tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67262682011-04-22T03:22:33.971+01:00I listen to the news; I read the newspapers. And I have nothing but further questions.Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.comBlogger291100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1152099379518428642006-07-05T12:34:00.000+01:002006-07-05T12:38:00.200+01:00

I have now closed this blog and transferred everything to Wordpress .

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1144614345366636502006-04-09T20:58:00.000+01:002006-04-09T21:25:46.510+01:00

New technology is in danger of swamping education in Scotland. There is no shortage of imaginative ideas for using this technology. Where are the people discussing and planning the strategy of its use across education?Unless the pedagogy or methodology changes the new technology will become as boring as the old chalk and talk. And to change the pedagogy we must re-examine the goals. Our

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1144189137401174772006-04-04T23:10:00.000+01:002006-04-04T23:18:57.403+01:00

ID Cards are creating more heat than light at the moment.However, there was a throwaway mention on Radio 4 that when Napoleon III was exiled to the UK he was amazed at how easily people moved around the country. In France at that time you needed permission to visit a neigbouring townA national database of the people could lead to electronic surveillance and hence to restrictions on the

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1144188248517783492006-04-04T22:49:00.000+01:002006-04-04T23:04:08.536+01:00

A question has been posed elsewhere. What will education in Scotland be like in the short, medium and long terms?It's easy to be flippant or pessimistic or optimistic, but not to be serious and realistic. Time frames are difficult in education. Looking back five, ten or twenty years may give some clue. But the fundamentals in those time frames have not changed greatly. Syllabuses have

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1143827554321421892006-03-31T18:43:00.000+01:002006-03-31T18:52:34.343+01:00

I am on holiday now for a fortnight so I hope I will get back to my GTD way of life. I have lots to do in the time and I wonder whether GTD will get me nearer to completing the list than is the usual case.I heard James Lovelock (Gaia) this morning saying that it is now too late to halt climate change due to CO2, but that we should be looking to mitigate the effects. Is he right?He certainly

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1143758101210161002006-03-30T23:32:00.000+01:002006-03-30T23:35:01.223+01:00

I have slipped up and GTD has fallen by the wayside this week. Why I don't know. But unlike any other system of organising my life, I am suffering withdrawal symptoms. Tomorrow must be GTD restart day.

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1143052288681901022006-03-22T18:23:00.000Z2006-03-22T18:31:28.706Z

Again today there has been an announcement of personnel cuts in an NHS hospital. Over the last few years, more money than ever before has been poured into the NHS. There have been considerable increases in salaries but even so, what has happened to bring about this state of affairs?It is not that long ago that Gordon Brown was proposing to cut civil service jobs. Instead we have had increases

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1142724866682825632006-03-18T23:26:00.000Z2006-03-18T23:34:26.693Z

The more I read about Gordon Brown, the more I ask myself why have we all be lulled into such a false sense of security.Take pensions. By altering the tax regime, he has effecively wiped out the company final salary pension scheme as we know it. With ever increasing numbers of people dependent on the state, either through salaries or benefits, our Gordon is leaving a debt which future

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1142550653197272302006-03-16T23:05:00.000Z2006-03-16T23:10:53.210Z

Plagiarism is rife in British schools and Universities and even Oxford is having a problem. Why fight it? Why not accept that the assessment procedures have to change to reflect the real world? Let students use the internet and google to prepare themselves for work where these skills wil be neccessary, but assess them under exam conditions, live, testing their search skills and their subsequent

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1141996138862963742006-03-10T13:05:00.000Z2006-03-10T13:08:58.876Z

Off for a couple of days to the Lake District and for once I am ready on time....good old GTD.How absurd can you get? A man has been prosecuted for putting a bag of his household rubbish in a public litterbin.I think authority now goes for the easy target be it large or small and just ignores anything more difficult, like global warming.

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1141942647646419452006-03-09T22:14:00.000Z2006-03-09T22:17:27.660Z

I really do feel that GTD to use the acronym is helping me be less stressed. We are off for a short weekend break and I am sure I will not think so much about what has to be done while I am away.

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1141859542005570552006-03-08T23:03:00.000Z2006-03-08T23:12:22.006Z

Why do people in power act just as goofily as the rest of us and never learn from history. I have a sense of deja vue with Tony and his cronies. This government is showing the same symptoms of malaise and decay as John Major's last Conservative government.Whatever the real truth of Tessa's relationship with husband David Mills, it certainly is complicated and his financial dealings are

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1141858973358354112006-03-08T22:59:00.000Z2006-03-08T23:02:53.366Z

I have recently come across "Getting Things Done", the book and its cult following. Why have I not seen this before? After working the system somewhat vaguely for a week I seem to get far more done with less stress. Lets hope it lasts.

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1141579101068761912006-03-05T17:06:00.000Z2006-03-05T17:18:21.083Z

It's Sunday afternoon and bitterly cold, at least for Scotland at this time of year. Our exact location on the East Coast of Scotland just near Arbroath and across a narrow stretch of water from St Andrews often escapes the worst of the weather. Even today we have not had the forecast snow which no doubt will have fallen just a few miles away. The sun has shone brightly most of the day, though

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1136648615385207962006-01-07T15:35:00.000Z2006-01-07T15:43:35.396Z

Charles Kennedy has just resigned. Who was Brutus, the wielder of the dagger? It is obvious that many people knew of his alcohol problem, but somebody decided that now was the time to use it to get him out.I also ask which of the MPs who were against him stopped to think that were it not for Charles Kennedy's leadership of the party they would not even have been MPs. How many will lose their

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1136500043587921432006-01-05T22:16:00.000Z2006-01-05T22:27:23.596Z

Liberal Democrat Leader Charles Kennedy has just admitted he has had treatment for alcoholism. 200 Iraquis have died in the last two days.Why should Charles get all the headlines? The London media is now the equivalent of the village pump, a place to spread gossip and tittle tattle about one's friends and acquaintences. If our local newspaper gossiped about our local politicians to the

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1134907512864963552005-12-18T11:58:00.000Z2005-12-18T12:05:12.863Z

A question was asked this morning about why Strictly Come Dancing ahs been such as sucess. Is it not because it is one of the few middlebrow light entertainment shows left on terrestial tv?Media people may have moved on to such cult obsessions as Little Britain but the majority of the viewing public have not.Is this not reflected in the fact that a repeat of the Two Ronnies is to be broadcast on

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1134907029344180582005-12-18T11:44:00.000Z2005-12-18T11:57:09.386Z

Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer, has been hailed in some quarters as the most successful chancellor of modern times. Downing Street and the rest of the government are acknowledged as masters of spin. Why has Brown been exempt from being tarred with the same brush and his dour, lengthy and statistic filled utterings not exposed as the spin they really are.He inherited a thoroughly good

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1131294270674769152005-11-06T16:16:00.000Z2005-11-06T16:24:30.686Z

Once again the MOD has got it sums wrong and the two logistics ships for the Navy will cost three times the original estimate.Are the people who do the estimates really that poor at their jobs or is this yet another way of duping the public? Does the MOD announce that a ship will cost 130 million pounds because there will be little outcry whereas saying it's going to cost 400 million is bound

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1120680063584084482005-07-06T20:58:00.000+01:002005-07-06T21:01:03.586+01:00

So a number of third world countries will have their debts cancelled. There are lots of people in this country who are poor and in debt. Come on Chancellor Brown, charity begins at home so why not cancel their debts. Abolish poverty in the United Kingdom.It is of course assumed that the majority of the debt-ridden poor in this country are feckless and in that situation through their own fault.

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1120679891484074432005-07-06T20:57:00.000+01:002005-07-06T20:58:11.490+01:00

I am about to arrange a meeting of world leaders. Every time they have met before, there has been trouble, demonstrators and anarchists, injury to people and damage to property. These leaders can meet anywhere; money and expense is of no consequence to them. I think I might pick a remote island, an aircraft carrier or cruise liner somewhere far out at sea. I hope I would have the common

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1117475254560480572005-05-30T18:40:00.000+01:002005-05-30T18:47:34.566+01:00

It has long been the case that politicians do not answer questions on the Today programme in spite of being hounded by the interviewers. Mostly they answer another question of their own choosing.Has anybody heard anything to approach Jack Straw this morning? Poor Jack Straw ahd obviously not brought his own question with him. He floundered. He did a John Prescott without the bravado and

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1117227397721215522005-05-27T21:54:00.000+01:002005-05-27T22:15:19.983+01:00

The news that a flagship inner city academy had failed in England prompted a question which has long lain dormant. Has the comprehensive school ideal succeeded or failed?In one sense the comprehensives have succeeded. The grammar school / secondary modern system of state education has largely disappeared. Privilege has been uprooted.More realistically the less effective comprehensive schools

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1114211734417809892005-04-23T00:13:00.000+01:002005-05-16T22:30:42.493+01:00

Condoleezza Rice was recently travelling the world yet again. It made me wonder. What does she answer to the security question at the airport, "did you pack your own bags"?My immediate thought was that I really don't know if she and her like actually do pack for themselves when on these missions. Their officials presumably pack all the files and documents but is there someone who counts up the

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1111863364421016992005-03-26T18:47:00.000Z2005-03-30T22:36:30.803+01:00

I am still not used to this retirement fact. Having been a teacher for many years, I don't find the last two weeks any different from the normal schools holidays, a quarterly interruption of the working year. In fact driving passed a school and seeing that teachers and pupils are at work has been the one jolt to my sense of unreality. I am now beginning to be aware that one day needs to be no

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1111619830100732102005-03-23T23:15:00.000Z2005-03-23T23:17:53.676Z

I Have now been retired for nearly a fortnight. It won't be long before I can start to write here regularly. That is the hope.

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1085003056309550632004-05-19T22:43:00.000+01:002004-05-19T22:44:16.310+01:00

I am concerned that Mr Blair watched the European Song Contest last week and took heed of the results. He, M Chirac, Herr Schroder and their friends in the old Europe of fifteen should be worried. I am none too certain of the political logic of adding ten new members to the EU apart from spitting in the Russian eye, but I am assuming that it was not an altruistic action, an act of kindness born

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1081977516172986992004-04-14T22:17:00.000+01:002004-04-14T22:22:32.950+01:00

Some of the big questions start to take on new meaning and urgency as I begin the long decline. I find myself asking why, not what or how; those other questions can be left to explorers or scientists. Why questions are another matter. Why humans? Why are we different? Why religion? Great philosophers, theologians, great thinkers even do not provide the ultimately satisfactory answers. The only

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726268.post-1081102761084725182004-04-04T19:16:00.000+01:002004-04-04T19:23:03.966+01:00

If scientists are correct, then we are located on a tiny speck of cosmic dust amongst millions upon millions of solar objects. Why do we also think we are uniquely important?

Bob Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05395525897907288480noreply@blogger.com0