New torture charges
As I write this, British soldiers Fusilier Gary Bartlam, Lance Corporal Mark Cooley, Corporal Daniel Kenyon and Lance Corporal Darren Larkin are standing trial for involvement in torture. So far the only person to be punished has been Piers Morgan of the Daily Mirror who did not torture anybody but published some pictures which turned out to be fakes.

The fake photos were suspiciously useful both to distract attention from the very real photos being circulated of torture by the US and the photos which they must have known about which are being used as evidence in the trial of four British soldiers.

The real snaps were found on a roll of film handed in at a developers in Tamworth, Staffordshire, by 19-year-old Fusilier Bartlam. Shop assistant Kelly Tilford alerted police.

In one photograph, an Iraqi captive is tightly bound and gagged and clinging to a forklift truck, before being cut loose and falling to the ground.

Photos show what appears to be a soldier aiming a kick at the head of an Iraqi and a soldier standing on top of a man in what looks like a pool of blood.

It is alleged two Iraqis were forced to strip and pose in sexual positions.

Gonzales would not regard any of this as torture as only "trauma similar to the loss of an organ or death" is torture in his book. In the Senate hearing he both agreed and disagreed with this view in the same breath.

ALBERTO GONZALES: If i may, sir, let me try to give you a quick answer, but I'd like to put a little bit of context. There obviously we were interpreting a statute that had never been reviewed in the courts, a statute drafted by Congress. We were trying to interppret the standard set by Congress. There was discussion between the White House and Department of Justice as well as other agencies about what does this statute mean? It was a very, very difficult -- I don't recall today whether or not I was in agreement with all of the analysis, but I don't have a disagreement with the conclusions then reached by the department. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the department to tell us what the law means, Senator.

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY: And do you agree today that for an act to violate the torture statute, it must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function or even death?

ALBERTO GONZALES: I do not, sir, that does not represent the position of the executive branch, as you know..

A new hope
My pupils have rallied around and taken an interest in finding out about the tsunami and how they can help now and what ought to be done in the future. This disaster has reaffirmed my faith: I believe that it is one world and we have to work together.

All over the world the generosity of the people has shamed the world leaders. Of course Bush and Blair will probably renege on their so-called "pledges" as they always have in the past.

What is the use of a God who couldn't have prevented this disaster?
What is the use of a God who could have prevented this disaster but didn't?

Science has limitations. Human intervention has limitations. I think we could all use a God. The trouble is there just doesn't seem to be one. We will have to overcome those limitations for ourselves.

Whack O!
There is a debate on the TES website about bringing back the cane. This reflects a genuine concern over discipline in schools and about the increasing alienation of pupils. Nevertheless most of the posters oppose the cane.
There is a simple moral argument. Can you teach me violence is wrong by caning me?

There are also some practical objections.

1) Would you cane girls as well as boys?
2) Would you cane the children whose parents objected to caning? Worse would you let them get away without caning and only punish those whose parents liked the idea of you hitting their children?
3) How do you deal with the children for whom getting caned is a badge of courage?
4) How would you deal with those for whom caning is a turn-on? Would it really be a punishment for them?

Nobody in their right mind has ever called me a liberal do-gooder and if you think I don't believe in discipline ask my class before you make any such unfortunate assumptions :)


I was caned once for drawing a cartoon. It was an all boys school and the rather short deputy head used to enthusiastically administer the canings. My experience was that the hard cases at our school who used to bully other boys used to get the cane regularly and saw it as a badge of courage.

They were all Crystal Palace supporters - mark you I draw no conclusions!

Tsunami government fraud
My class are instinctively handing over their pocket money to help the victims of the tsunami. Their hearts are in the right place.

However, it transpires that the money which the government is "pledging" to relieve the suffering of the tsunami is not new money at all - they are robbing Peter to pay Paul.

On top of which, Newsnight last night also detailed how previous "pledges" of disaster relief have never actually turned into money. They are as much use as any other politician's "promise".

People all over are dying
Politicians keep on lying
They spend 4200 dollars on war
Then give one dollar to the poor!

Diego Garcia
According to reports in the world's press, admitted by the US government,
the US military base on Diego Garcia had forewarning of the tsunami whilst
the countries in the greater danger had no warning because the greatest
military power on the planet lacked the resources to put through a phone
call!

This will come as no surprise to those who remember the 2000 Chagossians
that were illegally removed from their homes in the 1960's to make way for
UK-US airbase on Diego Garcia. They have no right to return to their homes.
Even their dogs were rounded up and gassed, all the animals were killed and
the islands left empty and uninhabited to make way for the American base.
Even though the UK courts have found their removal to be illegal they are
not permitted to return to their islands as there is "a need to uphold the
island's secure status." Or to protect America's ability to wage war within
the region.

Thatcher went to war for the sacred rights of the Falkland islanders - the
British government meekly allowed the people on Diego Garcia to be kicked
out of their homes by US imperialism.

To conclude America and Britain removed poor people from their homes in
order to set up a base from which to bomb and harm even more poor people!

The American military machine has some odd weaknesses. They can deliver
bombs and missiles to any region however remote, yet they lack the ability
to get food and medicine to remote areas. The public have raised millions to help the survivors of the tsunami.

Interestingly the New Your Times reports that
CIA detention facilities have been located "on Britain's Diego Garcia island in the Indian Ocean." This means that prisoners can be held indefinitely without legal counsel and without trial. American military personnel have written recently to the Guardian about what a paradise the island was for them....they didn't include any snaps of prisoners being tortured.

A new hope
(Apologies to everyone who is finding the adverts a pain - I am more or less unaware of them because I use Mozilla)
I think the phrase "Things can only get better" is one which tempts providence. They can get worse. I appreciate that is a superstitious view. The two greatest disasters of last year were the election of Bush and the tsunami. Of the two Bush has probably cost more lives.

I certainly believe that things can get better. We cannot see into the future enough to make rash promises. Marxists have had plenty of practice in swimming against the stream anyway.

I remember in bible class the tale of the widow's mite. The rich made efforts to draw attention to the amount of money they were giving to the poor. Jesus drew attention to a widow who gave two of the smallest coin of the realm and instructed his disciples to note that her sacrifice was the greater.

If anybody is impressed by American imperialism's contribution to the tsunami relief they might like to remember that for every dollar they spend in tsunami relief they are spending 4200 dollars in their brutal war in Iraq. Although the public in the west are promising two billion, Sri Lanka alone pays seven billion a year to the bankers, the flow of "aid" is in the other direction.

This tsunami was an act of God. I can only say that I am glad I no longer believe.

A BBC reporter mentioned that a majority of the population in Sri Lanka were Buddhists and therefore believe that life is full of suffering. So their faith is not disturbed by these events.


In the past year I discovered three websites which are very useful:
http://democracynow.org
which is a beacon of light in a world of darkness.
http://www.tes.co.uk/staffroom
is a discussion forum for teachers and
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php
is a better one.

Refugees of Fallujah
"A delegation of military family members whose sons died while fighting in the Iraq war have traveled to Jordan to deliver $600,000 worth of humanitarian supplies for refugees from the U.S. attack on Falluja.

"The November attack, which virtually leveled the city and left some 2,000 Iraqis and 71 U.S. soldiers dead, also created thousands of refugees, who are living without adequate food, water, electricity and healthcare. Most of these refugees are children.
In an Internet appeal, the military family members, in collaboration with U.S. peace groups, physicians' organizations, and September 11 families, quickly raised $100,000 in donations. And humanitarian groups such as the Middle East Children"s Alliance and Operation USA contributed $500,000 worth of medical supplies.

Quoted on www.democracynow.org two of those involved said:
"MEDEA BENJAMIN: We're here to bring humanitarian supplies to the refugees from Fallujah. We were very upset when we saw the U.S. military destroy the entire city of Fallujah. We know that there are thousands of women and children who are living without electricity, water, medicines, so we're here to bring supplies to them to show that there are American people who care about their lives, and to say that it's time to stop the killing, and help the Iraqi people.

ADELE WELTY: I lost my son on September 11 at the World Trade Center. He was a firefighter, and he - he went to the World Trade Center to help rescue those who were caught in the towers. And he was trapped when they collapsed. And I don't want his name used to kill innocent civilians.

Refugees of Fallujah
"A delegation of military family members whose sons died while fighting in the Iraq war have traveled to Jordan to deliver $600,000 worth of humanitarian supplies for refugees from the U.S. attack on Falluja.

"The November attack, which virtually leveled the city and left some 2,000 Iraqis and 71 U.S. soldiers dead, also created thousands of refugees, who are living without adequate food, water, electricity and healthcare. Most of these refugees are children.
In an Internet appeal, the military family members, in collaboration with U.S. peace groups, physicians' organizations, and September 11 families, quickly raised $100,000 in donations. And humanitarian groups such as the Middle East Children"s Alliance and Operation USA contributed $500,000 worth of medical supplies.

Quoted on www.democracynow.org two of those involved said:
"MEDEA BENJAMIN: We're here to bring humanitarian supplies to the refugees from Fallujah. We were very upset when we saw the U.S. military destroy the entire city of Fallujah. We know that there are thousands of women and children who are living without electricity, water, medicines, so we're here to bring supplies to them to show that there are American people who care about their lives, and to say that it's time to stop the killing, and help the Iraqi people.

ADELE WELTY: I lost my son on September 11 at the World Trade Center. He was a firefighter, and he - he went to the World Trade Center to help rescue those who were -- who were caught in the - in the towers. And he was trapped when it -- when they collapsed. And I don't want his name used to kill innocent civilians.

Happy Blooming Christmas
This year the annual moan (this time in the letters page of the guardian) How dare you atheists celebrate Christmas. In fact historically Christians never did exchange presents on Christmas day, it was Twelfth Night.

My ancestors used to mourn the sickness of the sun (the days just went on getting shorter) then they held a festival and probably had the odd horn of mead in a bid to make the sun cheer up and get well. It always worked. The days started getting longer.

I posted a quiz on the TES website, I reproduce it below but close your eyes because I have included the answers.

Try these ten excuciating questions for size!

1.Who said "cannabis is the opium of the people"?
2.Which story begins "The Marleys were dead, to begin with."
3.What were the names of the seven dwarfs in the original story?
4.What is the name of the tenth reindeer?
5.Who invented the steam engine?
6.Who invented the steam train?
7.In which book did Sherlock Holmes say "Elementary, my dear Watson?"
8.MVEM what comes next?
9.According to Rutherford, how important was splitting the atom?
10.Which musical was condemned with these words: "No legs, no jokes, no chance!"

My decision on the answers will be final. The winner shall be the person who wins.

1. Hemingway
2. The Muppet Christmas Carol
3. They had no names. Disney invented them.
4. Olive the other reindeer (used to laugh and call him names)
5. Newcomen. (though no doubt other people might claim to have done so) Watt refined it.
6. Trevithick, (though no doubt other people might claim to have done so)
7. None of them
8. J for Jupiter
9. It had no practical applications :)
10. Oklahoma!

(All inventions are actually the work of a number of people but we like to attribute them to one. Newcomen certainly "invented" the steam engine and didn't copy it from someone else)

If you read this far down, I bet you cheated!

60% believe the price of the war is too high
It was not a survey conducted in Iraq of course but in the USA.
The Washington Post had the folowing:
"President Bush heads into his second term amid deep and growing public skepticism about the Iraq war, with a solid majority saying for the first time that the war was a mistake and most people believing that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld should lose his job, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

While a slight majority believe the Iraq war contributed to the long-term security of the United States, 70 percent of Americans think these gains have come at an "unacceptable" cost in military casualties. This led 56 percent to conclude that, given the cost, the conflict there was "not worth fighting" -- an eight-point increase from when the same question was asked this summer, and the first time a decisive majority of people have reached this conclusion."

Incidentally if teachers are ever doing anything about this in school then they may want to avoid pupils downloading pictures off the internet under "torture". You can always get some yourself and put them on the server.

There is a case for saying that the treatment of prisoners in Belmarsh who are held without trial amounts to torture. Amnesty certainly think so.

The FBI certainly want to dissociate their agents from the behaviour of the authorities in American prisons in Iraq and in Guantanamo Bay and they have described their methods as "torture." (source http://www.democracynow.org)

I do not believe that the Law Lords are effective guardians of liberty and I think the FBI are just covering their assets.

Perhaps the cost of liberty is eternal vigilance - and that means an educated electorate. That is why teaching is a subversive activity :)

Unions had the slogans "Agitate, Educate, Organise, Control" on their banners a hundred years ago. The politicians have taken up the slogan "education education education" but what they mean is "control control control". It is time for teachers to take back control from the politicians. Nobody believes it is safe in their hands.