President Ahmadinejad - the Alternative Comedian

One reason why I don't care to write about the Iranian President is his name - it takes so long to type it. That could prove a problem in what appears to be his new chosen career - comedy. I don't know why he set out to follow in the footsteps of Frankie Boyle, etc, by doing his first gig at the UN, but I suppose it was the only one he could get. Anyway, it seems that his first gag went down a storm. When he suggested that the USA orchestrated the 9/11 attacks, people actually walked out! They must have been overcome with laughter. Mind you, President Ahmadinejad (must do something about that name) has come out with some scintillating one-liners in the past, for example:
On the Holocaust – Sept 2009
"They (the Western powers) launched the myth of the Holocaust. They lied, they put on a show and then they support the Jews."
And then ( be ready to split your sides):
On Robert Mugabe – April 2010
"I condemn all pressures, all satanic pressures, pressures on the government and people of Zimbabwe."
And then there was:

On wearing ties – July 2010
"The supreme guide (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) himself has said in a fatwa that the wearing of ties or bow ties is not permitted."
He's a barrel of laughs, isn't he?

Such a talented comedian will miss his chance, however, if his career is not carefully guided. I am considering asking the Comedy Store here in London to give him a booking. If anyone can suggest another venue, I'll try to get President Ahmadinejad (must do something about that name!) to appear. And then, of course, a snappy stage name is needed. I think "Ahmad Jad" has a nice ring to it. Watch this space...

OFSTED and the Need for Vigilance

Like all teachers, and anyone else involved in education, I am often bemused by the pronouncements of OFSTED, the Government's inspection agency for schools, playgroups, LEAs, and just about everything else you can think of to do with education. One such is today's announcement that 457,925 of the 1.65 million children who have been diagnosed with special educational needs (SEN) have been diagnosed wrongly.The implication is that schools "mistakenly" identify pupils as having special educational needs in order to get extra funding. This is not true, but it has brought excited banner headlines to the Daily Mail and other such papers. A swingeing refutation of the OFSTED claim is made by Zoe Williams in today's "Guardian", and can be read here.
 Speaking generally, there is a more pressing point that occurs to me: OFSTED has been in existence since 1992. During that time, it has inspected thousands of schools, observed tens of thousands of lessons, produced staggering amounts of paperwork, spent vast amounts of taxpayers' money and driven some  teachers to suicide. If schools really are wrongly labelling children as having special educational needs, why has it taken the ever-vigilant OFSTED so long to discover it?

Burning the Koran

 I rarely praise politicians, but I must say that world leaders are to be congratulated for condemning the proposed Koran burning in Florida on the 11th of this month. Pastor Terry Jones, the instigator of this event, appears to have learned none of the lessons that have been learned, at great cost, by our military and political leaders. Sorry to sound wise after the event, but even at the time of 9/11, I thought that the attacks were meant as provocations, intended to propel the USA and her allies into some kind of precipitate action. Unless Bin Laden and his cronies are idiots, they must have known that there would be a powerful military intervention against them, and would have planned for it. Well, in war, you don't do what your enemies want you to do. 9 years down the line, I think we've done just that, paying a huge cost in lives, money and material, two countries have been devastated - and we still haven't caught Bin Laden. Still, light is beginning to shine, realisation of what kind of enemy we are dealing with is growing, and President Obama is 100% correct to say that the proposed Koran burnings will cause a "bonanza" in recruitment for Al-Qaeda. If Bin Laden has any money left, he'll be sending it to Pastor Jones in grateful payment for helping the cause.

Tony and Harold - Two of a Kind?

In case you hadn't noticed, Tony Blair was signing copies of his memoirs, called "A Journey", in Dublin today. He seems capable of dividing opinion everywhere; there were angry protesters outside the book store, and admirers who wanted a signed copy of his book inside. Christopher Mayer, who was our ambassador in Washington, shortly after 9/11, has written critically of Blair in today's "Daily Mail". Mayer makes the point that: "...memoirs usually seek to skew history in the writer's favour and all are self-serving to some degree". He goes on to allege that Blair seems still to  want to be "...a player on the world stage", and writes some interesting material about Blair's support for George Bush in the launching of the so-called "War on Terror".
What I find interesting is the fact that we have seen self-seeking memoirs by an ex-Labour PM before. At university, I had the good fortune (!) to read Harold Wilson's account of his time in office. There are some interesting parallels between these two Labour politicians. Wilson, like Blair, was a controversial figure when PM.Both took office after a lengthy period of Conservative tenure in government. Like Blair, Wilson tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to negotiate peace between all parties in Northern Ireland. Like Blair, his term as PM was dogged by scandals about his cabinet colleagues (eg, John Stonehouse). Also, at that time the USA was engaged in a war- in Viet-Nam. Unlike Blair, however, Wilson steadfastly refused, publicly, to send British troops to fight in Viet-Nam, despite American pressure. Right-Wing American politicians never forgave Wilson for (as they saw it) failing to help an ally.
Or did he? There are numerous eyewitness accounts of British SAS soldiers being deployed against the Viet-Cong during the Viet-Nam War. One ex-gunner told me of how one Royal Artillery battery was seconded to the Australian Army in Viet-Nam, and no-one ever found out about it. All of which points to another similarity between these two Labour politicans, though Wilson seems to have been the more able politician - or was he just more cunning?

Does anyone hope to get Blair's book for Christmas?