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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Something of huge significance happened at the weekend. Israel formally rejected Trump's Plan for Peace in Gaza. What's so significant about that? It is the first time Israel has ever officially torpedoed an agreed Middle Eastern peace plan.
On every occasion before this, they have signed up, confident they can torpedo it later when everyone's moved on. And has been successful in doing so each time. So why not this time?
It is true Netanyahu has run into a storm of criticism at home and, the Israeli electorate having moved so far right, this jeopardises his chances at upcoming elections -- even supposing his coalition gets that far. But this is a very familiar situation and hitherto everyone who counts has understood it will get torpedoed in the fullness of time.
No, it appears to be sheer overconfident brazenness. They think they're untouchable, and they may be right. But I think there's a fair chance Trump will strike back. Hard.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Andy Burnham is on another one of his meet-the-people campaigns. I hope we're not going to have three years of 'anywhere but Downing Street' government. I thought that's what we didn't elect him for, to bring a bit of sense and sensibility to Westminster.
But anyway, this week it's 'the high street'. He's going on about 'dodgy barber shops'. In my day the only thing dodgy about them was it was where you got your dobbers from. 'Ahem, anything for the weekend, sir?' being the opening gambit. Now, apparently, they're fronts for organised crime. This may be so but at least we do need to get our hair cut.
It's the 'nail bars' that I am dubious about. The prevalence of them on the high street is what people were remarking on, not too many hairdressers. What their true purpose is I cannot say. Married women after some decent nookie, I would think.
If they did toenails I might pay a visit myself. 'Just a trim, please.' Like we always said at the barber's. Not that we ever got one, the butchering bastards. It was short, back and sides like everyone else. Good to hear they're just mafiosi now.
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Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
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| Mick Harper wrote: | I always have difficulty entering into academic spats because of my objection to there being academics in the first place. But the 'Jason Arday furore' has opened a much bigger can of worms than the worms normally produce.
Basically this young dude (and I do mean dude) has got himself a professorship in the Sociology of Education at Cambridge. No harm in that (other than the usual) but he has turned out to be a wrong 'un. He has been plagiarising like mad for the whole of his academic career and his CV has turned out to be... er... let us say, fictitious in parts.
Normally his feet wouldn't touch, he'd be out the door and the whole thing brushed under the carpet. Except Jason is -- did I mention it? -- black. Indeed a poster child of High Academy's grasping of the diversity principle. Though I would imagine he was still the only black person in the room during his lectures.
So what's the brouhaha all about? Well, it was because Cambridge didn't show him the door. It was left to fascist creeps in SCR's the length and breadth of the internet to say he should have been. Cue the sound of heels being dug in. Though the latest episode features Jason doing the decent thing and flouncing out of his own volition. Because of racism, natch.
It's kinda funny, kinda sad. |
The genius of Jason Arday was that he was such a bad lecturer, if had been mediocre, he would surely have been booted out.
Not that this an orginal observation....
Its all in Borges "Universal History of Infamy" .
Borges retells the tale of Arthur Orton, a butcher's son from London, who ran away to sea and ended up in Australia. After years abroad, Orton by now very overweight but still uneducated returns to England, having hatched a cunning plan to pass himself, as Sir Roger Tichborne. Sir Richard had up to that point, been presumed dead lost at sea.
Ortons audacious scheme initially worked as everyone really wanted to beleive that Sir Roger was not dead, but more importantly Orton rather than trying to fake a resemblance to the late Sir Richard, (as 99% of conmen would) behaved like the obese, ill mannered butchers son he always was.
This was his genius. Observers beleived that as no conman would be daft to try such a stupid ruse, as a bad Sir Richard, totally disimilar to the man they knew...they convinced themselves he must be the real Sir Richard.
It was only much later he got found out.
This often happens with fake objects, if its almost but not quite right, it gets spotted.... if its totally whacky like the Franks Casket, all folks get taken in.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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| Wiley wrote: | | The genius of Jason Arday was that he was such a bad lecturer, if had been mediocre, he would surely have been booted out. |
What are you talking about, Wiley? If academics lost their jobs for being bad lecturers there would be no academia.
It is a job for which there is no qualification, no training, no in-house evaluation, no external inspection, no promotion by merit, no penalty for poor performance and (though I'm told some of the lesser universities hand out questionnaires) no consumer feedback.
PS The last lecturer I had, at Middlesex Poly when doing a part-time adult evening course for an MA, could scarcely speak comprehensible English and his only concession to the audience was to allow them a five minute break in his weekly two-hour drone. The room was packed.
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