Back to School People .... if you Dare

Paul Weller hit the nail on the head:

Governments crack and systems fall. 'Cause unity is powerful. Lights go out, walls come tumbling down. Yes they do, yes they do, yes they do, yes they do ...

They are the chorus lines from the Style Council song "Walls come tumbling down". Below is a link to the band performing exactly 13 years ago. Which is funny really, as 13 years is how long our current government has been running the show.

Raac & Ruin

Looked it up and if you say a place is going to "rack and ruin" you are emphasising?that it is slowly becoming less attractive or less pleasant?because no-one is bothering to look after it.

Do we think the current crisis with crumbling walls/failing prisons/sewage in rivers/falling house prices/cost of living/appalling state of the Transpennine Express (now there's an oxymoron if ever I met one) has anything at all to do with the last 13 years of "government"?

Or will Sunak, if asked the question, have a little cry and say "That's utterly unfair". As if that's that. Like how (apologies, phrase borrowed from my daughter) Boris used to say "I consider the matter closed" when one of his ministers, Priti Patel, for example, was found to have been a bully but went unpunished. Worked for a while. Until it didn't.

Education, education, education

I don't know what worries me most about Gillian Keegan being in charge of Education. I mean, where do you start.

I tell you where. Grammar.

"Everyone else has sat on their arse .." she exclaimed, to camera, on Monday. Pretty sure that's not grammatically correct. And she seems to have an obsession with bottoms. The following day she told head teachers they should "get off their backsides" and fill in a survey that, supposedly, will reveal the extent of the Raac problem.

Surveys versus Surveyors

I also worry about Gillian's understanding of the basics of construction. I'm no expert but I have bought a number of houses in my life. And I know that before you part with any money it's sensible to pay some surveyors to do a thorough review of the building. If you're borrowing money to buy the house, the lender insist on it. The surveyors also have to be qualified.

I'd love to see the "survey" that the head teachers are supposed to be filling in. And who is doing the completion? I'm guessing it will be the "caretaker".

When I was at school the caretaker was a grumpy old man who lived in a little house on the school grounds, kept a vegetable patch and was responsible for locking up at night. And changing light bulbs. I don't think he was RICS accredited.

(As a total aside, and bear in mind this was a long long time ago, there was a tradition of teachers banishing the most wayward pupils from classrooms and sending them to work on the aforementioned vegetable patch. Neuro-diversity was not a thing then, you either fitted the mould or didn't).

So, no, Gillian, I don't think the survey is necessarily going to help very much.

The Only Survey that Counts

I am not sure I can manage another year. Although I see we have yet another potential bi-election coming up as Chris Pincher lost his appeal against suspension from parliament for groping two men at a private member's club last year. He had the misfortune to come up against those allegations long after Boris had used up his supply of "I consider the matter closed" tickets.

Perhaps Sunak thinks that if we keep having these mini elections no-one will notice that he still hasn't set a date for the real thing.

I'm also worried that if you give Kier Starmer too much more time he will have succeeded in his aim of looking exactly like the Tories but with a different cabinet. I'm placing some faith in Sue Gray to sort that one out.

Hackney Essentials

My late father used to talk about being sent down to the Co-op for his mum's regular order. The "essentials" for the week: "Milk, butter, sugar, eggs, lard." Lard. Who buys lard any more? (Actually my mum does as she uses it in pastry: half butter, half lard is the key apparently. I do not make pastry).

I went to Columbia Road flower market last week with my kids. How life has changed. Paid ￡17.10 for four iced coffees (I mean, even the idea of iced coffee is actually ridiculous) and popped into this shop. Perello olives, Torres black truffle crisps, Kimchi, Tony's Chocolonely and organic olive oil would appear to be all it takes to survive in London these days. Life's little essentials.

Did you notice, by the way, that when the police caught that terror suspect, he was cycling along a canal and was carrying a Waitrose cool bag. Not just any old cool bag, a Waitrose cool bag. Gotta love it. London.

Back On It

The summer has made a come back but frankly it's too late. I'm over it. Woman's got to earn a living and, thankfully, I'm not alone because our forthcoming Reignite Academy "Upgrade, relocate, resize, downsize, refurbish ... your career" webinar is almost a sell out. (Not really, it's online so there is no limit). I'll put a link in the comments if I can remember.

I also need to keep busy because, as you will recall, all the children will soon be fleeing the nest leaving me alone with a man who can't seem to function without being on the phone. You know how, with some people, if they didn't see it, it didn't exist or if they didn't post about it, it didn't happen, well with him it's more if he didn't have fifteen conversations with at least three different people about the same subject it didn't happen.

Still, we've been married for 21 years this month (amazing, I know, particularly since this was my second attempt) so must be doing something right.

The Cultural Bit

I'm watching: Stuck with the Lost Flowers of Alice Hart. Not a classic but it past the time and didn't annoy me. Watched the first series of The Tower on ITV. Very good.

I'm reading: Small things like these by Claire Keegan. It's tiny and I started it before but put it down for some reason. I think it deserves reading in one go so that's tomorrow's task.

I'm cooking from: Moro Easy. Had a house guest for the last couple of weeks (hello Noah) and he bought me this as a thank you. Unlike Ottolenghi Simple it actually does what it says on the tin. Yummy. As my daughter would say (not a phrase we used growing up in Yorkshire, maybe because of all that lard).

Appendix

Full lyrics of The Walls Come Tumbling Down - Verse 1

You don't have to take this crap You don't have to sit back and relax. You can actually try changing it, I know we've always been taught to rely

Upon those in authority, But you never know until you try How things just might be If we came together so strongly

Are you gonna try to make this work, Or spend your days down in the dirt, You see things can change ,Yes and walls can come tumbling down

Governments crack and systems fall 'Cause unity is powerful Lights go out, walls come tumbling down Yes they do, yes they do, yes they do, yes they do, hey)

Paul Weller. Genius.