One of the commonest criticisms of Michael Gove’s proposals to reform England and Wales’ examinations is that it would recreate a two-tier system: more prestigious O-levels and less-good CSEs, instead of the universal GCSE that exists today. The problem with this argument is that many commentators don’t seem to realise that GCSEs are themselves a […]
Thoughts on the Arab revolutions
A few thoughts after sitting in a panel discussion on the Arab revolutions, with speakers from Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, the USA and Israel, as part of the Israeli Presidential Conference. Jordan Though Jordan isn’t undergoing a violent revolution (or a violent repression of a peaceful revolution), there are now weekly protests against the King and […]
A note from the management
You might have noticed that it’s a bit quiet around here. There’s a reason for this: I’m not a blogger – well, not a proppa blogga (© Sion Simon). There was some point a few years ago when I wanted to rant about something but needed a platform a bit bigger than Twitter, so I […]
Happy Birthday Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is 30 today, making it a few months younger than I am. Apparently, the Spectrum was the first home computer to break into the mass market in the UK due to its low price-point and decent catalogue of software. But I didn’t know any of that at the time. I don’t remember […]
Get the picture?
Avi Mayer called it first, when he asked if the photo below was genuine. He guessed it wasn’t. Over the last few days, hundreds of increasingly sophisticated rockets have been fired into Israel by Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees in Gaza. The rockets have been able to reach large cities like Ashdod, Beer […]