Dropping in as I do into the centre of commerce and trade I listened in to
David Cameron''s election speeches which were
broadcast loud and clear for everyone to hear ... I commented to a passing waiter that I thought it was about time he had something new to offer rather than that old line on the "Class War" .... didnt we all grow up with that ...
and hasnt the Class War as our children say and so on /rather blown itself out/
Well, apparently not! Cameron is still sparking off the famed 11 plus exams and although as a leading Conservative Team Member he does not choose that it should be reintroduced into the UK ... nevertheless its like a form of psychological punishment ... he reminds you that it still lurks in the background .. and that he will never let you forget it ...
In fact, the other evening I tuned into BBC Radio and listened to the first episode of Eric Clapton''s Autobiography which is read by an actor .. and Clapton is said to annouce to the world that he "failed" the 11 plus and presumably the middle class students of the period
"
passed" the 11 plus .... such was the impact of this exam that it obviously still
holds unpleasant memories for Clapton and happier memories for those who "passed" it ... I had a professional colleague sometime ago who refused even in his middle age to comment on his failed 11 plus results other than he was now one of the chosen ... and was "The Passed" ... as for me ... well I became
writer of the year at 10 years old and jumped over all the hooha surrounding 11 plus failing it never bothered me and I got a double first in English and Drama ... passed Maths and English at 12 and during the overrated 11 plus I was No: 1 writer in Ireland in the Catholic Messenger. It was held to be "anti Catholic" and seen in Northern Ireland as a Protestant Exam ... so nobody has ever been able to hold it against me. In the case of a more enlightened Government we would not hold children upside down and say they had "failed" to do ... whatever ... rather we as teachers would say ... lets strengthen the success in life as much as the failures ...
Politics turns on such issues ... and it was the same case when I got my degree ... apparently not everyone of my class: gender: age: height: weight: and stature: got a degree and its seen as quite a feather in the cap of the Educational Establishment of 1981 at Southampton University ..... but then my military friend mentioned that he couldnt see what political gains would be made by raising it now as I had 3 degrees anyway ... that
the Politics of the situation were more given to new ideas, structures and new subject matter.
Yet Cameron does right to raise the Class War .... but then his colleague Sir John Major is probably like me ... a better writer than Cameron and I see his book on Cricket is available in hard back at Waterstones Bookshops throughout the UK. So is my book of poems .... ROCK ME ... at ... www.waterstones.com ..... Happy Politics ... keep on reading the blogs ..