TOPIC: Hopes of Finding

Question Six

Will Madeleine McCann be found?

 

Comment

Unfortunately probably not. And the McCanns must be aware that the most recent publicity may in fact put her life at risk, if she is still alive. The situation is pretty hopeless in reality. But the continued publicity has raised awareness of the phenomenon and it is important to keep that awareness alive. If only for the sake of preventing potential future abductions.

TOPIC: Energy Bills - Paying Too Much?

Question Five

 

OIL or GAS - Does NI have a choice?

Are we in Northern Ireland paying too much for our energy?

What can we do?

More competition?

 

Comment

In a word, Yes! It’s outrageous! We are out of sync with the rest of the UK, there is no competition, they can charge what they want, we have no say. Our main problem is that most of our houses are run on oil and there is no regulatory body. So is there anything we can do?

Well actually there is one thing we could do. It doesn’t tackle the main issue but it might help us reduce our oil bills a little.

Most companies give reductions for bulk buying. In the Causeway U3A we have 900 members and we could put in a bulk order. This could potentially reduce our bill by around £30 per delivery. Any volunteers to organise it?

TOPIC: Literacy and Numeracy - OECD Survey - Dire Stats

Question four

A recent report by the OECD reveals that in both England and Northern Ireland our 16-24 year olds are ranked 22 and 18 respectively out of 24 in literacy and numeracy. The survey covered England and N. Ireland. Alone in the developed world our 16-24 year olds performed worse in literacy than our 55-65 year olds. Is it because our generation was taught literacy and numeracy by methods that today would be considered old-fashioned? These methods worked for us. The present methods don’t appear to be working for many young people. Discuss!!

 

Comment

Times have changed. Children are different nowadays. They have higher expectations, they are less submissive. What worked in the past may not necessarily be the best thing for our young. Echoing the past is probably neither possible nor advisable. It’s not the methods which are in question here. Rather there have been many changes in society which may be affecting our young people’s learning.

One thing to consider is a child’s readiness to read. Is there the support at home to allow a child to ready himself/herself for school? Are there books at home? Do the parents read? Are the parents there? Are the parents talking to their children? Are they caring for them? Are they stressed? Is the child happy? Children learn best when they have all their needs met, when they are happy, secure, content. A happy family makes a happy child.

But also our children here start school at a very young age, much more so than in other developed countries. Are they ready for school? I recently overheard a conversation between my two great nieces. The older one had just started school and the younger one said that she couldn’t wait to be in school. Niamh told her little sister that on the contrary she should enjoy nursery because ‘when you go to big school you have to sit in a seat for a very, very long time and you have to listen to the teacher talking for ages and ages’. Obviously even the most dutiful Niamh finds it all rather tiresome and was not quite ready for it all. I doubt even Niamh would appreciate us requiring her to revert to rote learning in order to ensure better literacy scores in the future.

Literacy is a huge problem in this country and we do need to ensure that all our young people reach high standards. But perhaps we might do better to adapt our teaching strategies with children rather than surmising that The Only Way Is Echoes

TOPIC: Poots or Pots. Gay Blood Donor Ban

Question three

Edwin Poots, local Health Minister, has been under some pressure recently. Mr Justice Tracy has ruled that the ban on gay men giving blood is ‘irrational’. Poots has been challenged by gay men because he has refused to lift the ban which has already been removed in England. He has also been challenged by Sarah Ewart, a pregnant woman who has been told by her doctors that she was carrying a malformed foetus. She had no option but to go to England for an abortion which, by law, could not be carried out here. She feels that in NI there is no account taken of the mother’s welfare. A second woman, expecting twins, has come forward who is in a similar situation to Sarah. Should our abortion laws in NI be revised? Can Edwin Poots steer a wise path through these emotive issues?

 

Comment

What kind of a backwater do we live in? Do we really allow some puffed up religious extremist dictate government strategies which openly discriminate against one section of our population? Does he expect us to all sit back and agree with these ‘irrational’ decisions based not on intellectual investigation but merely individual prejudice?  Donated blood is routinely screened. Where is the problem? This whole fear is invented by Poots and his cronies out of religious intolerance and ignorance. And what do we do in this country? We have largely left it up to the oppressed themselves, the gay population, to fight their own corner against this blatant attack on their human rights. No big well of support here from a largely disinterested population ready to let this bully boy trample over the rights of a section of our society who continue to battle against discrimination, prejudice and oppression. In 2013!!! At least they seem to have won this particular battle. Doubtless there will be many more to come.

But maybe Sarah Ewart will be in a better position to do more damage. Who can have anything but sympathy for this young woman, who, while coping with the most terrible grief, has had to face the impact of another of Poots’ ill-conceived strategies? (Except of course the Rottweiler, Bernadette Smyth). Poots, with his black and white religious fervour, has decreed that Sarah cannot receive the care and treatment she needs in NI. The care and treatment that medical teams would very much like to provide. Poots knows better than anyone, of course. Better than Sarah herself, better than the unfortunate young couple who have just received the same awful news as Sarah, better than any medical team.

But will Poots be reined in?  Will he bow to better judgement? He does seem to be a much more subdued version of himself in recent days. Not before time. Our politicians need to sit up and take note that they are here to serve everyone. We do not pay them huge wages in order that they can implement their own highly prejudiced policies. In my view Poots should have been required to resign. That is what would have happened in any sane society. But then who would be there to replace him? Yet another equally biased and not yet rather chastened Poots lookalike. We will have to make do with Poots. He’s going to be treading lightly for a while, isn’t he?

TOPIC: Andrew Mitchell v Police Federation

Question Two

The career of a former Chief Whip at Westminster, Andrew Mitchell, was abruptly curtailed when he was involved in an incident with police at the gates of Downing Street.  

The incident was reported by police but additional investigations revealed that the initial report was not as it seemed. This was further compounded by a meeting of Mr Mitchell with officers of the Police Federation, after which the officers announced that Mitchell would have to go because he had not been frank with them. Little did they know that the meeting was being recorded and Mitchell had been completely frank with them.  Deborah Glass, deputy chairperson of the police watchdog, and Teresa May, Home Secretary, have commented on the event and only yesterday David Cameron, in the House of Commons, suggested that the police owed Mr Mitchell an apology. Have some of the police in England been abusing their position of serving the public by following a political agenda?

 

Comment

All is not well between the police and politicians. Well, well!! Who would have guessed? But then if your government thinks it’s a good idea to consistently use your police force to political gain then what do you expect? But is this the kind of police force the people of Britain want? One where police officers have been shown to conspire to denounce politicians? And where no disciplinary action is as yet evident? How can a population trust a police force where there is so much evidence of malpractice? The recent revelations about the lack of authenticity in the Hillsborough police report and the finger of suspicion pointed at them over the possible lack of investigation of Jimmy Saville’s activities all suggest that the police force in Britain needs a competent regulatory body. Maybe it’s time for them to look towards Northern Ireland for guidance. Here in the North we trust our Ombudsman to ensure the accountability of our police force and we are all sharply aware of the difficulties a country can get into when a lack of trust for the police force sets in! 

 

TOPIC: Immigrants - the Mediteranean as a graveyard

Question One

Just one week after a boat sank near the Italian island of Lampedusa with the loss of 300 lives, a vessel capsized near Malta. This time a prompt rescue operation by both Maltese and Italian coastguard authorities resulted in many of the immigrants being saved and a much lower death toll – about 30. Media reports say there are many thousands more migrants gathering on the coasts of Lybia and Tunisia to wait for a clandestine crossing to Italy – desperate people fleeing war and dictatorships. The PM of Malta has described the Mediterranean as a ‘cemetery’. The Pope says the situation is ‘a disgrace’. The president of Italian Red Cross has called for humanitarian corridors to be opened. How should we in Europe respond? What can be done?

 

Comment

Why not do away with our borders for a start? People only undertake these dangerous, clandestine journeys because they have no alternative. They are fleeing wars, oppression and abject poverty. Life in these countries is for some, untenable. They have no alternative but to flee. Nobody leaves their own country without good reason. So why don’t we just raise our borders and let them in? We are all human beings, citizens of the same world. Who gives us the right to deny anyone access to a better life? If they want to come here, let them in….and make is easy for them. Provide safe passage, good, secure transport. Just because I was born in Europe does not mean I own this land. Nor does it mean I can keep my fellow humans from moving in next door. In fact I have a responsibility to ensure that all fellow humans in the world have access to the same human rights that I enjoy: a safe home, nourishment, access to education….. All those rights we have fought for and laid out in print should belong to the whole human race, not just to Europeans.

People are by nature nomadic. Our survival through the ages has depended on our ability to search out a safer environment, a richer, more fertile land. Why deny our fellow humans the right to live in a safe, fair society? It is merely our greed and our lack of humanity that pushes us to describe these fellow citizens of the world as a problem, a drain on our resources. We live here in a world of plenty, relatively speaking, with many Europeans enjoying huge wealth. While some in our own land are still in need, there is more than enough to go round.

And what of the question of sustainability? If so many migrants end up in Europe surely this will lead to overcrowding? Not so. People migrate to areas where there are sufficient jobs, where there is appropriate housing. Look at Northern Ireland! We have unbelievably low numbers of immigrants precisely because they know that there is a lack of sustainability here. People only migrate to areas where there is surplus.

The myth of ‘immigrants taking our jobs and using up our resources’ is one that has been largely developed by our present politicians, driven by greed, individualistic objectives and political ambition. We the good citizens of the world need to reclaim our responsibility to diffuse a more global sense of responsibility throughout Europe. It is time for us to proclaim our responsibility towards our African cousins by ensuring their safe passage to our less troubled lands.