobile and able to wander about in the high and lonely places. She is irreplaceable and I am too frail and crotchety to start another puppy. I look forward to a rapidly shrinking future; look forward not in pleasant anticipation but as a reality I shall not evade. I seem to spend the majority of my time looking back at the comfort of reliving the past.

Now, even my memory is in a state of mutiny. Memory loss is inevitable and mine is diminishing. As I understand it, this happens to us all and even commences at the age of 40. This might sound quite harmless - even pleasant where there are sad or unpleasant memories and harmless in itself. I do not find it so, It is stressing, annoying and worrying. Whilst I can recall events from the distant past with quite good clarity and detail I find it hard to form new memories. It is as if I am trying to force new folders into an already full filing cabinet. I am told that when I delete a file on this computer, it does not go to document Valhalla and just the first few bits are overwritten and left blank to make way for new data. I can look past the blanks and get a ghost image of the old data; stuff I thought I had deleted years back as immaterial and inconsequential. The first time a girl opened her mouth to me as we kissed, the make of car I hired to visit the Palace for my investiture, the name of the barman in the Sergeants' Mess in Kuala Lumpur - it is all there in its uselessness. But when it comes to stuff I need to retain - bugger, it has gone walk-about. We live close to the town of Kelso. A few weeks back I wanted to suggest to my wife that we go there and have a change of shopping venue. I got to "Shall we go to..to..to" and stuck firm. I knew I wanted the name of a place but it was totally missing. Some ten minutes later - seemingly with no conscious effort - the word Kelso popped into my brain.
It has happened the same way since - I now have to cross-reference Kelso with an auto-correct feature where I think of it as Kosovo. Would that I had some way to de-frag my memory core. I start a sentence with the words all queued up ready and then lose track halfway through my recitation. And I was a man who knew by heart every word of Eskimo Nell and most of Dangerous Dan McGrew.

I suppose I will just have to wait until someone designs an application for my trusty iPhone that will act as a stage prompt. Until then, I make use of the camera to back-up the faulty memory and the voice application to remind me just what I was going to do in the kitchen having walked the 50 or so yards from my study.

Two of England's teaching unions are at odds over the future of national curriculum tests for 11-year-olds. The National Union of Teachers (NUT) is continuing to threaten industrial action if the tests – known as SATS – are not scrapped but the National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers (NASWUT) issued findings from a poll warning that abolishing the papers would be "reckless".

The NASUWT poll questioned 2,000 teachers about the impact of ending SATS tests for 14-year-olds. Schools Secretary Ed Balls scrapped these in October 2008 saying they were not needed to hold secondary schools to account. The survey found that abolishing the tests had increased teacher workloads and distracted them from teaching and learning. In some cases, the move has led to teachers working at least ten extra hours per class, the NASUWT found. Many teachers are now having to administer internal tests and mark them themselves, as well as carry out their own teacher assessments of pupils.

There are calls for the union to continue its campaign, co-ordinate action with other unions and parents, and to give advice on alternative forms of assessment. It also contains a clause calling for industrial action, including strike action, to disrupt the administration of the tests.

The NUT, and the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) want to see SATS replaced by teacher assessment and argues the tests are bad for children, teachers and education, and cause unnecessary stress. They claim that the tests create a “pressure cooker effect” in primary schools which places children under stress as well as a focus on performance targets. Teachers are allegedly leaving the profession “because they are becoming box tickers and exam crammers, not educators”. They also want to see school league tables abolished.

Comparing the two points of view, there seems to be no common ground. I lack the necessary qualification to decide which opinion is correct - but I know someone who does:

"PRESIDENT ATKINSONS' OPPOSITION TO THE USE OF SAT I John Furedy, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
Like Richard Atkinson, I am an experimental psychologist (though a far less distinguished one) rather than a differential psychologist who has specialized in psychological test theory. However, I recall enough from my undergraduate courses to recognize that the validity of a test is assessed not by speculating that it "can have a devastating impact on self-esteem and aspirations of young students" ("Use of SAT I 'Compromises Education System' Says UC President", Observer, April 2001), but by determining to what extent performance on the test is correlated with some defined criterion performance (here, academic success in a prestigeous university).
Nor is this correlation with criterion performance expected to be perfect, so that there may well be factors other than sheer cognitive ability in analogical reasoning (factors such as socio-economic class, home environment, and, of course, motivation - recall that living organisms and not computers are being tested) that contribute to test performance. In terms of this normal, scientific criterion of validity, the SAT I, to my knowledge, is a useful instrument, and specialists in psychological test construction have, over the years, improved its validity, though not to any level of perfect prediction. So from the perspective of psychological test theory, I see no rational grounds for Atkinson's recommendation to abandon the SAT I.

Atkinson also advances a more general, educational argument for dropping the SAT I. He avers that it "compromises the education system", and, besides the SAT II (which, he feels, is a better measure than the SAT I - to my knowledge he advances no systematic evidence for this comparative empirical claim about two psychological tests), he suggests that selectors should rely on "grade point average, activity records, and other more 'holistic' measures of students' achievement".

I cannot help noting that the latter two aspects appear to be more related to how well a student can get along with others, rather than to what extent s/he has been able to master various academic disciplines.

Moreover, the North American high school system lacks state-wide standard examinations as exist, for example, in Australia. Grade points, then, are at least partly determined by how much individual teachers like individual students, and hence, in more crude terms, may simply indicate sucking-up, rather than academic, ability. In my view, it is the use of these more subjective and "holistic" measures of student achievement (together with race- and sex-based quotas intended to produce 'diversity') that really "compromise the education system"."

That seems clear enough. It also fits my own experience of examinations. In 1944, I sat what was then known as the 11+ examination. In advance of the examination, parents had the opportunity to nominate the school to which their child should go. The chance of these choices being recognised were determined by the exam. results that were achieved. I may need to remind some that the years immediately prior to 1944 had been ones where the country was subjected to warfare with bombs, doodle-bugs and rockets all adding to the tensions of education. Homework was disrupted. School friends were killed or would appear wounded and shocked. My father ran his own company and employed about 15 workmen so I suppose we might have been regarded as middle class. Even now I can recall the pressure upon me to do well at the 11+ which was described as being the foundation of my continuing education and, thus, my whole future. Our teachers were strict; frequent physical punishment was the norm and it was clear that poor achievement in the exam would be regarded as failure - personally for us, them and the school. So, some 'stress' and 'pressure cooking' there then.

In the event, I did well. I never had any problems with examinations and was to face many until I ceased full time education at 17. Not that I was clever - it was just that I could remember things. (a+b)² was never a problem; the answer sprang into my mind with no real effort at calculation. I went to my parent's grammar school choice but had no personal wish to be there. I rebelled and was withdrawn to spend 18 months amongst the 11+ failures at a Secondary Modern until sitting a 13+ exam which was intended for late developers. This got me to the Technical College I had always wanted to attend from about the age of 9. In all honesty, I cannot see that any teacher assessment would have dealt with that situation. Goody Two Shoes would still have been recommended for the 'posh' school. It was not that my parents did not know what I wanted; every weekend we passed the desired school en-route to my grandmother's house and I always aid "That is where I will go one day"

So, on the basis of personal experience, I have to doubt the NUT version as to the evils of SAT. The way that education seems to be structured in recent years suggests a far easier approach. Children ending up 'on the scrap-heap' is almost routine. After all, doesn't the Government have grandiose schemes to cater for those with low achievement? But I also note that the education system is releasing students who have low reading and mathematical skills and who have been protected from opposition or competition to the extent that team games were frowned upon.

So, whence cometh this Union opposition? I can only deduce that the measure of a teacher's skill, dedication and ability remains their finished product - the rounded student. The head of the school will be looked at in the light of the overall results from his staff. All damned good reasons to avoid the black and white - pass or fail - of any written testing which external agencies may use to evaluate the value of school staff. No questioning why Jack got 6% final mark when Jill at the adjacent school on the same curriculum got 45%. It is open to me in an assessment to say that Jack is a fine lad but needs time to mature or was impaired by frequent absence for undiagnosed illnesses. In other words, get him shipped off my responsibility. T'was not my fault he got such dire results when tested. We would not accept a situation where it was open to a car owner to personally certify that his vehicle was fit to pass a MOT and needed no other testing.

The Conservatives have announced a "hit list" of 75 primary and secondary schools and promised that those running those schools would be removed within the first 100 days of a Conservative government. Such schools are to be reopened the following year as academies. Ah, now there is a word that Unions know about - 'removed'. Off to Do The Boys Hall for them.

Which Union attitude will prevail remains to be seen. I cannot imagine any real Government input. They are undergoing their own SAT test and all parties look to fail in public estimation when they manage to stop dancing around like a load of coochie dancers.

I think I might just last until the electioneering ends before I blow up in a cloud of red in anger.
It is not so much the claims and counter-claims as to why I should choose one or the other party. I understand it is a sort of beauty competition but there we would see just what we were voting for. In politics, we have to accept the broad outlines of a manifesto that lacks detail.
For example, we are told that there will be cuts in public spending but just what and where these are likely to fall is not detailed. This suggests to me that the party's policy makers either do not know or have done their homework and put figures to action. If they do not know, that is highly irresponsible behaviour. If they know - why cannot we be told; chapter and verse? A prime example is the NHS that is said to be facing cut-backs. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the NHS service that I receive but there are many other Trusts with poor admin and fiscal control histories. How do I know that these will be targeted or whether the cuts will be brutal across the board reductions?
It is not as if I can question the smiling assassins who come to my door. They may well tell me what their aims are but I know full well that when/if they get into power they are the whips bitches and are told exactly what to do when a vote comes.
That is, of course, if I can trust my elected member anyway. The revelations of how their minds work when it comes to integrity and honour as shown in the expenses saga are still fresh in my mind.
What really burns me though is the way they seem to regard us as idiots. They shift and swivel almost hourly in declaring what their prime intentions are. There is just no way they would have the time to deal with all these matters. If there has to be a coalition government, the time spent posturing and bargaining has to be factored in. We are told - in broad brush terms only - what they will do but no idea of priority or timetable is given.
There is also the Curate's Egg aspect. I may like some of the manifesto and totally resist another. If I knew what sort of priority the party gave to each 'promise' I might be able to evaluate the likes against the dislikes.
In the end it all comes down to like and dislike - I like/dislike them all in about the same measure. The same applies to trust/distrust. This quandary would not be resolved by any change in the voting system. I want to vote for a party that I know will do what - exactly defined please. To give someone the keys to my safe and not know what they will do once inside is nonsense but that is what I am expected to do with my vote.
Of course, in right down to it truth, what government we have will have little effect upon me. They will decide what to do and do it. If my tax goes up - what are my alternatives? If they make an abortion of the NHS that I really depend upon - what are my remedies? I suppose my alternative will be to do nothing and stay home on election day.

I suppose it was to be expected when our Government pressured Karzai to deal with the widespread corruption in his jurisdiction that he would respond by arresting and dealing with a British subject. Major Bill Shaw MBE, formerly of the RMP and now the Commercial Director of a security company has been sentenced to two years imprisonment to be served in a local jail with a most unsavoury reputation. The various reports of his trial and the charges laid are similar and suggest they all stem from one local news feed.

This leaves a number of questions unanswered. We do not know what part our Man in Afghanistan may have played in supporting the defence of the officer or gaining any amelioration of the conditions of his detention. It seems that much of the evidence was in the local language - not understandable to the accused - and he was defended by someone with a European name who may also have no understanding of what went on. It may be significant that the local who was alleged to have received money from the manager was not found by the police - he has ample funds to stay out of their interview rooms. One would have thought that the absence of this crucial witness would be a bar to any prosecution; hearsay reports of his actions should have been well countered by the officer and his translator.

Our Embassy will have taken things on board - I suppose this will be the usual one visit from a junior clerk every six weeks. Nothing too aggressive there then; our PM is able to insult little old ladies but our Foreign Secretary is too busy fighting for his political life to tear a strip off the Afghan ministry in London.

There is a petition for the release of the officer but that seems to be the sum total of any response. He has the right of appeal but I would not hold out much hope of that avenue. What is needed is much greater exposure of the whole case and the attention of a very high profile defence lawyer. This should really be manna from heaven for the Get Out Of Afghanistan Now In Any Way Possible brigade - of which I am proud to be a member. We have all sorts of top class correspondents and TV reporters out there and they should crowd out the courthouse. If this is an injustice, it must be exposed.

I write if this is an injustice. The reports make much of the fact that the officer served as a major in the Royal Military Police after 28 years service and is the holder of the MBE. I can only say that I have dealt with RMP officers with a similar profile who have fallen by the wayside. He had experience on the civil network in that part of the world and should have been aware that things are rarely what they seem. Meeting someone whose bona-fides he did not know to hand over a large sum in cash in respect of a dodgy seizure was on the edge of careless and the con was not particularly sophisticated.

I am minded of the words of an old copper when one of his colleagues had gone down the steps. "If you are a copper, there's always something on offer" Awareness of this is an essential part of being a policeman.