Category Archives: education

Toxic snobbery at Trinity College, Cambridge: 1970s

Posted on November 14, 2019 by

Coleridge [was] invited by the master [of the college] to a meet-and-greet for the alumni of “top public schools” where champagne is served. It transpires there are two more parties, the second for those from lesser public schools and grammars, … Continue reading →

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A Russell Howard quip

Posted on November 11, 2019 by

“Kids do really well in their A Levels, and how do we respond? ‘A’ levels are getting easier!’ In my day, you had to do 50 questions in a minute, and if you got one wrong, they killed your Dad!” … Continue reading →

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Chairing a School Exclusion Meeting

Posted on November 7, 2019 by

Many of us have Chaired various meetings in the past, but I think one of the most testing; for me was when I was Chair of Governors at one of Harold Hill’s more notorious schools. Yes the school had a … Continue reading →

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Informal bonuses for teachers

Posted on October 17, 2019 by
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Len Deighton on Etonians

Posted on October 10, 2019 by

Eton, Oxbridge, Buddha class: sadistic, self-sufficient apparatchiks who controlled Whitehall by stealth, wealth and consanguinity and — no matter how friendly — inevitably closed ranks against intruders like me. Len Deighton. Hope (1995) (Kindle Locations 1945-1947). HarperCollins UK. Chris

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Bruce M.

Posted on September 18, 2019 by

I wouldn’t call Bruce a friend, more an acquaintance that are so important to one’s life. He was important in the long past. He was a very noticeable youngish man, I’m guessing in his early to mid-thirties. He was very … Continue reading →

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Wittgenstein as a (failed) teacher

Posted on September 2, 2019 by

For our own part, we struck Wittgenstein as intolerably stupid.1 He would denounce us to our faces as unteachable, and at times he despaired of getting us to recognize what sort of point he was trying to get across to … Continue reading →

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