Causeway U3A Current Affairs topics – 23Jan14

Another year, another Causeway U3A Current Affairs Group Meeting. We’ve put the indulgences of Christmas and the New Year behind us and with renewed resolution it’s back to business. There’s a world out there that needs to be saved after all, isn’t there? And it’s all down to us. We may seem an unlikely lot. Some might imagine we are a motley crew of free bus passers but we know that this room is Thursday afternoon home to a wealth of experience, knowledge, wisdom and maturity. And while we sit there in our comfy chairs, dunking our ginger nuts in our piping hot tea, with the rain belting it down on the large bay window of the Cromore Halt, we are well aware of our mission.  The government hasn’t done it. The politicians and the councillors can’t do it. It’s up to us now. And so we gather: former academics, businessmen and women, teachers, medics, bankers, philosophers, farmers alike. To a man (and woman of course), we are ready for the task ahead.

So what has our Jerry got in store for us this month?

The Paisley Affair

Well Paisley’s the name of the game this week isn’t he? All these years later and he’s still making headlines. But as Jerry suggests are all prominent men and empires in reality impermanent and are their legacies fated to decay? Looks like it, doesn’t it? So much the better! And what did the Big Man himself ever do for us? And who on earth thought it was a good idea to make him a Lord?

The question: Paisley - another Ozymandias? Following the last two weeks television programmes, we have been presented with a man who bitterly seems to believe he has been rejected by the church and the political party he founded. What is Paisley’s actual contribution to Northern Ireland?

 

 

 

 

Whatyamacallhim Hass

Anyone remember Hass? And his side mate Megan whatsit? He came, he saw ………….. and then he scurried off home again. Bit of a flurry. We all got a tad overexcited. A lot of toing and froing on the Hill. Our Naomi and all her positivism, God love her. Even Martin being a wee bit optimistic. But Mike and his mates wouldn’t play the game. And then it was over. Same old, same old. But who would blame Hass? Poor sod. He never had a chance, did he? We had a fleeting chance to put things right. We could have. We should have. But hey, as they sort of say, ‘We’re not USA. We’re Norn Ireland’.

The question: Hass talks what do we think? On the three talk subject areas of; ‘the past’, ‘flags’ and ‘parades’. What is your suggestion on? The Past: should terrorists/the states forces be given immunity if they provide information about victim’s loved ones death? Flags: assuming this is driven largely by identity, how do you view your identity? Parades: Would you propose reducing these in number and if how would you distribute them?

 

 

Unemployed youth

And then there’s the million dollar question of the unemployed youth. How do we pick ourselves out of this big hole we have all fallen into? Does anybody care about this forgotten generation? Is it our education system? Is it our employers? Is it young people themselves? Easy to make them the scapegoats, isn’t it? ‘Pack of wasters……They should just get out there, get on their bikes……All they do is lie around all day, in their rooms……… listening to the rain ………………. dunking ginger nuts in their tea ……………….’ Umm …….

The question: Young unemployed, across Europe almost a quarter of young people were jobless in 2013. However only 40% of employers in Europe are confident of being able to recruit enough graduates for the year. Is our education policy correct? Should we always educate first and then get a job? Should employers take on more education and training to meet their requirement?

 

Oh là là! Hollande!

And then there’s the little question of Hollande and his multiple First Ladies. ‘Bof! Pas de problème’ as far as the French are concerned. It seems Paul Whiteman and the Palais Royale Orchestra were right ….. ‘Everybody’s doing it, doing it, doing it……..’ Where’s the outrage? Or is that something which is solely confined to us more puritanical, more Northern Europeans? Bring on the free Presbyterians! ………Or perhaps we too should just be ‘appy to see our leaders ‘ave a leetle fun on ze side’?

The question: President Hollande managed to brushed off questions about his third publically known girlfriend, it was ‘a private matter’ he stated. How can French politicians get away with such liaisons whilst such relationships brought down politicians in Britain and even Mrs Robinson here? Are the French press and people too deferential to politicians? Is their attitude to ‘I’amour’ as an important part of French culture and history valid in today’s world? Or perhaps  we in these islands are too puritanical?

 

The Rosetta spacecraft

Rosetta! Rosetta! Wakey! Wakey! Time to get busy! The world is awaiting all your discoveries. Religion is so last decade. Science is the new way forward. Time to get to work! Tell us all you know. Where do we come from? What is our destiny? Will we always live here? Not to hurry you but some people here are getting a wee bit impatient, you know!

The question: Rosetta, the European spacecraft, launched 10 years ago and put ‘too sleep’ for the last period of its journey, has successfully been ‘woken up’ as it approaches its target, an asteroid. There it will attempt to land an instrument to take a rock sample and analyse it. What, if any, is the value of this experiment to society?

 

 

The Educational panel

Come back educational panel! Give us another go at you! Darn it!

The question: Did we let our educational panel off too lightly?   Mervyn’s ‘it is very complicated but we all say similar words’, a politician’s excuse. Helen’s this is what I want for my child is nice but how many types of education can we afford? PJ’s implication that teacher’s values and passion is only available in faith based schools? Prof Smith’s you cannot afford all of this was ignored.