Choccy

Langdon school on strike in Newham

Submitted by Choccy on Dec 10 2011 11:53

Teachers in Newham, east London, are on strike over management bullying and workload issues.

Teachers at the 1,900-pupil Langdon School were out for three days last week for the second week in a row and are intending to strike three days every week until issues of workload and management bullying are dealt with. It was sparked after a union survey revealed many workers unhappy with the relatively new headteacher Dr Manuzah Tabassum's management style.

Wilshaw's war on teachers

Submitted by Choccy on Dec 8 2011 23:06

Not enough that he could be 'judge, jury and executioner' to teachers from January, Michael Wilshaw wants unions in on the act now too.

The new head of Ofsted, sorry, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools In England, Michael Wilshaw is not content with just running schools like prisons, or being head of an organisation that's sole purpose is to bully education workers and make them feel worthless, he now wants unions to start policing thier members better.

'Photocopying? No thanks!' Teachers 'work to rule' in force

Submitted by Choccy on Dec 7 2011 17:27

Since 1st December, teachers in the NASUWT have been on a 'work to rule', engaging only in tasks within their job description in an attempt to tackle workload issues.

Since last Thursday, NASUWT members are supposed to be enacting a 'work to rule'. This came about as a separate item on that unions November 30th strike ballot.

Birmingham Nov 30 Strike demo

Submitted by Choccy on Nov 30 2011 16:44
Brum strike

Brief personal report on the Birmingham November 30th Strike demo today.

Today I joined thousands* on the strike demo in Birmingham city centre as part of the latest round of strikes touted as being about pensions, more generally against 'austerity' measures, and ultimately about the majority of people being shafted day in day out. Tens of thousands were on strike across the city, with up to 500 schools in Brum & Black Country closed because of the strike.

Richard Lewontin "Science & Politics"

Submitted by Choccy on Nov 7 2011 21:54

A 2003 interview with marxist and evolutionary geneticist Richard Lewontin on the politics of science.

Lewontin is a legend. His critiques of biological determinism, lazy reductionism, and reactionary uses of science are key readings for anyone interested in the intersection of politics and biology.

Steven Pinker, the history of violence, and the misuse of 'anarchy'

Submitted by Choccy on Nov 7 2011 17:28

I've not yet purchased his new book yet, though I'm sure I'll grab a copy sometime, but already all the interviews with him and reviews I've read are fairly infuriating.

His new book The Better Angels of Our Nature: The Decline of Violence in History and Its Causes looks mammoth, much bigger than any of his previous books, about 800 pages. Previous stuff of his like Stuff of Thought and Language Instinct are decent readings in psycholinguistics, while his treading into moral philosophy inThe Blank Slate is nauseating.

Nearly 20,000 academic articles up on Piratebay

Submitted by Choccy on Jul 23 2011 09:21

Almost 20,000 articles previously behind a pay-wall have been posted on Piratebay in protest at academic publishing.

I've written about the problems of academic publishing before, and lots of users have asked for access on here to paywall articles.

Hackney school teachers to strike

Submitted by Choccy on Jul 17 2011 18:52

Teachers at Cardinal Pole school in East London are set to strike this week over suspected victimisation of a union rep.

Last week Hackney NUT announced that staff at Cardinal Pole secondary school would strike on Thursday 21 July. The NUT rep at the school was suspended 'allegedly as a result of community work he does in his own time'.

Jeff Monson documentary

Submitted by Choccy on Jul 10 2011 00:23

Anarchist mixed martial arts fighter Jeff Monson discusses his life, politics and fight career in a recent documentary.

For any fight fans or fans of Monson, there's a recent series of short interviews with Monson.

He starts out talking about his work in mental health prior to his professional fight career and goes on to discuss his three months work release in jail for political graffiti in Washington state.

Strikeforce - Monson outpunched by Cormier

Submitted by Choccy on Jun 19 2011 19:52

Anarchist MMA fighter Jeff 'The Snowman' Monson faced off against wrestler Daniel Comier in last night's Strikeforce event.

Jeff Monson made his return to 'top-tier' MMA last night against Daniel Cormier on the undercard of the Strikeforce HW Grand-Prix Werdum vs Overeem event. The Snowman is known as such for snowballing through four Brazilian opponents in his debut as an unknown to win the Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) submission wrestling championships in 1999.