Torbay weblog davecathy

Apr 28, 2005 at 13:49 o\clock

CHILDREN OUT OF CONTROL

by: davecathy

Last night, on television, they showed a programme called "Classroom Chaos", in which a supply teacher, who had not taught for 15 years, covertly filmed her classes, which were totally out of control, where teenagers behaved abominably, where anarchy reigned rather than her.
At first, my reaction was to be disgusted at the behaviour of the pupils, but on reflection, I thought of other programmes, such as "Supernanny", "Little Angels", "Superbrat", and other similar types of this particular genre. What all those other programmes had in common was that without exception, they showed that with a reasonable injection of discipline and control, the behaviour of wayward kids can be altered out of all recognition, and chaos replaced by compliance, rudeness giving way to respect.
People in general, and kids in particular, need a strong set of rules within which to operate. They need to know what is acceptable behaviour, and what is not. This is not rocket science, it is plain common sense, and any teacher who cannot  provide such guidance and leadership is incompetent.
Can you imagine any other trade or profession where someone who had been away from the job for 15 years would be allowed to resume where they had left off? A lawyer maybe, or a train, plane or bus driver? Would you place your trust in a doctor who had not been in practise for 15 years? 
Governments can only supply the money, and in recent years, there has been no shortage of that, but it is the people on the ground who must translate those more than adequate physical resources into a good education. Patently, this is not happening sufficiently, and too many children are leaving school without any qualification, or even illiterate.
Dave Cathy
     

Apr 20, 2005 at 12:38 o\clock

POPE BENEDICT AND BINGE-DRINKING

by: davecathy

Today, the main headline in the local.paper is about physical violence towards hospital staff. The day before, it was announced that fire crews now face an average of 40 attacks per week nationwide. Binge drinking and anti-social behaviour are out of control, and while overall crime has been reducing for 10 years, violent crime is on the increase.
Who is to blame for this? It is too easy to blame the government of the day, and all parties are promising more police and more laws, but you can never have a policeman on every street corner 24 hours a day, and even if you did, that would still not end yobbism.
There is a growing sickness in society, where nobody, schools, parents, or individuals take responsibility, and growing numbers of people do not know the meaning of the word rerspect. Greed, egotism and self-gratification are the only concerns, what the new Pope Benedict called 'The dictatorship of relativism', but the answer lies in our own hands, not in those of government or the churches.
Formerly, crime was caused by poverty, now it is often too much free time and spare cash in the pocket that is the cause.
 

Apr 13, 2005 at 17:52 o\clock

GLOBALISATION

by: davecathy

 
Peter Lucas (Your View 9.4.05) bemoans the fact that British manufacturing is moving to the Far East, and wants Britain to become self sufficient, and of course, it is all Blair's fault. Peter's heart is in the right place, but I wonder just how many of his possessions and clothes have been made in this country. Would he be willing to buy a DVD player, shirt, or vacuum cleaner made in Britain at double the price of one made in China or India?
Globalisation is a fact of life, and manufacturing has been declining in this country for many years, never faster than under Thatcher, and is unstoppable. As it is, industry complains of acute skill shortages in this country, witness Polish dentists, Phillipino nurses, and even Stagecoach is forced to recruit bus drivers in Estonia.
Take Rover Cars for example, a British basketcase. Governments of all shades have tried time and again to rescue that company from disaster. While they have swallowed up money from the taxpayer for generations, foreign owned car manufacture in this country has almost doubled in 8 years from 960.00 cars a year to 1.6 million. If they can do it, why cannot British managemnt do the same?Instead, the asset strippers, who were given the comany for £10 have raided the pension fund, taken millions out of the company for themselves, and bled the comany dry. You get what you deserve.
Dave Cathy
 

Apr 9, 2005 at 11:32 o\clock

KILLING THE GOLDEN GOOSE

by: davecathy

Star, I do not  disagree with you regards foreign students, but as an ex bus driver who had to deal with many thousands of sudents, I much preferred them to crowds of British teenagers. On the whole, I found foreign students noisy, pushy, and a bit ill-mannered. Their local equivalent I find sullen, foul-mouthed and aggressive. My worst nightmare was always being the first bus to arrive outside a secondary school after letting out time. Of course, that does not go for ALL local kids, just the majority.

The point I was making that Torbay earns its living from visitors, and we cannot pick and choose which we will accept, any more than Tesco's can. I originate from Liverpool, which earned its living as a seaport. The whole city was built around that industry, and the entire seafront was given over to commerce, not the public, and the road system built for the convenience of industry, not the convenience of the residents. That is the price all towns have to pay if they are to be successful. Identify your golden goose, then make sure it continues to lay eggs for you.

Dave.   

Apr 8, 2005 at 00:32 o\clock

LIVING IN CLOUD CUCKOO LAND

by: davecathy

 
Christine Tweed expresses absolute horror at the prospect of a May Day bikers rally in Paignton (Your View 7.4.05). I am sure she is not alone. Every year, there is sustained opposition to the Waste Managenent Fair, most local people dislike foreign students intensely, and routinely, holidaymakers are disparagingly called grockels. 
Yes, certainly, bikers may be noisy, students push and shove, and holidaymakers make the place look untidy, but Torbay, if it is anything, is a holiday resort. It is the way the place earns its living, and too many people are willing to bite the hand that feeds us, simply because visitors are not 'suitable' people or of the 'right' social background. 
In the old days, when Torquay was the Queen of resorts, perhaps we could afford to be sniffy about the quality of our clientele, but in this much more competitive age, that air of genteel superioity is dead and gone, or should be.
There is even so much opposition to a decent road link to the Borough that one begins to think many people would prefer to see Torbay cast itself adrift, and float gently off into the deep blue yonder like some latter day Titanic rather than let the 21st century arrive in our midst.
 

Apr 2, 2005 at 14:58 o\clock

AM I TALKING CRAP?

by: davecathy

 
My letters to the local paper have put me under venomous attack from many quarters. I must be saying something right, in that they have also brought me many new friends.
Brian Blatchwood implies that I am a government propagandist, and my letters worthy only as toilet paper. Such puerile and negative language is a waste of an opportunity to say something positive and useful. Why do so many letter writers attempt to denigrate those they disagree with? What happened to good manners? Democracy is about discussion and debate, the exchange of ideas, not insults. I write about a wide range of subjects, eg. motherhood, religion, vandalism, binge drinking, architecture, Prince Charles's wedding, public transport, the Asian tsunami, not just politics. My most recent political letters have been purely factual, in that I am amazed to discover that I am actually better off since I retired than when I was working (Details available), and I posed a question, could anyone inform me of a better budget package for pensioners than the recent one. Nobody has sent me any examples as yet. Incidentally, I have only voted Labour once in my life, on the basis that this far from perfect government is greatly preferable to all the alternatives on offer.
Most gratifying is the series of anonymous letters (all in a single week) from an extreme sect, which I call the Bloody Nutters Party. Apart from the hair-curling obscenities, they accuse me of hiding my address, and enclose very detailed files of Asian Rapists in the UK, Refugees and the spread of HIV and disease in the UK, Dodgy foreign doctors in the UK. The list goes on and on. Another file lists the sexual offences of Tory, Labour, and Liberal councillors over the years. I will not comment on the files, but far from hiding my identity, several prospective candidates of this party have more than once enjoyed the hospitality of my home to discuss their ideas. Strangely, I have not even mentioned the party in many months, so why now?
Someday I will bore readers with my motivation for writing to the paper. Perhaps I just like the sound of my own voice or am trying to make a name for myself. Perhaps not.
Dave