Bel is thinking

The Telegraph reports on the following results of a survey of 1,500 pupils:

• a third felt that people who read a lot were boring;
• only half agreed that reading was a good way to spend time; and
• less than half thought that libraries were interesting places.

While I accept that not every child must like books, I think that the problem lies much deeper than that. It is not so much a disinclination to read, but a distaste for learning. In this country, I have very often encountered the belief amongst many that education in itself has no value at all.

In all my time living and working all over Africa, I came across many students who did not like reading (or even school, for that matter), and indeed, many who could not afford to go to school. However, whether they liked school or not, they were all very clear on one thing: that education had value, and that there was a direct relationship between a good relationship and wellbeing in almost every area of life. There was therefore a sense that, whatever one’s feelings on the matter, education was a necessary thing.

Not so in the United Kingdom. The relationship between education and self-advancement has been downplayed to the point that education is of little worth in the eyes of many. It obviously means nothing to this Government, under whose watch we have seen its value fall, through (for example), the inflation of exam grades, the proposed allocation of school places through lottery systems, and the so-called ‘widening of access’ to university by giving greater weight to factors other than merit.

A little over a year ago, I wrote about Carol Horne, a mother who was fined for turning a blind eye while her daughter played truant. Declaring herself unrepentant, Horne stated that she did not see the point of education, anyway, as getting a job was ‘a matter of luck, not exam results’.

Outrageous? Not at all. Ask any employer who has had the misfortune to interview any of the half-baked A-starred products of our education system. Ask any university lecturer who has had to offer such students remedial lessons in English grammar and spelling. Carol Horne may not be aware of the ins and outs of the education system, but her words ring with wisdom. Education has no value in today’s Britain, and this latest survey simply confirms that fact.

Muslim leaders in Australia have banned five of their number from speaking to the media. Among the five is Sheikh Taj el-Din al-Hilali, the deluded bigot who claimed last year that unveiled women (whom he likened to ‘uncovered meat’) were to blame if they were sexually assaulted by men.

The muslim leaders claim that the ban is necessary to repair the relationship between the muslim community and the rest of the public. Well, maybe so. A cynical observer might interpret it as a means of keeping poisonous propaganda inhouse for the time being. After all, no sensible warrior (or jihadist, for that matter) would want their weapons of war out in the public gaze before the time for battle has come.

Gagging a mad mullah who is bent on jihad does not stop him from spreading his poison elsewhere. Preparations will continue apace, only out of the gaze of the ignorant public. I would prefer that such people were talking to the media, actually. Always better to know what they are saying.

John Major writes in the Telegraph today. He contemplates the ridiculous spectacle of New Labour shouting loudly and aggressively in favour of the Union between Scotland and England, when it is they who have done everything possible to undermine it:

It is hard, therefore, to listen today to brazen speeches in favour of the Union from the men who have done most to undermine it - Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Labour has unbalanced the delicate relationship and now attacks anyone who notices what it has done: it is classic New Labour spin; classic and deeply depressing in its dishonesty.

The truth, which it dare not admit, is that it put short-term Labour Party advantage far ahead of long-term care for the Union. Now the danger of a breach has become acute, the effrontery is staggering. Gordon Brown - as Scottish as porridge oats - may dress himself up as John Bull as often as he likes, but the costume will never fit.

Every single word true.

Patrick Mercer, the Conservative Party spokesman for Homeland Security, has just stepped down from his post.

The MP, who served in the Armed Forces for many years before entering Parliament, had this to say about allegations of racism in the Army:

But that’s the way it is in the Army. If someone is slow on the assault course, you’d get people shouting: ‘Come on you fat bastard, come on you ginger bastard, come on you black bastard’.

He also claimed that in his time in the Armed Forces, he knew many soldiers who were “idle”, and who used claims of racism to excuse their poor performance.

Predictably, the knives came out. Labour MP, Dawn Butler, of whom I had never heard before this afternoon, has been uttering some sanctimonious words about how ‘the Tories have not changed’.

Shahid Malik, of whom I have heard, albeit nothing impressive, has declared Mercer’s comments to be ’shocking’. He then seized the opportunity to describe the Conservative Party as sexist, racist and homophobic.

My view? I don’t see what all the fuss is about. Patrick Mercer recounted what used to happen in the Army when he was a soldier. Is he now to be punished for attesting to what he observed in his many years as a soldier? Has it not occurred to all the people claiming outrage out there, that as an old soldier, Mr Mercer may actually know what he is talking about? The fact that he speaks of a reality different to what PC Britain would wish its Army to be, does not mean he should be punished for it.

Actually, what Patrick Mercer is saying, far from being offensive, makes the very good point that where there is camaraderie and close relationship, comments which one may otherwise see as racist are not actually so. I know that the jokes I endure from my friends of other races, while they may seem offensive to the causal bystander, are clearly not so when considered in the context of our relationship. Why? Because the balm of friendship takes away any sting of racism. Being called a ‘black bastard’ by an angry drunk in the pub is a totally different matter from being called that amid the casual joshing of Army training. The relationship matters, and the context matters.

None of that matters, however, in our PC-indoctrinated society. Rather, Patrick Mercer is condemned for describing Army life as he saw it. As for his claim about knowing ‘idle’ soldiers who used racism as an excuse, if that was what he witnessed, why shouldn’t he say so? Are his critics claiming that no single ethnic minority worker is guilty of this behaviour? Are all ethnic minority workers symbols of hard work and dedication to duty? Is it really implausible that there may have been a few such ‘idle’ soldiers in Patrick Mercer’s regiment?

The PC version of reality, where no one, not even the closest of friends, indulges in any racial teasing, and where all black workers are paragons of hard work, is sadly not reflective of society. However, there is great peril in pointing this out, as Patrick Mercer found out today.

A self-styled former liberal writes an article in the Daily Mail. It is entitled ‘The night my daughter was stabbed - and my liberal instincts died’.

In summary, his daughter had gone out one night to the shops in their affluent North-West London neighbourhood. On her way back, she was stabbed in the ribs by a hoodie who grabbed her bag and ran away. Mercifully, she survived, but her father has swiftly recanted his liberal ways. Hear him:

Nothing shatters one’s dearly-held liberal beliefs quite like a brutal clash with the reality of crime.

On our streets today it is the middle-class young people - the products of our liberal homes - who are being targeted.

That’s right, sir. Welcome to the real world.

Faced with what happened to his daughter, he states further:

So is there anybody out there who is accountable? The terrible fact is that, in these well-tended million-pound-plus houses with their state-of-the art security systems, people have long known what’s going on in the street outside.

But they have closed the blinds and simply turned away. And so have I.

…

We have put our heads in the sand for too long about this problem and have done nothing about the indifference of the authorities to much that is wrong in our society. We certainly backed the wrong policies on education - no one who could possibly avoid it would send a child to a comprehensive school around here.

Worse, we have done this at the expense of our own children, who now have to forge their lives in the bleak urban environment we have allowed to develop.

Well said, sir.

As you can imagine, the readers’ comments to this article in the Daily Mail, while sympathetic, have chided him for his past folly. Many have made the sound observation that it is liberals like him who have denounced ordinary citizens and even politicians for daring to speak out against the prevailing tolerant attitudes to crime and criminals.

I am glad he has acknowledged the damage done to society by the ideology he previously espoused. His redemption is (almost) complete. All he needs to do now is share the news of his conversion with his fellow liberals. I fail to see the point of him writing this article in the Daily Mail. Preaching to the converted, as it were. Better that he takes his message to the Guardian, and let us hope it falls there on good ground and yields lasting fruit.

Just watching the news about the kidnapping of the British workers in Ethiopia. All manner of people have been labelled ’Africa experts’, and wheeled into news studios to give their opinion on what exactly might have befallen the hapless workers.

I view such opinions with a healthy scepticism. Perhaps having lived in the affected areas myself (Ethiopia and Eritrea, that is), I also should roll up to the studio and offer my opinion.

The truth is, nobody knows what has happened to these men. Until the investigators uncover some more evidence, we do not even know on which side of the border they are. Nobody needs an ‘Africa expert’ to tell them that.