Saint Margaret

Margaret: Scotland's saintly queen.
Honouring the one, by remembering the other.

Metaphors, similes, analogies

in abundance dance happily

around her one little person.

And so, let’s begin thusly;

 

chubby as a cherub

and equally sweet faced

the eyes a placid pond, calming

brown as chocolate buttons

 

straight-forward manner

practical, willing and, above all,

uncomplaining;  Yes, Sir to any request

and right away on the job

 

like a miniature classroom version

of the best sergeant

in the regiment, although

much gentler, obviously!

 

An A student at living life

from another better age, inevitably

she struggles with book work

even simple adding

 

is like calculus to her, and I hope

I reassure her with the truth

about the lessons; in the scheme

of things, they don’t matter so much

 

and in time the cogs will align.

Still I worry that her can-do vim

turns to frustration and

turning inward wounds her

 

for the life she should have

of building child by child

our nation’s future of

her earthy, yet saintly, stock

 

she cannot understand this

that she holds best that which

passing shows the greatness

of her soul, not found in lessons.

 

Saint Margaret, it’s really me

who learns from you but

on this day, of  your namesake’s

crossing, find the favour returned.

 

Let me show you how to do

this sum by analogy that fits

your character; you and me

together re-building the world:

 

Here’s the spade, you dig.

I’ll bag the soil.

NB. Saint Margaret's feast day is the 16th November; the day of her death in 1093.

And what a eulogy!: 

A precious pearl saw the light in Hungary, and lived at the court of the Confessor, a School of Holiness. Torn from homeland, you embrace another. You became Queen and Mother, the glory of Scots. Your Queen's crown, a crown of Charity. Your way, the Royal Way of the Cross...Once, mere men, placed crowns upon your head. But I, Innocent, Peter's successor, Servant of Christ, now place upon your head, the greatest crown of all, sainthood. - The Oration of Canonisation by Innocent IV from 1250 

Armistice memorial for Pte. D. Watson

 

THE LAST BREAKFAST

Mr Watson ordered breakfast

this morning in French.

Oh no, there must be a mistake,

he doesn’t speak French!

No, he spoke good French. I did

a Higher in it. We had a

good conversation before

the drugs took him away.

 

Christ, he kept that hidden!

True to his Edwardian upbringing

modest to the end, never moaned

patiently waiting on the sun he

ay claimed would be along in time

broken at just 70 by all the

troubles of the century.

And now, we mounted final

 

guard around his bed while

we waited on him stepping

over to the ‘other quarters’.

Right at that last moment

before the bullet that didn’t get you

finally got you I like to think

you were with your old mates

you told me off

 

in some estaminet ordering

eggs and chips in French

for the last time; it was

always the last time for

some of them - young Lt. Cowan

training to be the lawyer

he never became. Tam, Don’t...!

you told him, and you’d no

 

sooner said it when he was

killed right there on the fire-step.

It was a mad wicked thing,

but I never met finer people-

that’s how life balances itself.

All those fine fellows who

got the wrong ticket home

just one now was waiting

 

to join their ranks perhaps

the finest of them all although

you would have strongly objected

to the compliment but knowing

something of life myself now

I stand by it

fraternal, hard-working

kind considerate appreciative

 

of daily blessings uncomplaining

while the cancer bayoneted

you over and over

I was only a boy without

the words to shape my

understanding of the sheer immensity

of your decency

and so now, Danny, old soldier

 

Grandad, over fifty years

after your final roll call, I salute

you and your kind and see you

with Jack and Pat easily

in my mind’s eye, loosening your belt,

taking off your tammy and

waiting to be offered a seat.

Excuse moi, Madame, pouvons nous avoir quelque chose a manger?

CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Going Black for a Month

I have to thank Sainsbury’s for reminding me that this is Black History Month. Somehow it had slipped into the interstices between Covid pronouncements and the apparent nearby eschaton, until brought back to its proper place in our consciousness by large, unavoidable posters; correctly, Black history trumps all other issues for a month. To this end, then, I have been considering this topic as they insist; setting aside all tempting thoughts to explore the whys and hows a grocery business shows such a specific interest, really quite unconnected to the business of grocery.

Before entering the meat and produce aisles, so to speak, we note that Black is rather more tightly defined than it is often commonly used; here meaning a negro or someone of identifiable (however slightly) negro inheritance. Exploring this history as it is presented by, and through, Black History Month is, of course, very interesting, although probably not in the way the promotors wish it – for the inescapable conclusion is of a race (or peoples) generally lacking agency. It is as if they had never stepped on history’s big wheel of fortune and were thusly always at the bottom of any list (certain athleticisms and violence excepted), subject to the whim and patronage of ethnic others. This finds compensating expression as historical fabrication, personal denial and cultural complaint – to which end BHM is dedicated, especially the latter. Dare one think it? - but the whole initiative smacks of the racism it seeks to counter. Considered as history, BHM is dense in misrepresentation, when not outright lies, and finds a happy partner (co-conspirator) in mainstream media, especially movies – considering just our own history, who has not noted the anachronistic presence of, for example, negro nobles in medieval England, or as (possibly female) Scottish clan chiefs.¹

However, regardless of the genuine interest to be found in studying Black history, as it is presented to us in the West (its target audience, after all), it is largely a history of complaint directed against ethnic Europeans; predicated on our alleged racism (apparently history’s worst crime and a top- bottom spot again claimed for the collective us!) and built upon slavery and imperialism. Its real end purpose is to plant the worm of resentment or guilt, respectively. And this is what it does - brilliantly. The unfalsifiable claim of systemic racism whirls around our head and ethnic organisations control what we are allowed to say and think. At this point I return to the point of this blog:

As adults, we may come to see a pattern taking shape around the issue of race and understand something of its methods and nefarious intent; perhaps even, if we have the stomach to look, the architects and puppetmeisters will emerge from behind their false names. And they are not Black. Indeed, as a wider cultural phenomenon, BHM is only tangentially connected to Black history. We, though, can then process this according to our want and ability. And thus see Sainsbury’s’ reminder to celebrate Black history in light of this knowledge.

However, our children have no such power. For them, there can be no understanding of context -only the message. Those parents who believe that this context may be created in school lessons deserve an assembly award for innocence; the context will be the North Atlantic slave trade, our wealth built on cruelty and blood, the denial of Black achievement and the US Civil Rights Movement transposed to Scotland. Consider, then, the not so subtle programming of the big poster as the child does, and how they realise, without the words, that this connects to adverts, lawsuits, race hustlers, media chat, BBC Newsround topics and endless racist-themed movies. The message reinforced in school lessons, assemblies, workshops; all of which lead them to the inevitable conclusion – everything is racism.

Let us look at BHM through the child’s eyes, as the poster reminds them. Noted first off; the privilege of having your own history month:

# If you are Black – your ancestors were slaved and otherwise mistreated by the ancestors of those whom you live among, and who carry on the tradition – as claimed daily. Reparations (cash only, please) would be a good start, but the real outcome is victimhood. And this is not a good approach to life.

# If you are some variety of Asian, for some reason you don’t get a history month or even day, although you still get victimised by the same White racists whose bigotry is so deeply embedded as to cancel out anything they may say or do, even in contradiction to the thesis. Your reparations, alas, are a generation away, but in compensation your ancestors’ slaving, and any relatives’ current sex slaving, will be swept under the magic carpet.

# If you are African, but not a negro, (e.g., an Egyptian or Libyan) then we have a bit of a problem with your celebration; as you guys are not Black, strongly choose not to be associated in any way with sub-Saharan Blacks and were (still) infamous slavers. However, all is not lost, as you are still victims of White racism and can join in an anti-White kicking.

# If you are Chinese Asian, this must feel like ‘you can gtf!’

# And if you are White, you are somehow the cause and the future of all this bigotry. And the whole point of your life is to make amends and make sure ethnic others feel good about themselves.

Can you discern the trajectory of all this? Our children absorb the programming unfiltered and ping it back to us for approval – it’s pure NLP warfare.

Can you not see it? Hidden behind the Black History Month, gaslighting and lies, anti-White smear campaigns and psychological attack. This is all-arms war directed against every part of our culture and social life, and especially our schools.The creation of perpetual racial outrage using our children, of whatever ethnicity, as little slave soldiers to lead us incrementally, but inexorably, into Third World degradation of the public space and accompanying insecurity. Check the Swedes for how this ends.²  

As a race, we have not evolved to deal with stuff like this and don’t know how to defend ourselves, far less our children, against it. The study of Black history teaches us a lesson, endlessly repeated; learn how to match your enemy, or be crushed.

What think ye?

1.  Referencing the MacGregors, the blackest tribe in Scottish history.

2. I’ve got a book on this topic. It’s printed on very nice paper. See top of page.

GRACEFUL; A GIFT

 

A Gift in the Viewing

Graceful; a lovely sounding adjective, and a quality full of gift-having and gift-giving.

For the teacher observer it is most wonderful to observe this in action in a little girl - invariably its highest expression - where deftness of movement takes on a balletic quality and unintentionally displays the innocent equivalent to the high style of a lady. This perfection of poise carries over to stillness, with no loss of marvel and power. The same gracefulness in little boys translates to a miniature musketeer. Properly considered, the graceful is the means whereby the numinous enters our life; a small sort of golden moment by which beauty suddenly and naturally reveals itself in the otherwise mundane life of school.

The expression of such gracefulness is not only a delight to the grateful observer, but a positive power to the holder. Alas, although this is a natural attribute of young children, it seems to be fighting against cultural trends. For it does seem that modern sofa-bound habits, and slovenly templates displayed in screen life, have conspired to deny and even denigrate this quality to those who need it most. And parents and teachers, themselves victims of a lamentable lack of instruction in this regard, pass the same habits of movement, posture and expression to their children, as can be seen at handing over time daily -it is as if EastEnders has come to the playground!

As adults we need to fight back against this trend, in order to properly empower our girl children. Grace and charm are not signs of feminine weakness, but of essence. Nor is a soldierly bearing in little boys evidence of an unwholesomely masculine home life, but rather of boyness encouraged. Luckily, though, where degeneracy has taken from nature, correct instruction can return it.

As we note:

Marie de Guise Academy in Leith, having abolished tolerance, is replacing it with daily gracefulness. The girls practice walking, sitting and various charming gestures of assent; the boys marching and standing to attention in silence. It seems to be working, as press reports confirm the Venetian ambassador’s words in his attempt to purchase the children for the Doge:

Che ragazze affascinanti avete in Scozia. E i tuoi ragazzi scozzesi sono così dignitosi. Vorrei che avessimo questi bambini a Venezia.

What think ye?

THE DECLINE AND FALL OF WESTERN ART

 

An Art Project For Primary Schools

While retaining a soft spot for some modern art, mainly where the modern artist is still a real artist exploring alternatives from the solid base of talent and technique, I have come to realise that I was largely conned by it and went along with the con for the distinction I believed it gave me; making me an insider who appreciated iconoclastic impulses and the hidden depth of meaning only intellectuals can find in random brushstrokes or panties glued inside a frame and splashed red. A distinction was found, but alas, that of pseud and dupe.

Finally coming to my senses, I wish to record a thanks due to Mr Heard for writing an important book, THE DECLINE AND FALL OF WESTERN ART (see link), about this phenomenon; which, in exposing the vast cultural con that is so much of modern art, led me back to a proper view of reality.

In describing the fascinating history of this decline from high standards and intuitive appreciation of great art, one comes to understand the role of subversion in degrading European art and replacing it with trickster garbage which intentionally mocks us. If you have found yourself perplexed by the apparent high regard (and prices) given to trivia, joke-works, degeneracy and assorted output of low technical merit, thinking that you had a problem in perception and appreciation, this book can set you right. And know that your perception and appreciation is working fine, as are your bullshit detectors! You should feel confident in calling out garbage art for what it is, and seeing con-artists for who they are.

Importantly, this work demonstrates the revolutionary intent of those, mostly tribal*, prolix intellectuals and scamsters who have championed the replacement of European good art with cosmopolitan bad art. Their reason for doing this is to be found in the end effect of this project – a world filled with life-denying garbage which they control and, importantly, us native Europeans severed from wonder, beauty and the pride of kinship with our art. And demoralised and confused thusly! Our senses being degraded by this attack primes us for even more of the same in other domains, as anyone with a TV knows.

By bringing beauty and craftsmanship back into an understanding of art, one also brings balance and sanity. Mr Heard’s book is a contribution to this process. By bringing light to the darkly-motivated degenerate spirit of much modern art, this book is also a significant contribution to the debate on our wider European woes.

Respect too, for the courage it took to write this work. In going against the tribally controlled modern art establishment, he has made enemies who famously hold a grudge.

Would that the artistic sensibility that great art awakens be encouraged in our schools. This would not require the cash burning workshops that typically accompanies a school development, for such art speaks for itself; this, alas, and this cost saving of costless condemns it to official rejection.

Here, though, the individual teacher can be a secret art rebel for the transcendental power of great art to delight, inspire and heal. That’s a teaching job worth doing.

What think ye?

 

* Yes, that tribe whose name cannot be mentioned.

NOTE: I have intentionally made no reference here to the role of junk modern art in the various money laundering, tax dodging and other assorted money magic tricks that those who monger in such worlds utilise. Nor to the international cover that such art and its curation provides for other darker interests.

SETTLING IN

 Considering all the new P1s settling in (or not) into their new regime, the mind naturally revisits my own first days for a compare and contrast. What think ye?

 

My Old School

What it didn’t have,…

 

Computers, equity, school bomb plan
Cut and Paste, core values, walls falling down ¹
race bad-think, school website
 
adverts and propaganda (aka lesson resources)
pupil peanut allergy plan, Adderall
individual i pads, hate crimes, Ritalin
 
smartboard, gender action programme
learning powers focus, enterprise
love of cultural enrichment, Epipens
 
learning protocols, photocopiers
BBC Newsround, folios of excellence
targets, anti-bully policy, UN rights
 
inclusion, schizophrenic enemy press
parental twits and tweets, FGM,
ILPs, PPSs, QIOs, EALs, PSAs, ASLs, PPKs ²
 
tolerance, saving the environment
GTCS - enhancing professionalism³
WWW, overcoming stereotypes
 
Self-harm, neglect, poverty,
Anti-radical and suicide awareness
‘Failing our Families’, ADHD
 
pupil i account closed:
inappropriate content search
contact administrator
 
learning conversations, dojos
safe spaces, pupil hydration strategy
resilience super powers, fidget toys
 
gender corrected environment
army of chiefs at Council HQ
3^rd World guilt, 66  67  68 passwords
 
WALT and WILF (although yes to Walt and Wilf) ⁴
Islam, steps to growth, active learning
toxic male awareness, joined up thinking
 
password updates, download,
uploads, security warnings,
access denied, cannot contact server,
 
Excellence.

NOTES

1.       A poorly constructed wall in a modern school in Edinburgh suddenly fell down and tragically killed a child. Many schools similarly constructed had their pupils decanted to other older schools built at a time when they knew how to make walls that stayed upright. The relocation, effective while the problem walls were fixed, was a major undertaking and reflected well on all concerned. Although, the pupils relocated were naturally very disappointed that they didn’t just get the time off school.

 

2.       Female Genital Mutilation, Individual Learning Plans,…blah, blah, blah, …

 

3.       GTCS: General Teaching Council for Scotland. Formerly a simple creature, but lately suffering from such an excess of excellence that it has become, through its various self-serving councils to simpleton-government ministers, a blight. A perfect example of mission over-reach!

 

4.       WALT and WILF: ‘We are learning to’ and’ What I’m looking for’; a fad in pedagogy whose exponents believe that learning is almost impossible without these being made explicit again and again,…and again. Naturally, in order to further inure our children to clickbait, these are presented as little cartoon avatars. In real life there are many ways to make an intention explicit. And sometimes, o the apostasy, you don’t even need to!

This entry is adapted from my Relentless, which is thoughtfully linked at the top of the page.

BBC Newsround: How do I Hate Thee?

  

BBC Newsround   

 

How do I hate thee? Let me count the ways.

For nearly six months most primary age children, by virtue of being off school, will have inadvertently enjoyed a little psychic freedom from our national mental breakdown delivered via classroom TV news.

In most primary schools after playtime, pupils watch BBC Newsround, a child-focussed news programme. Typically, they have their snack and drink while watching it; this somewhat recreates the anti-family TV-meal feel, which tragically describes too many family domestic meal arrangements.

The justification for bringing even more TV into our children’s lives is that Newsround keeps them informed about the world, and better able to ‘understand complex issues’ and be ‘proactive in the fight for justice’, sustainability, equity, tolerance, inclusion, etc, etc – you know this good list, as you hear it every day. Perhaps you are fed up hearing it, or have just simply ran out of tolerance for ever-needful swarthy ingrates, or have come to realise that the Western media is not always impartial in its presentation of events. Should this describe your feelings, you have the option of using your adult’s sensibility to dismiss lies or propaganda – or even better, switch the TV off!

The child in class, however, does not have any of these options. And is thus daily exposed to the full-blown globalist, racialised, sexualised, misery porn, popworld garbage that is stressing us adults with its relentless imagery, degeneracy and complaint. In Newsround, this assault is somewhat balanced by ‘child-friendly’ celebrity trash and product placement. Consider the effect of all this on a child, less able to filter and understand what they see? This is not, as claimed, informing them or keeping them up to date with events, but rather a demonic combination of inuring them to trivia and trauma, and conditioning them to the Brave New World of gender complaint, perpetual racial outrage and endless charity – soon to be rebranded as reparations.

In this screen world everyone is celebrated and praised, except us! Our glorious history, achievements and traditions only referenced to illustrate the multicultural agenda (e.g. the Somali refugees who are learning Welsh, the immigrants who rebuilt Britain after the war, etc). Never is femininity and motherhood celebrated, or masculinity and fatherhood. Consider the templates held out for approval to watching children; faux child activists, popfluff UN ambassadors for 3^rd World charities, Come Dancing celebrities for gayrights, tragic youth transformers – dystopia’s whole panoply.

Alas, true, it is preparing them for the future world; but one mandated by UN-Amazon-Microsoft-Netflix-Faceborg represented by Shekelstein Global Services Inc.

Where is the parental hate for this monster? Here's mine in verse:

 

 How do I hate thee? Let me count the ways…

 

Teacher-dupes building brand loyalty

for TV news with 7 year olds

prepping them for the correct attitudes

of tomorrow today, as defined by the BBC.

 

Apparently, just what they need nowadays!

More screen time in the toxic digital world

of the adult, honeyed up to sweeten

this bitter pill by child friendly ‘fun features’

 

like the pronouncements of sexed-up

teenie UN ambassadors fighting for

women’s equality while semi naked

or product placement as news features.

 

Legitimising the lifestyle choices, dress

and posturings of celebrity airheads

while embedding deep into

this innocent limbic landscape

 

the essential features of our Gen Z;

the drug addiction to the screen,

surreal jump cuts, emotions feminised

the validation of the pop world,

 

the fawning over attention whores,

poptarts showboating compassion

and socially destructive delusions

presented as truth to gullible young,

 

with event and tragedy that reinforces

their narrative of world truths, normalising

the madness of the media with

every episode, encouraging fragility;

 

Click on the links below if you’re upset!

 

masquerading as concern and support

by making little neurotic dependence bots

(subliminal message-you should be upset!)

out of formerly robust innocents

 

creating future clients for pharma

but inuring them to their future truth

as TV-addled drones by state monopoly,

an implacable enemy in a squeaky voice;

 

the Newsround newsreader.

 

…but don’t worry, everyone will be looked after!

 

…I hate thee to the depth and breadth and height 

My soul can reach;

I hate thee with a hate I seemed to gain

With my newfound saints.

 

I hate thee with the breath,

pain, tears, of all my life;

and, if God choose,

I shall but hate thee better after death.

 

(with apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning , if required)

[ This claim that exposure to TV news is generally toxic to a child’s intellectual and emotional development, and that our national TV news serves agendas which do not find acceptance in the parent population – and rightly so – is partly explored in my Relentless - The Death March to Educational Excellence, which can be looked at via the attached cover link.

Admittedly, this book adopts a somewhat eccentric view of all the dysfunction, but all the better to have a laugh at it. A more serious take will appear in my soon to be, The Hateful Seven – The Good Ideas Ruining Our Children. ]