For once we got Miles to walk with us on our ramblings around the Durham Woods yesterday. I was amazed at the amount of water in the River Wear rushing by so fast loaded with sediment dragging just a bit more of Weardale down to the sea.

The two lads and Fiona went off around the woods and I went off  down the path alongside the River because I have no walking boots at the moment and it is very muddy in the woods. It was very dark and gloomy but I liked that and without my family I walk a lot faster and positively sprinted into Durham City where I was to meet them at the Durham Cathedral Cloisters for biscuit break.

I was there 20 min early so it was nice just to sit quiet and work out some harmonica improvisation's around various tunes in my head but I noticed my feet were tapping vigourously and some people gave me a curious look I suspect because I was responding to hearing music but there was no sign of any earbuds or music player on me. Head music is the best of all no doubt about it.

We bought Clifford some new walking boots yesterday a great pair which will bless his feet for several years and keep them warm and dry. We got back home later than usual because of the shopping excursion for a boot fitting which took a bit of time, after all you have to get it right, so I got immediately down to making home-made hamburger, bags of onions, tomato sauce, fresh spaghetti and garlic bread. We watched a Will Ferrell film about iceskating a real hoot not least because we had watched "Anchorman" the night before and had a real good laugh at that.

Fiona is getting a lot fitter and last week  she only had to have an afternoon sleep once. The steady walking is paying off and I have always believed no matter what    physical limitations or illness you have got it is best to keep fit which is not so much about hoping everything will be all right in the end but about the quality of life at that moment. It was a really nice afternoon with the four of us together. Thank you family!

I can't see what all the fuss is about with gay marriage and I don't think it threatens the institution of marriage at all . Marriage , the way it occurs and what happens within it afterwards reflects the type of community the people come from religious or secular. Bahai marriage requires the consent of both sets of parents and if you don't get that you don't  get married. It is rigorously enforced. Consent from parents isn't required for secular marriages . Does that make a religious marriage better than a secular one . Nope.

If Catholics publicy state what is expected for a Catholic marriage i.e. its a heterosexual institution,good for them and the same for Muslim , Bahai or Hindu marriages : organised religions have the human right supported by their adherents to believe in their version of marriage. For them though and only them . They have no right to impose that belief on others . Problems occur when any religion wants to impose its beliefs about marriage on those who do not hold those religious beliefs. That is wrong and can give religion a bad name because religion is about individual choices made freely not coercing people to outwardly comply because one religion is dominant in a country. That type of religious expression was wrong , is wrong ,is dying out and will eventually be no more .

Besides , what is winning all the way,  is marriage itself, a religious institution in the first place and always has been , thats how it developed historically and if I was a person interested in having elements of my religious beliefs getting a wider take up in my country , and I am , equality between the sexes for example , I would and do feel quite happy that people in same sex relationships want to do what I as a Bahai have done but in a religiously specific way : get married! Good for them and it leads to better outcomes for kids in terms of money ,emotional stabilty and life chances .

Secular marriages and religious marriages are good ways to express love and great for kids and last longer than not being married at all!

Weeeeeeel , two nights ago ! downloaded Shelby Footes "The Civil War Volume I: Fort Sumter to Perryville" which has resulted in me reading the night away because it is so brill , consequently I slept in this morning and we didn't get out for a good walk around Richmond until 11AM. Richmond in the ground hugging cloud and mist was gorgeous and down at Round Howe alongside Billy Banks Woods a huge 30 foot chunk of the river bank had been undercut by the recent floods and had slipped down into the Swale taking half the path and three trees with it . Glad I wasn't walking along there when that happened. Its never boring .

We had a good look at the Yoredale series of rocks within the cliffs in Billy Banks Woods and for the first time I realised that they had a lot of small faults in them which get widened by frost and water erosion. At least I think that's right because its difficult to interpret the rocks quite often . Good fun and we had Latte Coffee and Scone break sat on a bench right next to the River Swale with the high running water sounding very soothing and a bit menacing at the same time . Taking coffee and scones in my rucksack  makes me feel very highbrow and its great just being able to plonk ourselves anywhere we like . Unchain yourself from the Cafe folks : freedom! Don't moan on about tax and  Starbucks  just don't buy from them . That is the quickest way for them to get the message!

Just to get some more grit into Fiona's legs we banged up the path from the river to the Castle walk and she looked a bit wasted at the top but is getting stronger no doubt about it . We are doing a long miler around  Keswick in the Lake District soon and are training her up for that. It will be good to see her sister Becky and the boys to see their cousin India. Well back to the Civil War book and I can't wait to read the other two volumes!

Interesting day. In order to beat the crowds chasing that last brussel sprout in Morrisons at North Road Darlington I was there at 5:55 AM this morning with my trolley and granny catcher on the front just in case anybody got in the way. It was definitely a take no prisoners occasion and I survived but I cannot speak for others! There was a very tense atmosphere as if everybody     believed that the produce available was the last remaining stuff and you better get it now  or else. Could have been right I never saw one turkey in the whole place. Good for them: a supermarket is not the best  place for Turkey to go at Christmas!

Well I did get the food to tide us over until Wednesday and before 6:45 AM I unwisely told a sleeping Fiona about my good deed for the day and it was amazing how she pretended to say what a good chap I was and wasn't that nice when I knew she would rather have stayed in snooze land. Faking a civilised sleepy response is a necessary part of a long lasting marriage!

So, I was up and I usually am up early most mornings and I trucked off down to York to do a nice 8 mile walk around the in the gloom and pecking rain which turned into something more serious within 90 min. York Minster was full of chairs but no people and for about 20 min I was the only person there other than a handful of guys setting the place up for the various services today. I think the Church of England has found the answer to declining congregations: invisible people. Or, they do not do Carol Services at 8:15 AM in the morning! I was asked if I was from radio York and then the recipient of a big moan from the enquirer because   the radio York people have locked up their equipment in a room but they have also locked up some equipment this man needed. Christmas or not: he did not look happy.

I was and I said my usual prayers in the Prayer Chapel for my friends past and present alive and dead. A sudden blood sugar low had me racing towards a pasty shop for a chicken I am not sure what it is called and a Curd Tart. But at 8.30 AM in the morning? That was a new one for me and fairly pleasant and  I will start having chicken pasty and curd tart for breakfast quite often. Nice!

My decision not to take a wetsuit, flippers and snorkel was not good because the river Ouse had burst its banks and part of the walk I wish to do was underwater although I was tempted but I thought within 10 min I will end up someplace like............. Hull and Fiona would not be happy because she wanted me back so we could listen to the carols at Kings College Cambridge at three o'clock.

I got back in good time which was nice and the drive through the very flooded Vale of York was  informative because there are a lot of places I would not like to buy a house in that part of Yorkshire with all this rain that is coming down. There were ponds and pools forming in every depression and huge lakes where small rivers had burst their banks.

It was nice to stretch my legs but I don't think I will be going down to York that much in future and some of the things in my mind,  small as it is, I have resolved. Don't ask me what they are because I don't actually know myself, hence the trip to The Place Where It All Started For Me. Going to York is a true voyage of discovery  but the delights of the Yorkshire Dales, Howgills, Lake District and the just up the road Durham Woods also have their claims on my feet!

It was great  listening to the Carols at Kings with the Fireball Fiona because we both fell asleep through X amount of it and I think she fell asleep over the bits that I was awake and the other way round! Lovely music though !

After a fairly sleepless and sweaty night as the cold worked its way out I woke up this morning distinctly not feeling like going with my family to RKade skate park in Redcar. Then again I thought , "I have taken Miles down to the skate park when I felt a lot worse so to hell with it: get up!". Glad I did because the Redcar beach was amazing, with an offshore breeze blowing into very big waves piling in onshore which caused the crests of the waves to be blown back on themselves in huge arcs in the air but moving sideways across the wave. Total magic. Anyway, not magic enough for me to go and walk the beach with Fiona and Clifford I preferred to  have a good read as I usually do.

At least once a year we have a meal out at the RKade skate park which is always bacon butty's and Pot Noodle's all-round. The proprietors, John and Nicky, don't often see Fiona so they had a nice chat together which was great and they also don't often see Clifford because he doesn't skateboard anymore. Miles in spite of his splat last Friday just got down to business as usual and romped around having a really good time. Good doggy! A very pleasant lunchtime.

It was the usual Sunday afternoon when we got back and pasta and tuna for tea whilst watching "Allo Allo" the comedy about the Germans in France during the Second World War. We followed this with the final episode of "The Nazi's: A Warning from History" which was excellent and  every child should watch the whole series in order to see what happens when religion and democracy fall apart and allow a bunch of fascist thugs to run a country. In other words neither religion or democracy can stop these things it needs something else which in my view is a world security pact where the whole world gangs up on the Hitler's that may turn up in the future and if we do not get a world security pact they certainly will! Anyway, no Hitlers are turning up this Christmas ,just Santa, so stuff them and I am looking forward to the remainder of the holiday because we have loads to do. Fiona is fitter so some good walking is on the menu: Yum Yum!

Walking through a wet, windy and wild Durham Woods with Fiona and Clifford was really nice. I like it when the weather makes the countryside dark and moody. An incredible amount of water was laying around but the River Wear was lower than I expected because it empties out so quick. Miles stayed at home because he couldn't be bothered to go out and walk in the rain. Bad dog!

Biscuit break at Cloisters was amusing and crunchy as it always is. Very dark though and we could hear carols coming from the Cathedral which was very nice. The Christians are putting on quite a few services for this Christmas. It was packed out  with what looked like lots of mums with toddlers. It must've been a mums and toddlers Carol service!

Onwards to Tesco's the mundane quality  of the whole afternoon increasing into the sort of bliss the only our family can enjoy experiencing the damp and wet ordinary. Thank God for that because an awful lot of life is indeed: ordinary. Fiona attempted to give Tesco's a five pound note because she could not find where Tesco's automatic checkout machine was supposed to give her five pounds back. Fortunately, a real-life human rushed over and gave her five pounds and I think the poor lady on those checkouts must do that an awful lot. I was on another checkout and I had to check very carefully for where the notes would come out.

Splashing back home to the damp and increasingly flooded Durham countryside was totally uneventual in part because I think the car actually knows the journey and I'm sure if I fell asleep at the wheel or even died it would just quite sedately take me back to my house. When we got back home we went through the usual routine of setting everything up so it will be dry  eventually and then Fiona and I had a really nice crash and cuddle listening to Leonard Cohen Live in London. Fiona was quite tired so she kept falling asleep and I feel that her little legs have maybe had a bit too much walking this week. But bless her little legs because they are getting stronger and we are soon going to be going up and over some of the bigger Pennine hills, Howgills and Lakeland fells.

The meatballs, tomato sauce with coriander, fresh spaghetti and garlic bread are chuntering away nicely and when I call my family in spite of them being engrossed in games and Fiona dead to the world in bed it is remarkable how 30 seconds later they are all there like eager beavers waiting to be fed. A really lovely day and God bless my family and friends because they are really lovely and I love you all.

In spite of the rain Fiona and I went for a walk around the Durham Woods and into the centre of Durham splashing and trudging our path to our Latte coffee break and scones. When we are out together we always carry hot coffee and scones because we can eat them anywhere we like.
The River Wear was flooded and rising and because the land has still not drained off the water from the previous rain the whole of a field was grey with water moving down it and the red furrows where the farmer had ploughed a few days ago were sticking through. Quite a sight and  all this water that is laying around could affect agricultural productivity pretty soon.

After our coffee and scone break walking around Durham Cathedral was beautiful and quiet and there were hardly any lights on which gave it a very mysterious and dark feeling. Nice. On the way back we kept an eye on the River Wear because it was rising and it can burst its banks very quickly which was of no concern whatsoever to a fine Grey Wagtail picking his way over flotsam to find grubs and beetles.

Fiona is getting a lot fitter and she strode up a hill like she used to which is great. All those years of walking have put a lot of fitness into her legs and body which keeps her really healthy. And me as well. Woof woof!

Worth a read and nice to know that the equality between the sexes is marching on even in Saudi Arabia. Long way to go for them but they will get there.

"I don't think a country will improve if only one gender accelerates in society while the other just stays as it is," (Jamila Al-Shalhoub full time female Saudi lawyer). Totally right.

"The world of humanity is possessed of two wings: the male and the female. So long as these two wings are not equivalent in strength, the bird will not fly. Until womankind reaches the same degree as man, until she enjoys the same arena of activity, extraordinary attainment for humanity will not be realized; humanity cannot wing its way to heights of real attainment." (Abdul Baha , Bahai Writings). Totally right.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20697030

Response to a Facebook remark about people who are God fearing.

"Well , God fearing or just fearing it doesn't really matter to me because everyone fears something and this shapes and guides their lives  .  Religious or atheist it doesn't matter, that principle and practice holds. If Crosby Stills and Nash can state " You who are on the road must have a code you can live by", when the person who lives by that code violates it or has it violated fear is involved.  God fearing people have raised nearly all of the human civilizations so far and there is no evidence at all that  that phenomena is decreasing : going the other way in fact. Look at the growth of population in India , Africa and South America : all countries where most of the inhabitants are religious . China will be the next  country to get religion big time ! Religion is still the predominating and fundamental belief held by the worlds peoples right across the globe in part because so many of its principles overlap with secular beliefs. Which is why its a bit daft when religious  and atheist folk try to claim they are totally different : they have more in common than that which differentiates them. The whole world  direction at this point in mankinds history is towards that which is held in common: unity.

I'm God fearing and I love being that way . I don't think you see me having a problem , misery or grief through it. Had a bit o grief with Fiona this morning and got caught out again as a total idiot with one of my friends Klara Whiley who I see once a month at least,  up in Butterknowle so there is no escape and all  because I misunderstood one of her posts . Two things I do feel miserable about by the way !  "

Totally right, but Toby "each to his own" comprises some belief in institutions (laws, rights, relationships) and a belief in how a life is lived . Across all of the "each to his own " are commonly held practices and beliefs which you or I may "feel" are our own and express our individuality  but are in reality  held in common by all others.  As humans we have more in common than difference between us in other words.  A life based on feeling or temperament , religious or atheistic or whatever doesn't see or understand that common denominator between people  .  Everybody  has different channels , Fiona ,you me  but  we are all in channels , we are all human  and because a different channel expresses difference, the naming of someone elses difference as   irrational or mistaken is plain wrong . People have a right to be respected in the way they  see the world as they like, religious , atheist or anything else. All different channels have to be respected in thought , word or deed and public expression  or else we can't move on from the violence and nastiness of the past. For Bahai's loads of humanists, secularists  and for me its about Unity in Diversity , mankind is one channel first (unity: we are all humans) and many channels second (diversity: we are all individuals) . They go together but the oneness of mankind comes first and if it doesn't , "each to his own", we have a very fractious world where the rich don't feel part of us  and so on . As you know most of the rich and many others really do express "each to their own" to an obnoxious extreme and  what I and many others would  like them to do is see more of the true unity between them and us and contribute accordingly !

The arguing for womens rights , racial justice from individual temperamental position , feeling or through thinking as I do into is never doomed to failure its actually achieved mankinds greatest achievements!

Under a dull, dark, and damp atmospheric sky we walked our way through the Durham Woods today. The ground was slightly treacherous because although the snow and ice had cleared there was still a lot of frozen ground which could be slipped over quite easily with the ice just underneath the surface.

Fiona was very fit today, Clifford always is and she loped over the hills easily as we went a rather circuitous route around the outskirts of Durham City before heading into Durham Cathedral and cloisters for biscuit break.

When we went through the Cathedral there was a Carol Service and we noticed that a lot of the angels all in silvery suits walking down the nave were learning disabled people  thoroughly enjoying themselves . It brought tears to my eyes because it was a lovely sight as well as the great singing. God bless the Christian religion for bringing such wonderful experiences to us.

We had very high spirits today not least because Fiona was so fit and her legs are coming back into fettle so some bigger and longer walks are definitely on the menu. Miles was busy with his mathematics this afternoon so stayed at home, but I am now doing my usual conducting of the Orchestra of meatballs, tomato sauce, fresh pasta and garlic bread so as to feed my very hungry family tonight. A very beautiful afternoon out particularly watching the learning disabled folk being angels, and they really are angels, as well as the great singing and atmosphere in Durham Cathedral.

Yet another manifestation of the world unifying in this case amongst Islamic business people and the users of their products. The main problem seems to be consistency and justice across different Islamic countries because of differing interpretations of Islamic law. They have gone into negotiations to "set up a global certification board"

It has occurred to me that no matter what the problem on the planet from the old lady down the road not getting her social care package deployed correctly to saving the decline of some British birds there has to be some consultation enshrined in an authority above the local ,regional or national. More and more folk seem to be coming around to that point of view as a necessity for life. I once joked with a Jewish friend of mine that money is the new religion but I never realised that religions themselves are having to be reshaped around the needs of money and business. Interesting!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20405292

A response to a BBC news article about the bus service Arriva in Darlington behaving very wrong towards disabled people.  It has been my experience that very few people will inconvenience themselves for a physically handicapped person.

"The firm (Arriva) said it adhered to Department for Transport guidelines which state that if other passengers are occupying wheelchair spaces, staff are not obliged to move them or make them move."

Doesn't it say an awful lot about attitudes that Arriva won't ask passengers to move but what is even worse passengers don't seem to move themselves when a physically handicapped person needs the space.

This reminds me of an incident that occurred with me in an Irish Session in a pub called The Maltings in York in the early 90s. Because my right wrist is fused, when I play my harmonica I don't push the slide in with my finger I have to sort of punch it with my whole arm so my elbow sticks out a bit. Some guy in the Irish session objected to the fact that I took up a little bit more space than other people and got quite nasty about it. Two things happened: I came very close to punching him but more interestingly I received absolutely no support whatsoever from the people around me most of which I knew quite well. We have a real problem in this country with people speaking out on behalf of others not through campaigns and petitions, which is safe and easy, but actually when an incident is occurring. We prefer to look the other way just as the Arriva bus drivers are doing. People think I am crazy when I draw these connections but believe you me they are connected!

The guy in the Irish session made it up with me eventually but are still feel that if there was a situation where my handicap got in the way of what he wanted to do he would give me no consideration whatsoever. Maybe that is how it really is in an animal sort of way: the weak old and crippled should be pushed aside so normals can have a more convenient life. But don't the normals become weak and crippled when they get old themselves. Short-term thinking? Be kind to people now because you may end up living in a society where they are not going to be very kind to you later. The trouble is we are already in that society!"

A response to a Facebook post:

" Christianity deviated from its principles very early according to a couple of books on the early Christian church I read, one written by a Christian. However, I believe that more good occurred than bad and after 300 years and the decline of the Roman Empire the Christian Faith started to shine mostly because of a big promotion by Constantine who may have not been a confirmed Christian but did want some form of unity and used the Christian Faith to get it. For me, that is the key to the great development of Christian civilisation warts and all, an effect we still feel to this day and a great effect. That bad versus good tension is there within the religion all the way through e.g. Christians developed African slavery around the 16th century and Christians in America and the UK got rid of it in the 19th. In other words the religion contains its own seeds of redemption as all religions do. On a personal note I am quite flawed myself and I see the same process at work of mistakes by commission or omission and redemption by getting it right. According to my wife not right enough sometimes!

I do not worry about fundamentalists today because they are legally and militarily fenced in by social democratic forces which I have complete and utter faith in even though as a family which is in a minority religion we have been got at mostly through the education system because of that minority status. It is the same for several people who I have come across in particular Jews and Jehovah's Witnesses and all of this in North Yorkshire and Darlington County Durham. Prejudice is alive and well but one of the best things that new Labour ever did in my view was the Human Rights Act 1998 because I felt personally protected by that act and still do: it stays the hand of some of the idiots and they have to look over their shoulder before they do what they do.

 I do not believe in party politics but I do support a democratically elected government no matter how flawed and governments of all stripes do some pretty good things. The home education I did with my boys only came about because of the 1944 Butler Education Act and Butler was a Tory. There is a lot of bad in our system but a whole ton of good as well. It is a legitimate from you, me and virtually everybody I know that we should aim higher and get better justice for people on low incomes, the disabled and the old and I am sure even within this flawed system we are going to get that but like all struggles it has highs and lows and at the moment I think there is a low. But not too low it could be a lot worse and has been!"

 I had a really nice weekend, starting out with doing a Bahai stall in the centre of Darlington on Saturday morning. It was really cold and the coldest I have been in a long while but as I have sometimes said, we Baha'i's accustom our children to hardship so it is best to lead from the front as a parent and I sat and stood by my stall and enjoyed the cold. A few people were interested and I had a nice little conversation with an old lady who said I was very "hardy"! I really like it when old people talk to me as if I'm just a kid because the age gap between them and me is that between a parent and a child.

Miles is really getting his tail up with this mathematics and did not want to come to Durham with us for a walk, he preferred to study, good lad, so it was just the three of us heading out into a very misty County Durham but as we approached Shincliffe the mist lifted into a very pleasant early winter haze. We walked alongside the River Wear hoping to see Goosander's and Little Grebes but they were not there. It was very quiet with few people about because of the cold but as we walked up to Durham Cathedral it looked like it was soaring out of the misty haze and we trekked into the comfortable Cloisters and had our biscuit break there under the watchful eye of a very tiny bat on the opposite wall. It is great fun noticing the bats every week. Amazing little animals!

As we came back down the A1 there was a ground mist a few metres high in several shallow valleys on either side of the motorway as well as in riverbeds and hollows. Very magical and I'm getting to like Durham County almost as much as I like North Yorkshire and Yorkshire in general. God's country.

I really like the fact that as a family we do things on a very regular basis and this allows us to notice changes of state for one time period to the next both with each other, with our friends and the many places that we visit. New is good but seeing the familiar in a new way for me is even better.

 A very nice weekend and I have been doing some pretty extensive thinking about what I am to do with my life now because I do not have a full-time role as a househusband or home educator anymore. Get more serious about the music and kiss goodbye to family life as I know it? Get a job working with learning disabled people or as a maths teaching assistant and continue on with this great life that I have and helping people as well? Hard  to say but I am going to have to make my moves soon and I have started doing this already. I am singing and playing better than I ever have but I've also noticed that because of all the science, mathematics, life sciences and history that I get into my brain feels really sharp and understanding is easier now than it ever has been. I wish I had all of this when I was a young lad and I am glad my two young lads have got all of this now.

God bless education and the educators like Klara and Bryan Whiley, Fiona Saunders-Priem, Mr Kipling, Mr Cotgrave, Mrs Johnson in Longfield School, Linda Griffiths Fiona's colleague from Dodmire and all those people who just get other people thinking because they are crazy enthusiastic nuts about whatever they want to study in a fairly rigourous way. I think I could have blessed myself there!

Just some impressions from a Facebook article objecting to disabled people using themselves and being used as inspirational figures.

"I must admit I have never heard of Scott Hamilton. It is unclear from the article whether he is just saying what he believes to be true which is fair enough in the same way that if I believe the moon is made of cheese is true. He has the right to see it and say it  as he believes it.

 Bad attitude is a problem with anybody me included! I have my moments with that one sometimes. I have had to take to task both my lads over the  20 years that I have known them with bad attitude and how it obstructs their progress towards the goals that they wish to achieve. I can honestly say as a father it is probably the main thing that has made a big difference in terms of them getting to go where they want to.

I cannot see how the author of this article can actually know what nondisabled people think about the images of disabled people doing things even when normals do indeed say pretty ridiculous things. How many times have I expressed something in words which does not express the feelings I meant to put over and doesn't express the idea either. I'm pretty grateful for the many forgiving people around me. I made quite a blunder last night on a Facebook comment with a York female friend Sybil Wood where I had simply got the wrong end of the stick. What conclusion is she to draw from that? That at that point in time I was a total idiot! She would be absolutely right.

It has occurred to me for a while Emma that some disabled people are just like normal's who are pretty so they use their prettiness to sell themselves or are muscular and use their muscles to sell themselves and so on. Some disabled people are using their disability to sell themselves. This is all part of some disabled people acting like normals have done and is to be welcomed as dumb and sickening as it can be at times in the same way that some of the television talent shows are pretty pathetic.

Absolutely anything which I have heard said about disabled people which somebody else could comment about in a negative or positive way I have actually heard the same for people with no disability and I think it is just part of our looking at each other culture and completely drawing the wrong conclusions mostly because I don't know how somebody else really thinks even when they tell me. I am more in tune with what is going on with this Capability Assessment business rather than the psychological impressions of this article. Yet again though this article is talking about "disabled people" and the author certainly does not speak for me at all. Who is she speaking for other than herself?

On a personal note my wife has chronic sinusitis and it is a type of disability and has cost her at least five years of work which she would have done had she been healthy. Am I one of the people that Stella Young is referring to when I say to Fiona as I often do "it's great you are trying to get out and about today Fiona even though I know you are quite ill." Making an effort whether a person is disabled or not in my view is always praiseworthy."

A response to a Facebook article from a disabled person  criticising people who find disabled people inspiring.

Read the article but didn't agree with much of it . Her own view is fine but speaking about "disabled people" . She doesn't speak for me  : I do! A man crawling around the supermarket because of a legs disability  just trying to keep going is exceptional and should be admired for keeping going . I admired him in the same way I admire those soldiers I've seen  struggling over the moors carrying a  lot of weigth and following instructions, keeping it together , when they are totally knackered . Same thing in my mind  .

In my own case , just a gammy hand I can't use much,  playing the harmonica , chromatic , with a button , by essentialy punching it with my knuckles , instead of pressing it  with a finger like everyone else is also exceptional but I don't get admired for that when I do  get patted on  the head , I get it for great harmonica playing and music.

There is a correct sense in my view by the normals I encounter  that I do everything to stop my handicap limiting me and that is one way that they respect me  . I think this could be because  a lot of people I know now are 55 + and have woken up to the fact that various conditions you get with age can  make you a disabled person. The fact that I've successfully lived with it since age 6 and am getting on with life pretty well I think just gets them thinking " Well Paul manages and has a decent life so it can't be that bad " And you know it isn't !

 What normals I've known  get wrong is that they correctly admire me and others for getting on with it because they think they wouldn't cope under my disabling condition . Well they're wrong  they would and do. How do I know this ? Easy : since I've been a kid I've seen people get old and get disabling condtions and they get on with it and make the best of life .

Paralympic bunch didn't inspire me one bit can't really watch what they do in the same way I don't watch synchronised swimming . But Mo Farrel did . Awsome . Its a real test of character to win those disance events and I identify completely with that sense of keeping going because that is all I have really : persistence : by and large I never give up!

All I've just written is from my experience and doesn't speak  for anyone else . Being disabled and I've come across others who think the same, I don't want anyone speaking for me . Particularly another disabled person!

A Facebook ad to Win Her Affection? "A few tips to win a woman's affection and get her hooked on you". Ummm after 24 years of marriage I think I need to read this just in case. My good boy moves so far today are:

I've prepared a Persian Rice which is 45 min away from perfection and then served with peas and fresh sausages.
I did a 10 mile walk around York this morning and came back all fit and frisky which is the way the lass likes me.
Kept the zany humour down so it nearly exhausted Fiona but didn't actually tire her completely out.
When I forgot to help her with the shopping as she brought it in I grovelled so sincerely that even I believed it, sincerity is so important to a great and long-lasting relationship .
Convinced Fiona there will be a 50 mile wide hole in the plague of frogs and floods weather that we will be getting tomorrow where she can bask in the glorious sunshine when we go out for a walk .

What the hell else do I need to know about winning her affection?  Anyway stuff it, I think I'll be persuaded today by the "Lasting gift for wildlife" with the good old RSPB and forego the attempts to be a better man. Remember: save the birds first and your marriage later!

Moving to a green world ? Don't make me laugh. If you're into green issues read it and weep, particularly the bit about coal consumption in Europe going up! Great article and made me sit up because this is the way we humans are using energy and its not going to change for decades, going way past the dubious dates set for when global warming is irreversible and we're all going to die. If there was ever a call for a world energy policy coming from a world government its in this article. We don't need to burn all this coal folks. Nowt green about that, its just dangerous to get it and its dirty and smelly to use . There must be a better way .

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20002801 

On Monday night accompanied by the lovely Fiona, I had a really good evening at the Singaround in the Royal Oak Butterknowle. I did not intend to play because I was feeling a bit achy from practising harmonica earlier on but the Corner Boys roped me in on a couple of songs and lent me a harmonica. The musicians were really great and entertaining and it does surprise me that considering most of us are in our late 50s and some even older than that, no names mentioned, but everyone continues to improve.

I particularly enjoyed the Corner Boys not least because for some strange reason they had a load of reverb on the PA setting and it made them sound really good in terms of sound quality. I hope they continue to do that. Great and really authentic are the Corner Boys and I hope they do a CD. Personally I would like to record them because I know I could get the tone right for their great authentic music. Lashings of reverb for that "Time out of Mind" sound that Dylan did. Just an opinion?

One of the guys I really enjoyed was Jimmy Nellis and his warbling tones really grabbed me and sent me somewhere else in much the same way that Paul Ruane does and Julie McGrath. Mr Nellis though plays very modern songs and I really like that. I look forward to hearing him again.

I did my wailing and flailing bit on the harmonica,  Fiona took a really nice carrot cake as well and Heather Cummings made her excellent meat pie. The Royal Oak chips were really good as well. Great night.

Oh yes, Button Hole Jam are really getting into vocal harmonies and that is a really good and interesting direction for them to go in.

On a day when the rain cleared up and left a blue but moody sky with clouds I could not make head nor tail of we left Fiona at home because she felt dizzy after moving some furniture this morning. So, me and the two lads headed off for the Durham Woods for the usual Saturday afternoon trek which went a lot quicker because when Fiona is not with us we walk a lot brisker.

Before setting off another one of those many and myriad amusing moments that occur in my family did actually happen. As Miles who got us alive to Durham he pulled over to park the car and when it had stopped I asked him if it was level with the pavement. He wound the window down and solemnly said "I AM STRAIGHT". Clifford and I just laughed our heads of and I said I'm not actually that bothered about his orientation Miles and we had a good giggle about this for the next 10 min. Walking, laughter and mayhem tend to go together in our family.

We went out half an hour later today 1:30 PM so we could catch the evening light on the way back and it was totally gorgeous going round on a different route cutting across from the river Wear over to the Durham Woods and then onwards by the Arboretum and into the City Centre. Biscuit break at Cloisters in Durham Cathedral was mellow and nice. When walking from the Cathedral into the town centre we discovered a new hat shop which had a multitude of seriously nice and downright funny hats and Miles tried on one of them which was a wolf's head all nicely knitted with huge ears which went down to the waist. I thought he looked quite good  but not cute because he is too full of muscles and squarejawed for that.

On the way back alongside the River Wear we saw no birds whatsoever the Little Grebes have abandoned trying to feed on that stretch of river I'm sure because the rowers from Durham University have got too much for them. Oh well there is plenty more of the River Wear for Little Grebes to go to. On the way home there were some peculiar looking clouds but I could not clearly identify what they were and when we got back Fiona was in better fettle but still a bit woozy so we just went for a crash out and cuddle together and listen to "Old Ideas" by Leonard Cohen which is totally gorgeous. As usual I insisted on putting my cold right hand upon her person but  always gets her  giggling and telling me to stop which of course encourages me even more but she seems to like it.

Another lovely afternoon out and there was good repartee between me and the boys but increasingly when Fiona does not come with us I really do miss the old girl. Hiking Ladies Rule in my view and my lovely wife is the Queen of them whether she is doing much hiking or not . it will come back I have no doubt about it she is slowly getting fitter and recovering from this sinusitis business.

An honourable mention must be made for the tea I am preparing at the moment. Instead of the usual meatballs I am making home-made hamburger with pork mince 900 g, one large onion nicely chopped and lashings of garlic and rosemary. The usual tomato sauce ,fresh pasta and garlic bread will be accompanying it. To go with the food feast we are watching  Foolsand  Horsesone of the Christmas specials "Fatal Extraction". Another day in the life of Saunders Priem family has passed by but there is still the evening to come and I have got some great Star Trek episodes to watch as well as another viewing of the BBC programme "How small is the Universe" . Great food, a lovely family and an opportunity to do some serious understanding equals paradise for me.

A response to a report on Work Capability Assessment suggested to me that I should read from a Facebook friend.

It is an excellent report describing the problems disabled people are having with Work Capability Assessment. It is interesting that no one seems to be coming forward to test the rights of claimants under the Human Rights Act. It doesn't actually say what we should be doing just criticising as a single issue political view Work Capability Assessment. Fair enough.

At no point does the report say that society has a right to know about the sick and disabled people it gives money to i.e. assess them and that the people receiving the money have a right to be assessed in the light of what they can expect from society and offer to it. In other words Work Capability Assessment and societies response to disabled people which is quite begrudging is not dealt with. The only sane response in my view from society is to provide work for all and tailor that work for those who cannot do normal work. This is also my religious (Bahai) view as well "all must work no matter how handicapped". That is true inclusivity!

What I find most interesting from a parent's perspective is that I have come across many parents over the last 20 years who have special needs children who do not have their needs met by the education system which is particularly begrudging of resources to children who need them. Work Capability Assessment in my view is just being in many respects as hard on adults as society has been on disabled and special needs children for as long as I can remember which just goes to show that the underlying problem is that we as a society just do not know how to include disabled children or adults into our society: in other words we are pretty disunified when we should have a unity between the handicapped, ill and normal people .

In many respects Gaz the whole issue is getting wrapped up with party politics and human rights which is a big mistake because it really is about a legal contract which has to exist between a disabled person and society which is immune to the various party political ups and downs, withdrawals of benefits/offering to people the benefits in order to get votes.

No government seems to wish to enter into that legal contract with a disabled child or adult in the same way that government does not wish to enter into a legal contract with a citizen that he/she will always be given work. To me that is the bedrock of any civilised society but to most people I know there is no interest whatsoever in trying to establish that foundation.  In other words what I've just mentioned has to be put on the same basis as the police , army and the general government infrastructure. Nobody is talking about that because there is party political gain or loss in appealing to or not appealing to disabled adults and children.

Just out of interest, and I say this as somebody who totally shafted Darlington Borough Council in terms of their illegal behaviour towards homeschooled children i.e. I forced them to comply with the law, it would be worth trying to find out those disabled people who do take on the Work Capability Assessment regime and when and how they actually did it. In other words it is quite likely that some people in letters and contacting a lot of other people including using any various complaints Procedures just as I did with Darlington Borough Council are getting what they want. This will be entirely consistent with a system whereby if you are rich, influential or just totally frightening in your approach to those who are trying to get you to comply to a system that does not work for you, you get what you want whether it is right or not. In other words the UK civil system bullies but individuals can bully back and get what they want. I essentially did this with Darlington Borough Council and they backed off a long way and not only that I was informed by one Chief Executive that an employee who sent an abusive e-mail to me had been "removed from the councils employment". It is all a matter of just pressing the right buttons and of course having a completely just and honest case which I did! I don't like bullies mentally or physically and I have taken on both over 50 years that I have been physically handicapped.

I would say to anybody involved with advocating for a person in Work Capability Assessment procedures or fighting it themselves: take the advice of some of the Jewish scholars in the Warsaw Ghetto in World War II: record everything. That in itself is very intimidating to people in the system so much so that some employees may claim a legal right not to talk to you particularly when you are recording what they are saying. They are quite likely not doing their job properly according to their work contract. It's nasty but then again unfortunately governments get very unreasonable and nasty with their citizens particularly local governments who just quite simply not only break the letter of the law but the spirit was well.

Work Capability Assessment  was brought in by the previous government , New Labour Gaz, it isn't a party political issue. You are fairly new to the lets shaft a cripple culture I've experienced since I was 6 . The problem isn't really to do with us disabled its mostly to do with millions of normal people who are effectively disabled by an over reliance on the market economy by tories and socialists to provide work for all when it can't and they face a very duff and uncertain future. When work is provided for all it will be pretty obvious who can and can't do it and I believe most will be able to.  The problem is to provide  work for all not assessing who can or can't work then taking benifits  away because there is a slim chance more disabled people could get work . Most normals support  Work Capability Assessment in my view because a lot of them have a pretty hard life themselves in attempting to get what they think is their right and due a normal standard of living and then struggling to get it and keep it.

Work for all : thats the way forward. Defending not wanting to work because a disabled person doesn't fit some or all of the work categories is bad for me as a cripple and bad for society. I need a job tailored around my needs not a benefit package tailored around my disabilty!

So much for oil running out . Many greeny doommongers in York in the 80s claimed it would run out by now and I never believed it . Why not . It is effectively unlimited because we will use less of it per head as we want cheaper and more efficient machines and it will be hundreds of years before we  know how much of it is in the earth so you can't put a limit on that amount . Am I pro oil and all of that ? Nope , electric cars are the way to go (oil cars are smelly and over engineered  : no high flown green arguments there!) but when anyone wants to convince me of a green future being good and even possible its best to base it on the truth and not ideological arguments because once you start making claims on fake ideas the global corporations do the same and in the car case they are currently making a lot of money selling us overengineered and over powered cars : ie they are fake selling performance few of us need. 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20304848

Well, it has been one of those days which corresponds to: Magic. It got off to a good start and Fiona and I did our Baha'i Stall in the centre of Darlington for a couple of hours. Only one person took a leaflet but a lot of people were looking at our stall today. They often do.

When we got back home the book I have ordered from Amazon "Gender" by Ivan Ilich had arrived which was great because that has sorted out my reading for the evening. That will be after I have watched four episodes of Star Trek Voyager! Really into Star Trek at the moment. Anyway the lads were up, they sleep in on a Saturday and we went off to Durham for a walk around the woods in the city centre. The weather was mild, blue sky with white wisps of clouds of which I could not identify because they were transitioning from one to another. Interesting and frustrating at the same time. I must read up my cloud books for carefully and I'm nearly at the stage where I can get an atmospheric science book which will be great because I will be able to see the processes occurring within the clouds. Explanation and identification equals a whole lot of satisfaction. Once I understand the explanation that is!

The low winter light really brought out the colours of the remaining decaying leaves in the woods and soon they will be all gone. When we got up to Durham Cathedral, pausing to look over the River Wear from Prebend  Bridge, there were a lot of people in military uniform preparing for the Remembrance Day Service tomorrow. It was good to see all these folk and very reassuring. I never forget that they stand between us and some of the really crazy people in the world with their professionalism and training which puts a break on some nation states trying to win their way in the world without mental acuity and commercial acumen. Brains not force is the only way forward.

Miles managed to get us to Durham in one piece with his driving and we also survived the journey back. On getting back Fiona and I headed for a crash out to listen to Stevie Wonders "Songs in the Key of Life" a wonderful CD. I am now preparing up the meatballs, spaghetti, tomato sauce and garlic bread, the lads are busy playing their games relaxing and Fiona is fast asleep. It is totally brilliant that she is getting fitter and we are planning a Swaledale walk for next week which will be great because she is an amazing Hiking Lady the finest species of womanhood known to man. She puts her boots where her mouth is. A smashing day and God bless my family and my friends, because they make life very meaningful for me.

Goodness, how I get it wrong, a few days back I mentioned about getting "River" by Ted Hughes and how I enjoyed it in the 1980s. I did read it in the 1980s but it was not the one I was enthusing about, it was a different poetry book  "Remains of Elmet" by Ted Hughes and had brilliant photographs of the Calderdale Valley in Yorkshire. Fiona and I, with Miles, walked the Calderdale Valley in the early 1990s alongside the canal and it was really brilliant in the freezing cold temperature and bright Pennine Winter light. We walked right up to the Summit Level where the Rochdale Canal starts. It was really fascinating being at the point in in the Valley at the canal watershed where the water went neither one way or the other. I think we will go back there pretty soon.

Interesting article because if I was a woman with a child or children I would like an equality of choice between getting money for childcare and keeping the money myself when I provide the childcare: that is being a housewife. I found this article of particular relevance to me having been a househusband for 20 years. There is a lovely quote by a woman, "A self-aware housewife is a rebel against the constraints of the market". This is just yet another of these tiny social and economic signs that keep cropping up that people living their lives in the way they want to without actively campaigning for or going against the prevailing social order, effect social change, because indeed they are social change: they embody it.

Over 25 years ago I read a book called "Gender" by Ivan Illich who examined these issues in the context of what a housewife does as being work and what it would cost to replace the full range of services a housewife offers. The distinction being that economic work is the only one that society values whereas social work i.e. that done by a housewife is not valued and is poorly understood in terms of its economic contribution. Interesting stuff. I am going to read Gender again.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20222752

Fiona is getting better at last and this morning we had a really nice walk around the Durham Woods and alongside the River Wear. It was good to see her in such good fettle although she has lost some of her fitness due to a recent illness. She ran out of steam a bit when we got to the centre of Durham but a muffin and cup of coffee soon restored her. It was really good fun just sat on the steps in Durham market place, slurping and munching and watching the people go by .

She bought a hat, at my recommendation no less, which looks all studenty and has swinging tassles on it. Not bad for a retired teacher! I sometimes think we are both getting younger as we get older. It really suits her and I'm considering getting one  myself. The Little Grebes were on the River Wear again today but they kept having to dive underwater when the student rowers went flying by in their boats. Birds have to put up with a lot sometimes. A nice morning out.

"Leaves were falling just like embers.
In colors red and gold they set us on fire.
Burning just like a moonbeam in our eyes. "

So the song goes and there is absolutely nothing else to be said about the beautiful autumn ambience walking around the Durham Woods and City Market area in the graceful afternoon light. On the way in I saw two jets with a contrail each behind them cutting across each other at an angle thousands of feet up but because there is so little moisture in the cold air up there today the contrails lasted for about 10 seconds and then just vanished. Wonderful.

Fiona is laid up with sinusitis and  flu and probably anything else nasty which is wandering around at the moment so couldn't come out for a walk with us. Miles had a day off during the week with a nasty cold so he is working the weekend to catch up. Very good doggy and he is really getting into the work ethic as well as the Mathematics. Good lad. So, it was just my youngest Clifford and me to trail around the trail getting some strides in and enjoying the quiet. Clifford brings out the quiet in me and it is always very peaceful walking with him. We stopped for biscuit break at the Cloisters in Durham Cathedral and then we went into the Cathedral and there was an all woman choir singing which was very beautiful particularly the low contraltos who were putting a lovely resonance and foundation to the music. Very nice. I love choral music I really do.

It was quite a laugh at biscuit break because I told Clifford about a rather speculative bit of social research somewhere I can't remember that says basically boys tend to marry women who are like their mothers in their personalities. He asked me where I got this from and I said I couldn't remember but I also said don't believe me look it up for yourself. He said "Don't worry dad I believe you, you have a very convincing demeanour!". "Convincing demeanour" I think he is totally right there and he is very good at finding the right word, expression and occasionally even a verbal paragraph to capture the moment. Good lad he has really come on in the last few months.

So, the lads are busy, the wife has been cuddled with a great listen to" Old Ideas" by Leonard Cohen and now it is time to go into the "lets cook something nice for the family mode". I have some major dissatisfactions at the moment mainly to do with work, that is not getting it and music that is, not getting somebody to play it with, but I have to say they pale into insignificance compared to the security, good feeling and love of my family. And friends by the way. I think a lot about the people I used to know, the ones I am in contact with  now as well as the ones I have not seen for 20 years. I pray for my friends and every time I go down to York and have a truck around the Minster I always go to the Prayer Chapel and say prayers for my mother-in-law, family and a guy I used to know in York called Simon Hoban who sadly, died last year. I truly hope that all of my friends achieve what they want to achieve in life, are happy and also that I may see all of them again one day.  I was thinking a bit  about a woman I knew in the 80s called Jane Docherty and what a fine lady she was . I hope I see her again one day.

A cracking day . I got out this morning to do my Baha'i stall under a beautiful blue sky with high cirrus clouds whirling above all those ice crystals slowly falling and had a nice time sat there taking some questions about my religion as well as a folk taking a handful of leaflets. Had a nice mini chat with a Christian lady doing a Christian stall just up the way . Nice .

Fiona was totally zonked with her sinusitis today so me and the lads went for a lope around the Durham Woods and then had a nice biscuit break in center of Durham at the market , well I say biscuit break  because we raided the pie and cake shop and got a Cornish pasty, choccy muffin and Clifford wolfed a vanilla slice . All washed down with Diet Coke . When Mums away , the boys will play . Yum yum!

Had a good rap and roll conversation wise with the lads today and it was good to be tonking around nice and briskly because Fiona wasn't there to slow us up. But we missed her ! Miles drove really well and got us back home and i crashed with the lovely Fiona for half of the Leonard Cohen  live in London cd and then got down to knocking up the meatballs , homemade tonight , tomato sauce , sphagghetti and garlic bread to feed the hungry pack . Two episodes of Fawlty Towers coming up and then later Fiona and I are going to watch a documentary about the Stax recording and record producing outfit which will be great because we love that Southern Soul. Great day !

About time the Maths A Level is being looked at. Very easier and very much harder combinations can get a pupil  the same result . I hope they make Mechanics 1, 2,3,4 compulsory . Mechanics 3 and 4 are that tricky that even the independent schools don't do them. The kids wouldn't do so well  and risk losing a University place .  My hard working eldest son did Mechanics 3 and 4 all on his own !  I worked out that of all the Maths students in the UK him and a few other crazies were the best prepared for a Under Graduate Maths Degree. He did all of the Further Maths Modules as well.

It strikes me sometimes we are trying to get the best out of kids and make them all the same so no one feels bad, at the same time . Not possible!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-20067870

Good stuff. Most cosmologists now accept that something from nothing ie the Big Bang or Creation for the Christian and Muslim folk is wrong and that the Universe is more likely to have existed forever. It does with its end because space is flat and goes on forever in a straight line , no problem with that : no end ! But , if the Universe has no beginning it could not be proved by science, only accepted as a belief position because in order to prove a scientific truth a cause is needed . If the universe has existed forever it has no cause . This lets in God , Providence or whatever Name a person chooses to call it because what creates that which has no cause?

I believe that religion and science have a common purpose : understanding the universe and allowing ones life to be led by whatever that universe is saying is the best way forward and not holding on to views and practices that are useless now. Best of all though is the Cern scientists are breaking down the rather tribal and antagonistic barriers between some scientists and religious folk because the universe is very much saying : have differences but think and behave as if it is diversity that is an expression of a unity between all human beings.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19870036

A post from a Facebook mate, Toby Philpot about John Martyn.

"Working in folk clubs (and showing no talent for music) I hung out with musicians (making tea and rolling joints, etc), so I guess I have to find a piece by John Martyn (I used to baby-sit for him and Beverley) - who knew he got an OBE! "

"When I ran away to the USA, he phoned ahead, so a friend would settle me in, until the jet-lag wore off...and through the following 18 months of my hitch-hiking around he would occasionally pop up through FM radio to reassure me... it felt like a postcard...in those days before mobile phones, email, and all that. Bless 'im."

 Today I had a smashing walk with Clifford and Fiona around the Durham woods. It was a lovely blue sky interrupted by cumulus clouds desperately trying to build up into huge piles but it was not warm enough for that. As we walked about a kilometre into the woods we arrived at the point where last Saturday in the early morning I came across two Roe Deer browsing the lower branches and I stopped immediately and whilst they looked up and saw something, because they have very poor eyesight they just thought I was a tree. Totally magic. They were 2 young Deer and I looked at them for about 10 min before they moved off slowly down another path so I just had to follow them down there very softly and quietly. The path they had taken was enclosed by fences on either side so they just had to keep moving down towards the road but as they just got there some vehicles turned up so one of the Deer shot off to the left and the other one came right up to me more or less 5 m away before it realised I wasn't a tree I was a human. Great stuff. It couldn't go back down to the road and it couldn't jump over the fences so it just sidled past me back up to the path where I had seen them originally.
So I followed the little beastie up there and it had gone through a gap in the fence but because it thought I had gone away it tried to come back to the gap and only realised at the last moment that I was there. I was hoping it would come straight through the gap because then I could have patted it on the head as it went past as I was hiding behind a tree. What an adventure. Anyway it knew I was there so went away from me and I followed it along a high fence that partially obscured me from it and it seemed very disorientated so much so that it came up to the fence where I was stood and only realised in the last couple of metres that I was there. I saw that I was actually distressing the poor animal so I moved away quickly which got it moving in the opposite direction towards where its sibling was. I am not going to follow Deer in the future, well not too far, because I think it distresses the animal and I am not too happy about that.

But, that was last week and this week, the same place, I had my family with me the leaves had turned even more brown and golden and it was a lot quieter with very few people around. There has been a lot of rain over the last couple of days so the ground is very boggy. When we had biscuit break at the Cloisters in Durham Cathedral we had a look at the roosting bats and one of them was hanging free from the wall and we could see a lot more of it. Really good!

Durham Centre was absolutely packed out with eager beaver looking young people no doubt studying in the many fine educational institutions in the City of Durham. We may be in a recession but life still goes on. On the way back home we saw many fine cumulus clouds in weird and wonderful shapes because the thermals that give the push to drive them up and outwards were not very consistent so they were collapsing after building up for a bit and then spreading out into to velum a sort of disk like cloud which was at the top of the cumulus cloud given it an almost mushroom effect. Eerie.

 

Miles had stayed at home to get on with his Mathematics Revision and he is working very well and has two more exams in Middlesbrough next week. When we got back home Fiona and I had a good crash out and cuddle listening to the best of Leonard Cohen which was really good. The usual tea of meatballs and pasta followed and we are now watching Fools and Horses which is very funny. Another day to add to the last 25 years of a pretty good life.

A Facebook  comment about the Jimmy Saville allegations.

"Its just not good and very disappointing. In my view the 70's were about the worst time in UK history because most people knew what shouldn't be happening but just went along with it . A guy from Reeth Brass Band who I played with from 1970 to 1974 was convicted for sexual offenses against children. I got a phone call from North Yorkshire Police because they thought me and several of my friends may have been victims of this guy.

 I have to be a bit careful what I say here because one of the problems I had speaking to North Yorks Police  was that they just wouldn't accept that there was a highly sexualized culture in Richmond and the Dales at that time  which did cross the age of consent law with willing participants on both sides of that age. All part of pubs , underage drinking and getting to know the exciting world of adults. To be quite honest Emma I'm always left with the impression with North Yorkshire Police that who you are and who you know is a big factor in whether a person is prosecuted for virtually anything.

Its murky stuff this  but I expect more of this to come out in future particularly to do with adults from the 70's who had authority over children. What I think is also going to come out eventually   , and this might  cheese you off  and I'm sorry about that , it is only my perception at the time ,  is that some young people who had illegal sexual contact with adults in the 70s may not have been as unwilling as everyone seems to paint them. I don't mind saying this because it happened to me  . An amorous 17 -18 year old had a grope of me in an institutional context when I was 13 - 14. I certainly don't see that as abuse at all , even though I wasn't interested , well not like that , she seemed a bit old , but the point is , that lady went on to be a good mother in Richmond and is most definitely not a child molester at all  and other than the fact that she thought I might be into it when I wasn't that sort of thing was pretty routine at the time in the Dales area and I can't say I feel violated just sickened by the general very sexualized culture that prevailed at the time which seemed to distort a lot of childrens childhood. When I say routine I didn't perceive it as a regular occurrence but it did happen to me once and it was mentioned occasionally with other friends I knew.

It was a discussion around this sort of problem that I disagreed with North Yorks Police about . The line of questioning from them was such as to ensure that issues with no other people were raised , typical North Yorkshire , in fact they never even said who might be involved at all  I only found that out after the guy had been convicted and from my mother. As I said to North Yorkshire Police there was a very sexualized culture at the time, a time when guys over 16 would refer to girls under 16 as "jail bait"  which indicated that some would if they could and even that some did . As I said very murky.

If anyone thinks that this problem has gone away it hasn't . I used to pick my lads up from the school gate everyday at Longfield School. I saw a lot and had some interesting discussions with parents . But anyway a girl in Miles' class who was 15 , as Miles was , met her boyfriend at the gate sometimes , who I'd seen around on my walks and even spoke with him and he was 18 to 20. It was all a kissy and clinchy  and done right under the noses of teachers who were seeing the children off the premises and could see that that child's boyfriend was definitely not under 16. As I've said murky stuff .

Until society strictly agrees to the age of consent law, teachers and parents in particular,  we are always going to get a  blurring of the age of consent as part of our culture which just sexualises children whilst an awful lot of people in our society right now are  just watching it happen even though its illegal and breaking the law. Thats what is so tragic about the Jimmy Saville story : a lot of people  knew about it but will be running as far away from the issue now because at the time it was part of the culture. If that culture never existed at the time and all those people who saw what he did said something he would have been stopped in his tracks. But , if that 70s sexualised  culture  hadn't existed a culture he seems to have exploited could he have even done what he is alleged to have done?"

Comments of mine from a Facebook education discussion.

"Joe I never allowed my kids to go to a school where the minority that don't want to learn are dominant. I'd support any parent who walked away from a school like that and it is a totally responsible decision. Many lefty labourites, particularly in York, have done exactly that ! Good for them. At some point we have to just give up on kids and parents who don't want much to do with the education system because they are quite unjustly sucking up a disproportionate amount of resources that can be better spent elsewhere. On my two day Teacher Training Placement I saw some classes where half the kids just put their feet up and I was told most of them had not picked up a pen for months . Chuck them out and give temporary placements to African kids who would relish the opportunity. That would be just.

When I look at how so called disaffected kids abuse the educational system and compare it to the global demand for education it is not the private school kids who are doing anything wrong , at least they work and hard , it is the hundreds of thousands of UK kids who just abuse the system while their African counterparts would fall over to be in a UK school. Giving up on them is the only option and after a few months of that some will come around . I'm looking forward to the day when we don't pander to them ! As soon as any kids kicks off in a classroom they should be kicked out because they are sinning against the majority of kids who want to learn. A Head Teacher on my teaching practice in 1989 told me exactly that and more or less did it. I've seen it and Fiona has worked in it for the last 16 years in Dodmire School Darlington. Any other position is in fact undemocratic. Give the vote to kids to vote out the idiots and see what happens . The wayward will be gone pretty pronto!

It sounds hard but it is how Fiona and I have raised our kids. We just convinced them from an early age that learning , that which interests you is a good thing . At times we have come down on them very very hard when they fell short of their own stated goals . Sometimes in my view you can't be hard enough with kids particularly when they are genuinely confused to the point that they go against the hand that is feeding them. Many kids in UK schools are doing just that and a long time out period would do many of them a lot of good. They can get their education if and when they want it . Time out periods were the main means of disciplining our lads until recently . Our extreme displeasure worked as well. Treats were withdrawn as a matter of course. No problem ran on for more than a few hours under this system. I am amazed sometimes they still love Fiona and I !"

"Just out of interest any kid who comes out on an activity with us eg skateboarding knows there is a standard of behavior and thinking that I expect and if they don't meet those they get timed out . Sure they'll get another chance but not for several months . Time outs always work you just have to do it !"

"But Joe parents are only responsible for their own kids not others. As a humanitarian gesture and a desire to give service I offer help to other kids , maths, writing , hiking , trip to skatepark. Find out how many education researchers and academics send their kids to duff schools where the social engineering they want is going on . Hardly any! None of them really believe it they are just pursuing their academic careers talking about what would be good for others but impossible to attain so its a good excuse for another research paper .Educational research is largely moribund. If they really believed their own ideas they'd put their kids in the duff schools. They don't."

" Class doesn't matter : sound parenting does and thats the only reason a bright kid from a deprived background makes it : great parents no matter what class they are from. Fiona and I could take any poor kid at five and by 18 they'll be in a trade or doing a degree. Good parenting isn't rocket science."

"Most of the middle classes in the UK are totally confused about parenting and there is a great fear about talking about it . They generally fall back on the feeble and untrue view that all parenting styles are valid . They're not and some are actually harmful to kids . A very touchy subject by the way as I found when I was in York from when Miles was born. After 6 weeks of age Miles was trained to be a sound sleeper and I learned the skill from Fionas Mum. Training is the word when raising kids. This meant that the lad was always fresh and never fractious because of regular sleep and a mega advantage for learning if there ever was one . I can't think of one parental intervention that I didn't get from someone else or just by doing the opposite of what all the other Mums were doing . The best York Mum put down from the few I bumped into was because Miles was very content to watch and observe whilst I sat for up to an hour talking within someone over coffee was , " Oh he is very placid isn't he " . Being placid was seen as a negative. Wrong : sitting still is totally necessary for learning . Both he and Clifford are pretty good learners and still have no problem sitting still! Miles was pretty active if you saw him building and building and building for hours at end at home ! Photos coming soon! It was impossible to attend any of the parent groups because I just did it as a househusbnand completely differently and most of them didn't like it . How could I have a discussion about sleep problems with my young un when he didn't have any ! " Like attracts like and seeks the company of its own kind " as it says in the Bahai Writings. No big deal."  

Facebook comments about education

"The wayward kids Joe shouldn't be anywhere near kids who want to learn. I don't believe in mixed ability groups and kids of a certain level are best with those at the same level just like musicians tend to play with those at a similar level. The whole idea that kids can be educated to the same level is wrong : differences innate and acquired exist . Miles was born doing maths and has great innate skills which I remind him sometimes are a lot to do with what he was born with and nothing to do with his efforts. He doesn't have to try to hard although he is moving it now . That said approaches are important . I could have helped him with some of his A Level work but he sorted it out for himself and the bit I couldn't get I could have got one of the many ex Uni Maths Tutors that live in Teesdale to help but through not getting help he has acquired an iron determination to get better at whatever he is doing . Same with Clifford .

"This educational thing is a red herring Joe put about by all governments masking the fact that housing and the environment are the problems to crack, and governments can do little about that for party political reasons and then privately educated kids who I knew in the 1980s at York Uni can do what they want to do rather than Degree work they didn't like but not be financially penalized for it . There will always be a better house and location but there doesn't h ave to be a worse one : they can all be good. In other words we can build great housing for everyone cheaply if the will was there , it isn't, for negative equity reasons that would bring down any government very swiftly, that would make the current economic problems look small, but we will never get Mr Thick like me much smarter than I am and Mr Bright like Miles much dumber : there will always be a gap!"

"Just out of interest putting more money into education can result in kids just getting experiences forced upon them. That why Miles and Clifford were withdrawn from any pretty useless educational experiences in Primary and Secondary Schools. The National Curriculum was called the Entitlement Curriculum but people great and small who thought and still do think that is a good thing can't accept that it is a great injustice to a child to make them have educational experiences they are entitled to that are totally useless for them! Challenging stuff!

Lots of New Labour kids got the entitlement to University but that is now dropping off because there are not enough graduate jobs and never will be and the student loan scheme makes Degree Education for and increasing amount of kids just not worth it . Yet another discriminatory market created by party politicians because the really bright kids will always get the jobs because the employers do ability and aptitude tests rightly of wrongly and those kids always do better innately or because of practice . I don't like this situation Joe but no party politician is doing anything to change it which involves equalizing every other bit of society namely housing and the environment rather than educational outcomes of which it is impossible to equalize . Pushing teachers around and bamboozling the electorate with education dreams has been going on for the last 100 years. It will stop because housing and environment will become more important to people when enough of them realise that housing and great places to live are more important and directly plug into education. You can have the shiniest and newest school on the planet and there is one called the Education Village in Darlington , New Labour build , but the housing and environment that most of the kids attending that school come from vastly negate anything the underfunded under all governments school can do !"

"Yes you're right and Richmond Comprehensive School never was one it contained the Grammar School within it which was no bad thing . The Headteacher , Mr Dutton stated this right from the beginning and he was the old Grammar School Head . A good man by the way and he has always said hello to me over the years. Any kid in the mid 70s could get into the top sets and be alongside the ex Grammar School kids which is how it should be but it was still the case that kids from the worse housing and environments mostly didn't get into those top sets. This elites thing though Joe . One of the great things I like about Miles and Clifford was that when they were in Longfield School part time they knew kids from all different levels and I put this down to skateboarding which is a great leveler. They always likes the lads who like them like to have a laugh but there is mutual deference to ability or the lack of it . I'm the same by the way and what I like about the Butterknowle musicians is that they quite correctly recognize and appreciate musicians much better than them , thats respect after all, but they don't give a hoot about it ! Thats the sort of society I'd like to live in : recognise and respect differences of ability but it doesn't matter to much socially." 

"The Haughton Education Villlage School that was built about 8 years ago was a brilliant effort from the Government at the time : New Labour and it would have been the same under any Government . But the day after it was opened a load of disaffected local kids went and vandalised chunks of it . Housing and environment have to be good as well Joe . The Teacher Training Placement I did there a few months back was a real eye opener . About a quarter of the kids demonstrably couldn't care less about education and seemed to think that the state will look after them . I thought " Don't they realise that under any government in ten years time there won't be a dole it will just be food stamps"" 

"In Richmond School in the 1970s I was always in the bottom sets . The school put that down to having so much time out of school getting operations on my arm , until I was 14, but there was more to it than that : my parents never valued education , typical white working class and I shared a bedroom with my brother until I left for college at 18. The telly was on a lot in the evening downstairs so it was impossible to do homework . Millions of kids still suffer those environments and parents who don't value education who themselves have suffered poor housing an environments for years . They have no chance whatsoever and according to a person I know who runs a social care company on Teeside when these kids work for her they struggle to fulfill even the most basic requirements of the job . None of this has anything to do with the education system at all." 

"The economy is not as bad as people think . There is a lot of demand just not being realised because people won't spend . Good for them and its about time to. Greenoids never really understood and still don't want to see , what would happen if people spent and consumed less and maybe now they do . Trying to say that moving the UK to Green Energy would also result in economic growth in the old sense ie it can replace consumer spending growth is just plain wrong. Once a wind turbine is up its only economic potential other than energy production and maintenance is tourism and people are not going to go and gawp at power stations no matter how they are dressed up! I don't think they are ever going to spend , like they did , ever again. The politicians are going to have to design a better economic system based on less consumer spending and they are being confronted by that. The problem is fundamentally spiritual in other words."