The morning's news made
me think. The government is proposing introducing lessons in how to
be a good parent to prospective parents; after all (as the Prime
Minister says) driving lessons are a must, so why not parenting
lessons. I must admit that being faced with a baby was a daunting
prospect: some help and advice would have been welcomed. But then the
newsreader when on to say that the idea of parenting classes was to
improve the general unruliness and social behaviour of the youth of
today. And that's when I got a bit cross.
The best parent in the
world does not have face to face contact with their child for most of
the child's average day. The parent will spend most of that time at
work, or looking for work whilst the child is at school. Surely (if
the object of the exercise is to improve the social skills of the
kiddies) some onus needs to be placed on the schools and the
teachers. I can remember many years of frustrations from teachers
telling me what bad brats I had engendered; and telling me a week or
so after whatever crimes had been committed, and with no inclination
to inflict any discipline of their own.
Meanwhile our old friend
science has invented a
new fruit. It's actual name is T109, but seeing how that is
rather a dull name, the pundits have dubbed it the "papple"
because it's (apparently) a cross between a pear and an apple.
My mobile rang - the
number was 01772643080. When I answered the person on the other end
hung up. This has happened quite a bit lately. I Googled the number
and found that I'm not alone in getting these nuisance calls, and
that the number has been reported to OFCOM, for all the good that
would seem to have done.
And in closing today
spare a thought for Her Majesty. Who has found herself in a no-win
position. The Foreign Office had sent out invites to all the
world's assorted monarchs inviting them to a beano at Buck House.
Today they all showed up for the bunfight, and the country's media
has decided to go through the list and decide which ones are
acceptable, and which ones should be told to get knotted because of
various misdemeanours they may or may not have committed.
It strikes me that if
you're going to get all the world's royalty together, you get the
lot, or you don't bother. Picking and choosing will only give
offence. And who exactly should get to do the choosing anyway?
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