Category Archives: Education

Monday Funnies: The Right Dishonourable Members

May 18, 2009 – 9:56 pm

David Cameron has called for a wider crackdown on MP’s allowances as he and Gordon Brown clashed on the issue at prime minister’s questions…
The exchanges came after days of damaging allegations over MPs expenses.
A growing number of MPs from all parties have agreed to pay back thousands of pounds claimed in expenses after reports based [...]

By DeusExMacintosh | Also posted in Funnies, Law, Politics, Society | Tagged , , | Comments (18)

WTF - career counselling for toddlers?

April 8, 2009 – 12:30 pm

The other day, I was talking with a kinder Dad who is a fellow lawyer. My daughter piped up, “Mummy is a Big Lawyer and I will be a Little Lawyer when I grow up.” The Dad and I exchanged looks, as I ruefully grimaced. “I’d really rather she didn’t become a lawyer,” I confessed. [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Children, Motherhood, Personal | Tagged , , | Comments (30)

Disappointing Dora

March 16, 2009 – 9:44 pm

Before you have kids, if you are anything like me, you have this idea that you won’t let them get sucked into consuming various television shows, junk food, brand names and etc. Then reality hits as your 2 year old points at an ad in the supermarket carpark and says, “Dere’s Wiggles, Mummy!” Children are [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Children, Feminism, Media, Motherhood, Popular culture | Tagged , , | Comments (44)

Theodore Dalrymple stirs the pot

February 26, 2009 – 9:09 am

British psychiatrist Theordore Dalrymple (aka Anthony Daniels) both annoys and interests me in equal measure. On the one hand, he’s a resolute defender of personal betterment: as documented in Life at the Bottom, he was willing to put his career on the line so that welfare recipients could gain an education — up to and [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Drugs, Economics, England | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (16)

Your starter for 10

February 25, 2009 – 9:08 am

University Challenge, it’s fair to say, is knitted into British culture in all sorts of odd and interesting ways. The only other parallels I can think of for cultural influence and longevity are shows like Blue Peter and Dr Who. The headline for this post, for example, is instantly recognizable to pretty much anyone over here. [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in England, Feminism, Popular culture | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (89)

On being deserted by the Explanation Fairy ™

February 14, 2009 – 12:32 am

One of the things I’ve always strived for when I write is clarity.  Most of the time in my writing career, I’ve been successful in achieving this clarity, and people haven’t had to come back to me with queries like ‘what does this mean?’ and ‘please explain’. Other faults – my disagreeable politics, my abysmal taste, [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Academia, Fark! | Tagged , , | Comments (26)

‘Cleanliness is next to Godliness’

January 3, 2009 – 4:55 am

Or, the use of hygiene as a proxy for moral worth.
Last week, a man died when — so it appears — two paramadics failed to render appropriate assistance. The legal phrase is ‘wilfully neglecting to perform duty in a public office’. The circumstances aren’t clear, but reading between the lines (among other things) one suspects [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in England, Feminism, Motherhood | Comments (19)

Here we go again…

December 7, 2008 – 9:02 pm

Once again, the endlessly tedious arguments about academic bias in humanities departments at universities are to the fore, with a Senate Report on same just released. Mark over at Larvatus Prodeo has an interesting discussion going, which I recommend. Some of the lefties (but not any of the LP posters) are doing themselves no favours [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Academia | Comments (44)

‘Some rooms are like cages’

November 29, 2008 – 3:20 pm

Sonny sits by his window and thinks to himself
How it’s strange that some rooms are like cages.
Sonny’s yearbook from high school
Is down from the shelf -
And he idly thumbs through the pages.
Some have died.
Some have fled from themselves.
Or struggled from here to get there.
- Paul Simon, The Obvious Child
In my last year of high school, [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Feminism, Personal, Personal liberty | Comments (21)

Accelerated learning comes to Court

September 18, 2008 – 6:00 pm

The mother of a very gifted child is suing the Queensland Government for failing to enrol her 9 year old daughter in Year 8 at a Queensland public school. There is no minimum age for enrollment in high school, but the Queensland Government cited fears over the girl’s social development as a reason for refusing [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Children, Law, Motherhood, Personal, Society | Comments (4)