Jacob Christensen

Via Crooked Timber, a truly terrifying piece of news: The government of the United Kingdom will contribute to the descent of man by building schools without playgrounds – in this case the Thomas Deacon city academy.Among the newspeak provided by the school’s management:

“We are not intending to have any play time,” said Alan McMurdo, the head teacher. “Pupils won’t need to let off steam because they will not be bored.”

And:

The academy’s timetable will be tightly structured and exercise for pupils will take place in PE classes and organised games on adjacent playing fields. There will be a 30-minute lunch period when pupils will be taken to the dining room by their teacher, ensuring they do not sneak away to run around.

But fear not:

[Pupils] will be able to hydrate during the learning experience.

Just pause for a moment and consider how the poor children will fare the day they face a setting which is not a tightly structured learning experience setting.

Try imagining France and the U.K. merge to form a single political unit with the British Queen as the head of state.

Okay, you may get up from the floor and stop laughing now. According to the BBC, the French government actually made advances back in 1956 with the intention of discussing the prospect of either a political union with the Queen as the head of state or France joining the British Commonwealth.

Just as fascinating the prospect of Great Fritain is, are the motives behind the French government’s advances: France was stuck in Algiers where a certain Mr. Nasser was supporting insurgents and faced problems as Israel and Jordan were on the verge of war. France was an ally of Israel while the U.K supported Jordan. (Mr. Nasser played a role here as well)

British media are all over the place with the story: The Guardian – France and UK considered 1950s ‘merger’, Daily Telegraph – The Queen, La Reine, The Times – Were we nearly les franglais? (A typically Europhobic English take on the subject as the French were clearly the weaker partner – Fritons speaking Frenglish would have been the more likely outcome)In the end, the idea came to nothing and while it is fascinating to entertain a “what if” discussion, the true significance of the events is that they show how desperately weakened the French government was by the mid-1950s due to the Algerian crisis and a host of other problems and add to our understanding of the British reluctance to enter the EEC. After all, the British impression at this time was that the Commonwealth was not only a viable but also an attractive alternative to engaging with France and Germany.

My brain is still on stand-by so I will just post some links to some interesting stories related to current events.The Murder of Anna PolitkowskayaAnne Applebaum has this piece in Slate.Topics for discussion: Is it a coincidence that a) Politkovskya is mudered at a time when Russia is close to engaging in armed conflict with Georgia, b) that Vladimir Putin did not see the need to condemn or even comment the murder for several days and c) Putin when pressed for a comment declared that Politkovskya was an insignificant reporter?The Usual CrisisWhatever you may think about Sp!ked, the site has two articles about Western-Muslim relations which are worth reading:Mick Hume: End this Muslim-ManiaJosie Appleton: A veiled debate

Back in the early 1990s, the UK led the way in privatising railways and splitting ownership of the tracks from train services. From then on, it has been a bumpy road for British train services (bad pun, I know), even if there has been more investment in the infrastructure than before 1990.According to a report in The Times, the Conservative Party which originally pushed the idea of privatisation, is about review its earlier policies and call for a reintegration of track and service ownership. One of the arguments made is that the entire set-up of contracts made neccessary by the split is excessive and too costly. The Conservatives now want to promote a model with regional contractors and joint-ventures.Perhaps Monopoly will be the new Competition?In other news, only 3 out of 4 long-distance trains in Denmark arrived on time in June. DSB (the operator) blames BaneDanmark (the owner of the track) – and ultimately politicians – because of a severe lack of investment in railway infrastructure during the last 30 years. (My word of advice is: If you need to go somewhere in Denmark this summer, go by car or take a bus. Trains should only be used if you have no other means of transport available).Update: Link to the press release from the British Conservative Party. And here is the Guardian’s take on the Conservative Rail Review. Note the number of “wills” in that article.

A case of New Public Management gone wrong?

Civil servants who were supposed to be administering the government’s much-criticised farm subsidies system have been taking part in ‘depraved’ office pranks such as leaping naked from filing cabinets.The beleaguered Rural Payment Agency has begun an investigation into the behaviour of its staff at its Newcastle office, which allegedly included leaving cups of vomit in cupboards, taking drugs, having sex in toilets and holding breakdancing competitions during office hours. (Source: The Guardian)

According to the RPA’s homepage, the benefits of working at RPA include

• Generous leave allowance
• Flexible working hours
• Modern well-equipped offices.

Perhaps the equipment was simply too modern? The management and the Commons rural affairs committee were, in any event, not amused as the agency’s handling of payments has been criticised lately.

There is nothing quite like conspiracy theories and real-life conspiracies are much more fun than invented ones. So here goes: Did George W. Bush fire Jack Straw? The Independent suspects so and a former aide of Robin Cook says so.It may not be even close to the truth about Straw’s dismissal but the fact that these stories are published in “Labour-friendly” newspapers speaks volumes about the state of the Labor Party.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned – sordid details included. Reader discretion is advised.The conservative papers are feasting on the news about John Prescott’s affair – Melissa Kite in the Sunday Telegraph and Bryan Appleyard in the Sunday Times may serve as cases in point.But the Observer har joined the hunt as well.Other news from the UK? Well, if you look closely, you’ll find a story about a crisis in the NHS (can this be categorised as “news”?) and one about the non-extradition of violent criminals involving the Home Office.Perhaps two cabinet ministers are more than happy that the Deputy Prime Minister was caught with his pants down.(And no: The quotation is not from Shakespeare.)

In case you forgot: Today (Wednesday) was Administrative Professionals Day, the day formerly known as Secretaries Day.

British newspapers celebrated the day by publishing the story about Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott’s two-year affair with one of his secretaries.

For heaven’s sake, John: You’re 67 and she is 43. She is young enough to be your daughter!

The British Liberal Democrats have a new chairman: The 64 year-old Menzies (that’s “Ming” to you, thank you very much) Campbell won a membership ballot with 58% of the vote.According to the BBC, Campbell’s great advantage in the contest was that he was not seen to be too closely associated with any of the party’s two main factions and that he holds considerable authority in the House of Commons.

In an age obsessed with youth – Campbell could easily be the father of Conservative leader David Cameron – electing a leader who is well above 60 is an interesting move. In recent years the Danish Social Democrats and the British Conservatives went for the same solution by electing Mogens Lykketoft and Michael Howard as party leaders – and both parties failed miserably at the next elections, perhaps – but not only – because Lykketoft and Howard were seen as interim solutions.

The next move by both parties was to elect chairmen who hadn’t yet turned 40.

On the other hand Campbell is still 9 years younger than the legendary Konrad Adenauer was when he took office as German Chancellor in 1949 and as we all know, Adenauer turned out to be more than a one-term solution.Correction: As a colleague pointed out, Adenauer was born in 1876 and not 1879. That made him 73 when he took office as Chancellor of the FRG in 1949. In case you don’t believe me, read Adenauer’s official biography at the Deutsches Historisches Museum.

What happened to slapstick comedy, the BBC asks today.

One possible answer could be: It entered politics.

The British left wing never ever ceases to surprise me.