John Simkin
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Katharine Gun, a translator at GCHQ, is due to appear at the Old Bailey next week. Gun is being charged with breaking the Official Secrets Act. She was arrested last March for providing information to the press on a US dirty tricks campaign against opponents of the Iraq War.
However, the rumour is that that the case against Gun will be dropped. The reason being that Gun’s defence will be arguing that she acted in an attempt to prevent an illegal war. In order to prove this the defence team have demanded the disclosure of the full advice from the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, on the legality of the war against Iraq. The government is concerned that this request will be granted and is therefore working behind the scenes to get the case dropped against Gun.
The possibility of an embarrassing court case was also the same reason why legal action was not taken against David Kelly for breaking the Official Secrets Act.
Report from the BBC website:
A GCHQ translator sacked for revealing a secret e-mail is cleared of an offence under the Official Secrets Act.
Katharine Gun, 29, from Cheltenham, claimed the e-mail was from US spies asking British officers to tap phones of nations voting on war against Iraq.
She walked free today when the prosecution offered no evidence.
Mrs Gun had denied committing an offence under the Official Secrets Act, arguing she was acting to prevent the "illegal war" in Iraq.
Mrs Gun, who was sacked from GCHQ in June and charged on 13 November, will soon be issuing a statement through her solicitor, with a news conference expected later.
She pleaded not guilty on Wednesday, after which the prosecution announced it would not be going ahead with its case.
Mark Ellison, for the prosecution, said: "The prosecution offer no evidence against the defendant on this indictment as there is no longer sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction.
"It would not be appropriate to go into the reasons for this decision."
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You can find a good collection of photographs of the Dardanelles campaign here:
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Football and Fascism
This documentary examines how Mussolini, Hitler and Franco used the game of football as a vehicle for propaganda. Well worth seeing.
BB2 11.20 - 12.25
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Peter Bradshaw has picked the top ten best films on education.
1. Mädchen in Uniform (Leontine Sagan, 1931) Classic German movie, set in Prussian all-girls' boarding establishment, where a girl forms a passionate crush on one of her teachers.
2. Zéro de Conduite (Jean Vigo, 1933) Vigo's brilliant comedy about a revolution at a boarding school.
3. The Belles of St Trinians (Frank Launder, 1954) A genial staple of English innocence, starring Alastair Sim, Joyce Grenfell and George Cole.
4. If... (Lindsay Anderson, 1968) Surreal and subversive, Anderson's satire of ghastly public school life is an image of England's fading pomp.
5. Kes (Ken Loach, 1969) At a tough 60s comprehensive, Billy Casper's life is transformed when he discovers a wild kestrel.
6. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Amy Heckerling, 1982) There are almost too many high school comedies to nominate individually, but Heckerling, who went on to direct Clueless, and John Hughes, who made The Breakfast Club, almost invented the genre that gave teenagers an on-screen identity.
7. Election (Alexander Payne, 1999) Midlife crisis comedy, as a conscientious teacher becomes obsessed with an ambitious pupil: the Animal Farm of American politics in the Clinton/Lewinsky era.
8. The Clay Bird (Tareque Masud, 2002) Superb Bangladeshi movie about a young boy in late-60s East Pakistan, sent to a madrassah, or Islamic boarding school.
9. Etre et Avoir (Nicolas Philibert, 2002) Gentle and beautiful documentary about a year in the life of a French infant school.
10. Elephant (Gus Van Sant, 2003) Eerie, weightless nightmare recreating the Columbine killings - a Cannes Palme d'Or winner in 2003.
http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/s...1154102,00.html
Any other suggestions?
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I left the school classroom a few years ago. You could say that I am a full-time e-teacher.
Anyway, I spend my day at home producing online educational materials. The main advantage of being an e-teacher is the freedom to decide on how you spend your time. True, I do work for commercial companies. However, I am very careful about the work I decide to do. Most of the work I do is based on my own creative instincts. This is in direct contrast to being a teacher in a school where you are controlled by timetables, bells, examination systems, government initiatives, etc. Now I just concentrate on teaching and when you can do that, it’s the best job in the world.
However, I am under no illusions that e-teachers will become the norm. Schools are vitally important places for developing social skills. One could argue that the changes that have taken place in society makes this more important than ever. Teachers also have an important role in inspiring students to be interested in academic subjects.
I believe that e-learning will grow in importance. It has several very important advantages over traditional forms of education. For one, it has the potential to be a very cheap way of providing education. A talented e-teacher has the ability to teach millions of people at the same time. Another major advantage is that e-learning can provide a large number of routes into a subject. In this way students will be able to personalize their education (I am willing to go into more detail about this if requested). I predict over the next few years the classroom teacher and the e-learning provider will develop the kind of relationship that will enable a major improvement to take place in the way students learn.
Before the e-learning revolution takes place governments will need to increase its investment in both technology and the people producing online educational materials. It is of course not just about money. How you get good online educational materials is of major importance.
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I left the classroom a few years ago. You could say that I am a full-time e-teacher. Anyway, I spend my day at home producing online educational materials. It is interesting to compare the two jobs. The main thing I miss is the personal interaction with the students and the other teachers. Now the only contact I have with them is via email and forums like this. If I had been younger, I think this would have been a major problem. However, overall, I prefer this new relationship.
The main advantage of being an e-teacher is the freedom to decide on how you spend your time. True, I do work for commercial companies. However, I am very careful about the work I decide to do. Most of the work I do is based on my own creative instincts. This is in direct contrast to being a teacher in a school where you are controlled by timetables, bells, examination systems, government initiatives, etc. Now I just concentrate on teaching and when you can do that, it’s the best job in the world.
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I am a member of a forum for history teachers. Yesterday a history teacher posted the following message:
If you:
-have a digital projector but no internet connection in your classroom;
-suffer from an erratic connection at school;
-want to retain control over web links etc., or
-don't want your network administrator to get his/her hands on your machine,
then it can be difficult, if not impossible, to work with entire websites in the classroom.
I tried the WebWhacker Education Edition (which costs around $40) and found it to be unsatisfactory, but I persevered with it because there didn't seem to be anything else. There's another option now, which is elegant and free, and which I've been using to good effect.
You need to use the Mozilla browser (download from http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/moz...6-installer.exe for the Windoze version or get off a cover disc) or the Firefox browser (from http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/fir...xSetup-0.8.exe) and then install the Spiderzilla extension (here http://spiderzilla.mozdev.org/).
It works a treat, and IMHO the Mozilla setup is far superior to Internet Explorer, particularly when you consider it provides an email client with fewer holes than Outlook Express and a lot more flexibility.
A word of warning - if you're using a dial-up connection choose your sites very carefully, and set the spidering limits low, otherwise you could spend a long time downloading a load of irrelevant stuff!
I replied: Unless you have permission from the website owner (highly unlikely it will be given) this is an illegal activity. Some websites will have software that will indicate that you are downloading their site and you are likely to get into big trouble.
I also pointed out that people produce free material for use on the Internet. The only reward they get for this work is the advertising the site carries or through sponsorship (based on page impressions). Once this material is downloaded for use on another platform these rewards come to an end. Therefore the copyright holder understandably sees this as theft.
Some producers of educational material do it as a hobby and do not seek any reward for their work. They might well agree to have their website downloaded onto a school intranet. However, you will need to ask their permission first. They will especially concerned that this material is not then uploaded onto a school website and presented as the teacher’s own work (not an uncommon occurrence).
He then came back with the argument:
That WebWhacker did not come with any warnings about downloading sites without permission etc. - some disclaimer of the type that accompanies recordable/re-writable CDs might have been expected. I don't pretend to be as well-informed about these matters as you, particularly given your direct interest in the matter, and I would really like to know the ins and outs of this area.
Also, we are allowed to copy a certain percentage of any book for use in school, are we not? Why then not allow us to copy a percentage of a website. I have found the BBC's history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland invaluable, for example, but it represents the tiniest fraction of the stuff that's to be found on BBCi (which carries no advertising, I think, so am I on safer ground there?)
I replied: “You are allowed to photocopy parts of books in schools. However, this is an agreement that has been arranged with the government, Publishers Association and the Society of Authors. Every term schools are selected to keep a record of everything they photocopy. From these details authors and publishers are paid money for the materials they have had photocopied. Every six months I get a reasonable cheque for my work being photocopied. No such arrangement has been made for downloading websites.”
I must say I was shocked that a teacher could believe that it was acceptable to download a whole website to an intranet without seeking permission. Has anyone else encountered this problem?
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I would like to question the idea that the developed countries are really serious about bringing an end to world poverty. For example, Britain only donates 0.9% of GDP to the undeveloped world. Twenty years ago it was 1.2% of GNP. I am sure other countries show a similar pattern.
It is true that giving help is given a much more higher profile. The image is one of how it is good to help the undeveloped world. The think tank, Civitas, recently published a report that sheds light on this situation. The report, entitled Conspicuous Compassion, points out that the general public is keen to wear red noses for the starving in Africa. However, these campaigns of “ostentatious caring is more about projecting one’s ego and informing others what a deeply caring individual you are.” In fact, these public outpourings of compassion reveals not how altruistic society has become, but how selfish we are.
The report adds: "We live in a post-emotional age, one characterised by crocodile tears and manufactured emotion ... Mourning sickness is a religion for the lonely crowd that no longer subscribes to orthodox churches. Its flowers and teddies are its rites, its collective minutes' silence its liturgy and mass. But these bonds are phoney, ephemeral and cynical."
Patrick West, the author of the report concludes: "If you do genuinely care about the poor and homeless, try talking to them ... Don't just wear an empathy ribbon, give money that might help cure life-threatening diseases. Most of all, next time you profess that you care about something, consider your motives and the consequences of your words and actions. Sometimes the only person you really care about is you."
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First, the National Guard was not, nor is it, a 'rich man's refuge.' A little checking into the Kent State incident will reveal that the Guardsmen were storeowners, and local employees, whose morale suffered because of the inclement weather the fact that they couldn't go home, even though they liuved right nearby. This most likely contributed to the terrible misjudgement that lead to the shooting on May 4, 1970. (According to James Michener's account).
My personal opinion is that anybody who goes down to the Recruiting Station, and raises their right hand ia volunteering to serve their country. Period. the people killed on the U.S.S. Cole were all noncombatants.
On the other hand, anyone who subverts their fellow citizens not participate in a war in which their country is involved, while not a traitor, is no hero.
The point about the National Guard is not that it is the refuge of the rich. I was instead referring to how the rich and powerful exploited loopholes in the system to avoid doing military service in Vietnam. When George Bush applied to join the National Guard in Texas there was a waiting list of 500 people in front of him. He also failed the aptitude test to become a National Guard pilot. However, his powerful friends, including his father, were able to help him jump the waiting list and avoid service in Vietnam.
John Kerry on the other hand fought in the war. His experiences convinced him that it was an immoral war. He also came to the conclusion that the war could not be won and that young Americans were being unnecessarily killed in Vietnam. He therefore campaigned to bring the war to an end. Eventually the American government saw sense and withdrew their troops. Although by this time 56,869 US troops had been killed. It of course took a terrible toll on the people living in the countries where the war was being fought. It has been estimated that between 1961 and 1975 around 10% of the people living in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos died as a result of this war.
What had it all been about? According to the American government its soldiers had to die in order to prevent Vietnam becoming a communist state. It clearly failed to do that. Was it such a disaster that Vietnam became a communist state? Did the other countries fall like dominos as Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon had predicted? Was the United States really threatened by the spread of communism?
We now see the same thing happening in Iraq. According to Bush he is attempting to bring democracy to Iraq. That is what they said about Vietnam. But as President Eisenhower admitted, democratic elections were never really on the agenda. As he wrote later: “I have never talked or corresponded with a person knowledgeable in Indochinese affairs who did not agree that had elections been held at the time of the fighting, possibility 80 per cent of the population would have voted for the communist Ho Chi Minh.”
The same is true of Iraq. Everybody knows that if free elections based on universal suffrage were held in Iraq an ant-American Muslim government would be elected. Therefore George Bush has no intention of allowing such an election to take place. The Iraq War, like the Vietnam War, was based on a lie. Most of the world knows that. Unfortunately, it is going to take longer for the majority of Americans to realise that. John Kerry realised that in Vietnam and returned to America and told the general public the truth. Maybe, he will eventually tell the American public the truth about the Iraq invasion. Howard Dead tried to do this but it appears he was unelectable. The best hope that we have is that Kerry will get elected and will bring an end to this disastrous foreign policy.
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I have started a student debate on Nationalism and the School Curriculum.
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=420
I have also started the same debate in the main part of the forum for the teachers.
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=421
Please tell your students about the debate. Would you also tell your students to add details of their school and country in their signature. I think this is something we should insist upon (see board rules).
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In his autobiography, Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler explains how much he hated his school teachers. Only his history teacher, Leonard Potsch, is singled out for praise. Hitler explains in the book how he loved Potsch’s tales of heroism from the German past. Hitler admitted that Potsch had a tremendous influence on the development of his political philosophy and these history lessons were the origins of his German nationalism. Hitler was not alone in being influenced by the nationalism of his school teachers. It was fairly common for students leaving schools thinking that they were superior to those living in other countries. That was true of students in countries all over Europe. Those living in Britain and France had similar feelings and when they the First World War started they joined the armed forces thinking that it will all be over by Christmas. You only have to read the letters written by soldiers fighting on the Western Front during the first few months of the war to see how they genuinely believed that they were members of an army that was so superior to that of enemy that the war would only last a few weeks. The truth was that they were eventually matched and they had to endure four years of slaughter.
I am an internationalist who believes that nationalism and patriotism poses a threat to world peace. For example, people in Britain tend to believe they are superior to French people. Politicians are aware of this feeling and if they are keen to get support from the general public they go in for some French bashing. Tony Blair and his government resorted to this tactic during the build up to the Iraq War. It was a successful strategy and helped to sway public opinion towards war.
Individual people will often quote events from history in order to show that the British are superior to the French. A common reference is to the French surrendering in the summer of 1940. This is compared to the unwillingness of the British people to give in to Hitler. In reality, the situation was far more complex. There is considerable evidence that the British people also wanted to surrender in 1940. The fact that this did not happen was more to do with geography than some sort of national moral character. Where, for example, was this superior moral character in 1938 when Neville Chamberlain was desperately trying to appease Hitler by giving him permission to invade Czechoslovakia?
It is of course a ridiculous idea that one country is anyway superior to any other. It is true that at different times individuals have made a significant impact on the economic, social or cultural development of the world. Britain has played its role in this. However, I would be a fool to believe that I have any right to take a nationalist pride in the achievements of people Tom Paine, Robert Owen, Charles Dickens or George Stephenson.
People should be proud of what they have achieved in their life with their own efforts. No one should try to gain credit for being born in any particular country.
Teachers play an important role in developing a pride in one’s country. I believe we should resist this pressure and instead teach internationalism. According to my dictionary, this is “an attitude that favours cooperation among nations”.
This would involve both changing what we teach and how we teach it. One obvious example of how we develop nationalistic views is the way we teach about wars. In Britain, the study of the First and Second World Wars plays a prominent role in convincing people they are superior to other nations. The military battles that enabled the growth of the British Empire also play an important role in this.
However, it is not only the way we teach history. We have to rethink other areas of the curriculum. I think we spent too much time studying the literature, the arts, music and science of our own country. Our curriculum should reflect the contribution that has been made by other countries in the development of our culture. In other words, our schools should teach internationalism, not nationalism.
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Newsletter 7
Kent and Medway SCITT/GTP Online Project
Andy Walker, John Simkin and Janet Winder (Coordinator of Kent and Medway
SCITT) will be developing an online project for the training and mentoring of
school based teacher trainees. The Project will be hosted on the Education Forum.
The aims of the project are as follows:
1. Online tutoring, teaching and mentoring of trainees
2. Establishing a support forum for school based trainees using the expertise
of existing Forum members.
3. Encouraging trainees to network nationally/internationally with other
trainees and more experienced colleagues.
Andy Walker will be meeting with the Kent and Medway Consortium and the
students on 4/3/04 to finalise details, preregister students and launch the
project.
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Membership
We now have 420 members. Reading the biographies section it seems we now have members from Britain (67), France (11), USA (10), Spain (8), Australia (7), Sweden (5), Netherlands (5), Canada (4), Greece (3), Italy (4), Finland (2), Brazil (2), China (1), Denmark (1), Belgium (1), Germany (1), Poland (1), Serbia (1), Belarus (1), Israel (1), South Korea (1), Sudan (1), Ireland (1), Austria (1) and Hong Kong (1).
Newsletters
Past copies of newsletters can be found at:
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=163
Debates
At the moment, the following issues provide opportunities for good debate. I would welcome your contributions to these and other debates taking place on the forum.
Value Added
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=402
14-19 Reform
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=412
Schools and Obesity
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=384
Humourous Look at Retirement
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=310
The Ritalin Effect
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=316
Nationalism and History Teaching
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=44
Bombing of Dresden
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=357
Autistc Spectrum Disorder,
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=227
John Kerry v George Bush: Experience of War and Political Decision Making
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showforum=88
What is the Value of Homework?
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=330
Do We Live in a Democracy?
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We now have 420 members. Reading the biographies section it seems we now have members from Britain (67), France (11), USA (10), Spain (8), Australia (7), Sweden (5), Netherlands (5), Canada (4), Greece (3), Italy (4), Finland (2), Brazil (2), China (1), Denmark (1), Belgium (1), Germany (1), Poland (1), Serbia (1), Belarus (1), Israel (1), South Korea (1), Sudan (1), Ireland (1), Austria (1) and Hong Kong (1).
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Thanks for that Nico. A great website.
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Katharine Gun, a translator at GCHQ, is due to appear at the Old Bailey next week. Gun is being charged with breaking the Official Secrets Act. She was arrested last March for providing information to the press on a US dirty tricks campaign against opponents of the Iraq War.
However, the rumour is that that the case against Gun will be dropped. The reason being that Gun’s defence will be arguing that she acted in an attempt to prevent an illegal war. In order to prove this the defence team have demanded the disclosure of the full advice from the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, on the legality of the war against Iraq. The government is concerned that this request will be granted and is therefore working behind the scenes to get the case dropped against Gun.
The possibility of an embarrassing court case was also the same reason why legal action was not taken against David Kelly for breaking the Official Secrets Act.
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Billy Bragg has recently launched a campaign to create a new second chamber. He is arguing that the new second chamber should be elected on the basis of the votes cast in a general election (based on a PR system).
This seems a suggestion that might well get the support of the government. It would definitely be an improvement on the House of Lords. However, it has two major drawbacks.
(1) It will give extra power to leaders of political parties as they would control the list of party nominees.
(2) General election votes do not actually reflect overall support for parties. Voters often choose between those they see as the principal contenders in their voting region. This system would therefore result in an under-representation of minority parties.
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There are several things to like about the initial proposal. In many ways the structure of the diploma will be like an OU degree. I particularly like the way that the academic and vocational will be integrated into the same qualification. I also like the idea of less coursework and more teacher assessment of pupils’ routine work.
My main concern is about the future of certain academic subjects. At the moment the compulsory core only includes communication, maths, ICT plus a research project. (Skills such as problem-solving, independent learning and team working will also be assessed in each diploma). I would also like to see a citizenship course as part of the core (a combination of history, politics and sociology).
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Interesting article in the Guardian today about how photographs have been altered for political reasons. It gives the usually examples but it has a couple of interesting stories (for example Mussolini and his horse and Al Smith and the Vatican).
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It might surprise American members of the Education Forum that Europeans take such a keen interest in the presidential election. However, when you have a prime minister who seems to get his orders from America, we need to get the right person elected into the White House. We heard the news this morning that the Blair government is to go ahead with genetically modified crops, despite the opposition from the Labour Party and the the general public. Why go ahead with a policy that will be such a big vote loser? According to the former minister responsible for this issue, the only reason is because George Bush and his financial backers favour GM crops.
It is interesting how Tony Blair’s main media backer, Rupert Murdoch, is involved in the propaganda campaign against John Kerry. It was in fact Murdoch’s British newspaper, The Sun, that first named Alexandra Polier as the intern who had an affair with Kerry. This was quickly followed up by the Murdoch owned Sunday Times with quotes from Polier’s parents describing Kerry as a “sleazeball” (they deny that they ever said such a thing to Murdoch’s journalists).
It was only then that the US media reported the story about Alexandra Polier (in truth they reported the way the story was being reported in the Murdoch owned press).
The story was originally broken on the Drudge Report website (although Polier’s name was withheld). Drudge describes himself as an “information anarchist” and apparently has 15 million readers. However, Drudge relies exclusively on information from right-wing sources. A recent study shows that over a third of his stories are inaccurate and are attempts at smearing left of centre politicians.
It was the internet that was used to push the faked photograph of Kerry and Fonda. This photograph very quickly found itself being used in the Murdoch owned press (other right-wing British newspapers such as the Daily Mail and the Daily Express were also quick to use the photograph). In all cases they claimed it came from the Associated Press. This was a lie, it was taken from the internet. The Kerry picture was taken by Ken Light and copyright was owned by the Corbis Agency. It is hoped that the agency now takes legal action against those newspapers that published the photograph.
We now all know that the photograph was faked. But the damage has been done. The importance of the photograph was to link Kerry with Jane Fonda and the anti-war movement. This is of course true, Kerry was both a war hero and an anti-Vietnam War protester (at one rally he actually threw away his medals). This is why he was such an important figure to the anti-war movement at the time. He spoke with experience. He represented a whole generation of disillusioned young men who had realised that they had their patriotism exploited by politicians.
Unlike the intern story, Kerry will lose votes as a result of this photograph. That image will remain in the conciousness of many Americans and they will see him as disloyal rather than a man who took the right moral decision. As William Tweed said in 1871 (during the campaign by Thomas Nast to expose him as the corrupt boss of New York): “I don’t care what they say about me – my constituents can’t read. But they can certainly understand them damned pictures”)
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The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has just published a controversial report on the teaching of Religious Education. It has upset some traditionalists by suggesting that atheism should be introduced into the RE syllabus. The IPPR report also proposes the introduction of teaching about humanism. Critics of the report have claimed that RE should be about teaching faith. However, others have argued that schools should be mainly concerned about providing knowledge and understanding of different religions. Humanist have replied that schools should be helping pupils to explore ways in which people can find meaning and purpose without religion.
What do members think about this proposal? What happens in other countries?
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The Mike Tomlinson working group's interim report published yesterday calls for a root and branch overhaul of the curriculum and qualifications for 14- to 19-year-olds. It proposes absorbing GCSEs and A levels into a new system of diplomas, which would allow students to continue specialising in their chosen subjects, but would also require them to have the numeracy and communication skills needed for modern life, and to demonstrate other skills such as the ability to work in a team and to study independently. The proposals would sweep away the present qualifications framework and would introduce a system of diplomas at four levels: entry, foundation (roughly equivalent to GCSE grades D-G), intermediate (at the level of to GCSE grades A*-C) and advanced (like A levels or advanced vocational courses). The aim would be to create "a flexible ladder of progression" which all students could climb, with each level leading on to those above, and vocational courses valued equally beside academic counterparts. Students would take courses when they were ready rather than at set ages.
I would be interested in hearing member's views on the proposals.
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Thought you might be interested in this BBC news report on Obesity.
MPs from the health select committee are to visit Finland to investigate what lessons can be learnt about tackling obesity.
Their long awaited report into what should be done about our widening waistlines, is due to be published around Easter.
But as consumer groups call for tighter controls on the food industry, MPs are considering whether Finland's softly softly approach could work here.
Finland's problem in the 70's was coronary heart disease rather than obesity.
It had the highest rate of deaths from heart problems in the world, largely due to a flourishing dairy sector which played a big part in the Finnish diet.
But as a result of an assertive public education campaign - to promote exercise and healthy diet - it has escaped the escalating obesity rates now emerging in Britain.
In the 80's Finland's obesity rate was twice as high as ours - but in the years that followed, as Britain's obesity rate soared, our Nordic neighbours more or less contained the problem, experiencing only modest rises.
For instance, 19% of women in Finland are now classed as clinically obese.
In the UK the figure is closer to 26% and our children are getting fatter too.
So how have they done it?
Largely through assertive government campaigns and co-operation from the domestic food industry.
In this country, the accusation of presiding over a 'nanny state' is the worst form of insult that can be thrown at a politician.
But in Finland politicians seem to smart less at such allegations.
In Finland school kids are weighed annually and the results recorded in their end of year reports. If there's a problem the doctor is called in.
Each child receives a free school lunch which must comprise one third of their calorie intake, and exercise plays a prominent part in the school day.
It sounds like a perfect world, but it's not. Just like Britain the presence of vending machines in school worries parents.
But in Finland many sell water, and sugary drinks are banned from both classroom and dining hall.
And importantly this culture of healthy eating seems to continue into the home.
Finnish food firms have been forced to adapt too.
Not through fiscal measures or bans on advertising, but as a result of consumer demand, informed by decades of public health campaigns.
Some 30% of cheese on supermarket shelves is now low fat in Finland - compared to around just 10% in the UK.
The products are more expensive, but it seems the Finnish public is prepared to pay, and the social economic divisions that many argue defines British people's shape, are less of an issue here.
So is it a model that could be exported to the UK? It's hard to say - Finland is a small country with a population of just five million.
It has a high standard of education and, as a marketing manager of the Finnish dairy firm Vailo put it, "they have scientific minds" so the mechanics and medical benefits of keeping trim are well understood.
That might be a vast simplification - but it is about values: education and trust.
Unlike Britain Finland doesn't have the 'baggage' of major health scares like CJD.
As a result ministers and their medical advisors enjoy a greater degree of trust, so getting the public to respond to campaigns appears a more straightforward process.
Finland is also a homogeneous society, for many years isolated from the influences of the fast food world, so it has been a market that is been easier to control.
With the growing presence of multi-national corporations in Finland the hard part will be sustaining those gains.
Bodies like the World Health Organisation are signalling a global obesity epidemic ahead - already 300 million people world wide are dangerously overweight.
But if there is one lesson to be learnt from the Finnish experience, it is that results in decades to come require education, education, education now.
Other interesting articles on this subject can be found at:
http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1633568&nav=0RaPKfJa
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The Teachers' International Professional Development (TIPD) programme was introduced by DfES in May 2000. The programme provides opportunities for teachers in England to develop their teaching skills by experiencing best practice in a number of key themes through short-term international study visits. Such visits also aim to create valuable international links between schools, facilitating international school partnerships and the sharing of information on a global level. TIPD will provide 2500 places per year between 2000 and 2006 and the programme is delivered for DfES by 3 providers: the British Council Education and Training Group, the League for the Exchange of Commonwealth Teachers, and the Specialist Schools Trust. Each Local Education Authority (LEA) in England has its own allocation of places.
http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/professionald...ent/whatistipd/
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Following the Japan 2001 Festival in Britain, there has been an increase in interest in studying Japanese culture and language in the UK. The British Council, with funding from the Department for Education and Skills, has recently extended its activities for Japan and continues to work closely with Monbusho (the Japanese Ministry of Education) on a number of projects. It is anticipated that schools and colleges will establish sustainable links that will impact on the development of those institutions, contribute to the professional development of their staff, enrich the curriculum and support language awareness and learning. Information on how to apply for any of these grants can be found on this British Council website.
Immigration and the Economy
in Economics: Curriculum Issues
Posted
Interesting article by David Goodhart that looks at the economic benefits of immigration. It includes the following:
Supporters of large-scale immigration now focus on the quantifiable economic benefits, appealing to the self-interest rather than the idealism of the host population. While it is true that some immigration is beneficial - neither the NHS nor the building industry could survive without it - many of the claimed benefits of mass immigration are challenged by economists such as Adair Turner and Richard Layard. It is clear, for example, that immigration is no long-term solution to an ageing population for the simple reason that immigrants grow old, too. Keeping the current age structure constant over the next 50 years, and assuming today's birth rate, would require 60m immigrants. Managing an ageing society requires a package of later retirement, rising productivity and limited immigration. Large-scale immigration of unskilled workers does allow native workers to bypass the dirtiest and least rewarding jobs but it also increases inequality, does little for per capita growth, and skews benefits in the host population to employers and the better-off.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,...1154693,00.html