Paul Johnston

The media, especially the parts owned by Rupert Murdoch, are trying to whip up a reprise of the Diana-mania they enjoyed so much 10 years ago. On the various Sky channels one can have almost non-stop wall to wall Diana programmes to commemorate the 10th anniversary of her death. One I saw even went so far as to suggest that the Alma tunnel in Paris had become a place of pilgrimage to rival Lourdes. Such crassness defies belief. The BBC is not innocent either with its interviews outside the gates of Kensington Palace and 'wondering' if the place would be decked in floral tributes etc again as 10 years ago.

Happily they also reported that sales of  anniversary memorabilia were low and their vox pop interviews suggested that, unlike the media, the British people have 'moved on'. Let's hope the media will now catch up and let the Princess and the rest of us rest in peace.

I am glad to note, by the way, that the special prayers composed for the Memorial Service by the Archbishop of Canterbury, remember to pray for the repose of her soul. Those who really care about her and cherish her memory should do just that. 

"On Tuesday 28 August 2007 at Brighton Road (A243) about 25 metres south of the junction with Victoria Road, Surbiton, Thames Water will installing a Sahara Pit.

The junction will be controlled by three way temporary signals reducing traffic to a single alternative traffic flow.

The work is programmed to last 7 days."

Delays expected

Daphne and I celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary yesterday with a trip to Gravetye Manor in East Sussex, near East Grinstead.

It's a place we love to go to on special occasions, wonderfully tranquil with excellent service, food and wine. The gardens are lovely even after the kind of weather we have been having. Yesterday afternoon it stopped raining at last and we could sit in the garden over coffee after lunch and enjoy the view and the mixture of sounds provided by woodpidgeons and the distant whistle of the occasional steam engine on the nearby Bluebell Line preserved railway. Very evocative of 'Miss Marple'. Very English!

I attended the first three days of the appeal enquiry held at Shrewsbury House School last month and was allowed to address the enquiry on the third morning. Janet Bowen-Hitchings was there for pretty well all of the second, third and fourth days and briefly on the first morning.

Opposing the appeal I said that,

"If allowed, the appeal would lead to the replacement of four serviceable family homes and gardens with what would amount to the biggest building in Surbiton Hill ward.

"I also drew attention to earlier infrastructure problems in the area, where Victorian drains have given problems in the past and pointed out that the Sunrise development would involve a substantial increase in the number of toilets, baths, washbasins and kitchen sinks discharging into the system. 

"The question had also been raised as to whether the home if built would constitute a ‘home for life' for the residents. It would be expensive to live there and nursing care was not envisaged in the plans. It would follow that residents could well become a burden on the already overstretched resources of Kingston Social Services and the heavily indebted Primary Care Trust."

The case for the Council was very ably presented by Mr. Morgan QC supported by officers led by Paul Bradbury, and the Southborough Residents Association team was very effective in its contributions. I feel it is a priviledge to work alongside residents of the calibre and expertise of the team fielded by SRA. I hope Southborough residents know how truly lucky they are to have benefited for so long from the selfless efforts and sheer expertise of these and other SRA committee members.

The outcome of the appeal is expected next month. 

This link takes you to a document published in .pdf format by Open Europe, comparing the Treaty that Gordon Brown and Mr. Milliband say isn't the proposed Constitution with the proposed Constitution: http://www.openeurope.org.uk/research/guide.pdf

This isn't just a Tory thing. It's a matter of all elected politicians of whatever party keeping faith with the people that voted for them. Labour MPs like Frank Field, Kate Hoey and Gisela Stuart have sought to make Gordon Brown hold the promised Referendum, as have Lib Dems John Hemming and Mike Hancock. Our own local MPs seem rather coy about expressing openly their views on the question. Yet both of them were elected on a Lib Dem manifesto pledge to hold a Referendum on the European Constitution. 

Having taught secondary students for 32 years I still have that frisson of excitement every mid-August about the A level results. This despite having retired 6 years ago!

Every year the papers get worked up about grade inflation and every year the ritual response of whoever happens to be the Secretary of State and the officials in the examining business decry the criticisms as belittling the efforts of our young students who are brighter and harder working than ever before.

I will never forget attending in the mid-1990s a meeting of Heads of History in London organised by Edexcel in which we were introduced to an experimental Alevel syllabus (E, as I recall) which was introduced by a respected Professor from Lancaster University (my own 'alma mater', so no mean institution!) who suggested that change in the syllabus and mode of examining was necessary because 'so many students taking A level History today are functionally illiterate.' My department promptly changed to OCR.

However the Prof turned out to be pointing towards the future. Pretty soon the then Conservative government was considering new modes of A level and boards were experimenting with modular approaches in some subjects. There was also talk of introducing an intermediate level called AS to be taken after the Lower Sixth and to be of a lower standard than A level but to contribute to it about 40% of the marks.

This was shelved by the incoming Labour goverment in 1997 but introduced by David Blunkett in 2000 (remember Curriculum 2000?). History and other subjects that had resisted 'modularisation' were now to be modular. AS levels were to be half-A level, containing half the modules and (this is the root of the inflation the press perceives) to be taken at the end of the Lower VI year with the possibility of modules with low marks being retaken the following January or even later with the highest mark attained contributing to the eventual A level grade. The remaing modules, termed A2 were to be taken at the end of the Upper VI. Schools were and are allowed to enter their pupils for both AS and A2 after UVI, thus nearly reproducing the end of course papers which characterised A level in most subjects when it still was 'the gold standard'. However some contend (and i agree with them) that schools that do this put their students at a potential disadvantage as the opportunities for more than one bite at the cherry that the AS/A2 system affords are largely eliminated.

That the Blunkett reform has led to about a quarter of A levels awarded being at grade A should surprise no-one. It was designed to do precisely that, though I doubt if anyone in the Government or the QCA will ever admit as much. This is in no way to disparage the efforts of the students. They have to work within the system that obtains, as do their teachers. They do, indeed, now face public exams every year for three years (possibly four, if entered early for some GCSEs) and they are probably not getting the same stimulation and enjoyment from their A level courses that their forebears got as a result.

In the interests of all involved this is a reform which needs urgently to be itself reformed!