ikonick

Ice-skating with j & p

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:43:49 +0000

via tweetie

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Stone bird

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:45:40 +0000

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Human

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:22:49 +0100

Pay my respects to grace and virtue
Send my condolences to good
Give my regards to soul and romance,
They always did the best they could
And so long to devotion
You taught me everything I know
Wave goodbye
Wish me well..You’ve gotta let me go

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Overheard at Exeter College

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 08:38:23 +0100

Listen!

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I can see clearly now . . .

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 21:10:10 +0100

Download now or watch on posterous

IMG_0002.mov (3476 KB)

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Criminal conspiracy

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 10:52:45 +0100

In my determination to prove all manner of conspiracies by the simple use of statistical evidence I reckon I’m onto something.

Yesterday, the Ministry of Justice announced the last 3 months reoffending rates for convicted criminals - national average just under 10% (Oxfordshire just above the national average, by the way). Projection for reoffending rates are all upwards.

Later on the same day the MoJ announced that it was proposing to cut the legal aid payable to those representing defendants (ie, lawyers) because they think we get paid to much for pouring through copious amounts of documentation, researching complex areas of legislation (which is always being updated and changing), explaining this in words that people understand, spending sleepless nights wondering if you have forgotten anything, defending essential rights that have been with us since the 12th century - blah, blah, blah …

Connection? Well, obviously, if you take lawyers out of the equation you get more convictions as there is no-one to defend them, but you reduce the legal aid spend leaving you with more money to build prisons to re-house all the criminals that are reoffending. Clever.

I reckon I got this whole public policy thing sussed.

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Give me the numbers

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:21:57 +0100

For some reasons I have started to get interested in statistics and what they may or may not reveal about public policy. Here is an interesting bit of information on school exclusions:

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000860/SFR18_2009.pdf

Of the 8000 odd permanent exclusions in 07/08 (which represented 0.11% of the school population), 86% were from secondary schools. This represents a fall from the previous year. There were over 300,000 fixed period exclusions (with the average lasting 3 days) - representing over a 10% decrease on the previous year.

You are most likely to be excluded if you are a boy and aged around 13/14 and/or you have special needs and/or you come from an ethnic minority.

The most common reason for exclusion: persistent disruptive behaviour - with over 10% of permanent (and over 4% of fixed term) exclusions for assault.

There was a 25% decrease in the number of appeals to the Independant Appeal Panel with over 25% determined in parents’ favour.

- discuss.

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Never new enough.

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 09:00:51 +0100

David Ulin, the Book editor for the L.A. Times, is having trouble reading:

It isn’t a failure of desire so much as one of will. Or not will, exactly, but focus: the ability to still my mind long enough to inhabit someone else’s world, and to let that someone else inhabit mine. Reading is an act of contemplation, perhaps the only act in which we allow ourselves to merge with the consciousness of another human being.

Such a state is increasingly elusive in our over-networked culture, in which every rumor and mundanity is blogged and tweeted. Today, it seems it is not contemplation we seek but an odd sort of distraction masquerading as being in the know

↬

via feeds.bigcontrarian.com

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At the beach

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:59:24 +0100

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Beach

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:56:32 +0100

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At the beach

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:55:30 +0100

” title=”Beach debris by ikonick, on Flickr”>

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Overheard at Exeter College

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 19:01:30 +0100

http://audioboo.fm/boos/52647-overheard-at-exeter-college

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Pencil case mouth

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 14:48:07 +0100

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Friday I'm in love

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 18:58:21 +0100

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Inspecting the inspectors

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:07:18 +0100

Ofsted rejected any suggestion that it needed to improve its performance.

via timesonline.co.uk

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The short-lived history of the media and the courts

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 09:50:30 +0100

To be fair, the reason it is the last broadcast is that the House of Lords is closing down over the Summer and a new Supreme Court is coming in its place. I cannot help thinking that they should have started this series of unique televised appeals with something a bit more exciting than Barratt Homes Limited (Respondents) v Dwr Cymru Cyfyngedig (Welsh Water) (Appellants) - a case concerning the ‘systematic disposal of sewage by drainage’. Scintillating TV this is not.

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Please

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 14:24:30 +0100

Download now or listen on posterous

Memo.m4a (188 KB)

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I could get into this

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:34:59 +0100

http://sites.google.com/site/livingwithoutmoney/

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Mangnanimous

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:24:23 +0100

I like this word; it sounds good for one thing. Dictionary.com has it as: ‘generous in forgiving an insult or injury; free from petty resentfulness or vindictiveness’. It derives from the Latin ‘magnus’ meaning great and ‘anim(us)’ meaning soul or spirited. Generous or big hearted might be another way of saying it.

If they every produce a training course on ‘How to be a human being’ then I would propose magnanimity as an essential module. Let me assure you, you would not believe the litigation that has arisen for want of a little magnanimity. The cost! The time!

Pettiness should attract criminal sanctions.

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Living differently

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:43:53 +0100

‘Every decision to try to live differently starts with a little showmanship.’

(via motherjones.com)

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ikonick

Ice-skating with j & p

Stone bird

Human

Pay my respects to grace and virtueSend my condolences to goodGive my regards to soul and romance,They always did the best they couldAnd so long to devotionYou taught me everything I knowWave goodbyeWish me well..You’ve gotta let me go

Overheard at Exeter College

I can see clearly now . . .

Criminal conspiracy

Give me the numbers

Never new enough.

At the beach

Beach

At the beach

Overheard at Exeter College

Pencil case mouth

Friday I'm in love

Inspecting the inspectors

The short-lived history of the media and the courts

Please

I could get into this

Mangnanimous

Living differently

Pay my respects to grace and virtue
Send my condolences to good
Give my regards to soul and romance,
They always did the best they could
And so long to devotion
You taught me everything I know
Wave goodbye
Wish me well..You’ve gotta let me go