Once academic standards are determined by political priority, everything is lost. Just reflect on this, happening under the direction of a CONSERVATIVE Minister;.

Top universities are being told to set “ambitious” new targets to increase the number of students recruited from poor homes and underperforming schools. The Office for Fair Access said the most selective institutions had “further to go” to create a “socially representative” student body. In official guidance, the watchdog suggested that universities in England should consider employing data on students’ social background and school type during the admissions process to fast-track disadvantaged pupils on to degree courses. It said that institutions charging up to £9,000 in tuition fees should spend a third of extra income on bursaries and recruitment programme targeted at “under-represented groups”.

So, more social experimentation guaranteed to reduce, not widen, social access.

Look, I come from a working class background. I was the first person in my family to go to University. How did this happen? I passed my exams, I worked hard, I got the grades. Simple. I didn’t NEED politicians telling University to make life easier for me to get in – in fact that would have been an insult. And yet, remarkably, this patronisation of the lower order and manipulation of the academic standard is portrayed as an act of enlightenment. It’s not – it is crass.

Mahons beat me to the News, but I can’t let this passing go with out a few words. And some occasions call for breaking the rules. Count these as my entire weekend music posts.

There are 2 sounds that  are completely American, one is the Blues. The other comes out of the hills and hollers of rural America, not country and not rock, slightly Cajun.  It is a sound that Levon Helm was the master of. It stirs my blood, and lifts my spirit. Rest in Peace Levon. A triple in your honor, I hope you all enjoy these few tunes as I have at many times over the years.

I was sad last night to read that musician Levon Helm was nearing death, and he died today at age 71.  Born in Arkansas he was the drummer for The Band, the legendary band who gave us some of Rock’s most timeless music.  When they released their albumn masterpieces Music From The Big Pink and The Band it was a throwback and a throwfoward at the same time.  Roots, country, rock, gospel, folk and hillbilly all stirred up in one great gumbo of sound.  Their last concert in the 1970s was filmed by Martin Scorcese as The Last Waltz and remains the definitive rock documentary. 

Helm’s gritty vocals, country sense and drumming chops was a pure joy to hear.  He battled cancer during his last years, but still played on, recording a grammy winning record only a couple years ago.  He lived up in Woodstock, New York and played concerts in a barn near his home.   He ran this crazy obstacle course we call life with true grit.  He’ll be missed.

Elena Marciano is Russian-Israeli an international trade specialist based in Barcelona; she is also developing  within  the ARI Institute (Israel)  to promote understanding in within the globalised internationally interconnected world.  

Here is a new article for ATW readers to consider; My thanks to Elena and Robin.

“At the start of the new millennium the renowned German sociologists Ulrich Beck wrote: “The work society is coming to an end as more and more people are ousted by smart technologies. To our counterparts at the end of the 21st century, today’s struggles over jobs will seem like a fight over deckchairs on the Titanic. The ‘job for life’ has disappeared … all paid work is subject to the threat of replacement.

Concerns regarding the displacement of labour by technology have existed since the industrial revolution, when the Luddites set about wrecking mechanical weaving looms. Thus far they have been mostly unfounded; but as the western world struggles to recover from the latest economic crisis, and technology gets increasingly smarter, new trends are emerging. It is a prediction that we ignore at our peril.

The closure many traditional manufacturing industries in the latter half of the twentieth century created pockets of intergenerational unemployment in working class communities and the rise of a new welfare dependent underclass. This phenomenon is now working its way up the chain to the more highly skilled and service sectors.

Young, educated, people feel that they spent their best years and their resources, or their parents’ resources, to become qualified for a world that no longer exists. Youth unemployment rates are rising at alarming rates throughout the industrialised world.  We have discovered to our cost that we cannot keep absorbing the educated surplus by expanding the banking and government administration sectors.

In Spain and Greece over half of all under 25s are unable to find work, in Ireland it is over 30%, and across the EU average youth unemployment is over 22%. In the United Kingdom youth unemployment is 8.3%, though in Northern Ireland the rate is already nudging the EU average. In total 5.5 million young people in the EU are not able to get their lives started or contribute to the economy. Though kids in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands still have a choice of opportunities.

In America youth unemployment is 16.5% and rising, in Japan it is over 10% and over half of last year’s Japanese university graduates are still looking for their first job.

This is not just the result the movement of industry from west to east, but something that is synchronous across many countries, creating an explosive situation for any society, a constant cause of unrest, disorder, and crime. The Occupy movement, the Arab Spring and other protest movements are all symptoms.

Bad as the current numbers already are, a trend has recently been noticed by economists: youth unemployment continues to rise faster than would be expected if it were being caused by current economic factors alone.

Something else is happening and there is increasing recognition that a large chunk of world’s population is just not needed in the job market anymore.  This will require a radical social response.

If we look at the educational system developed during the last 200 years, since the beginning of industrialisation, is clear that we have basically been bringing up workers to service and develop industry, agriculture, technology, commerce and bureaucracy. There has been little focus on developing human beings or of our social nature.

The impact of prioritising the economic role of human beings has been detrimental to society and personal lives.

Even in the good times people were “burning out” working 8 -12 hours a day in order to obtain a certain standard of living. So when the economy turns bad the personal impact can be devastating; when whole industries become redundant, with no immediate substitute, communities are destroyed.

But if we are not working now, and will not work in the future, what should we do? How will we live? And if we are provided for by the government or some other agency, won’t we fall prey to the evil of idleness and destroy ourselves mentally and emotionally?

The permanent educated but unemployed mass is not necessarily an entirely negative thing, it is also a potential opportunity to improve and shape society in the new world. It is essential we develop educational systems that enable people to adapt to the new era, of which we are all part, and be able to inform and facilitate changes that are unavoidable.

Call it “the third industrial revolution”, or “globalization”, or “post-Nationalist”, there is no doubt that the word is changing, as it always has, and we must prepare for the move towards increased mutual dependence, and shared responsibility.

We are all in the one boat, and the sooner we all realize what is actually happening in the world, a safer and smoother the transition will be, but our way of thinking and our values, are still locked in the old paradigm. The path to a viable solution for crises facing humanity today must start with educating ourselves with the new emerging conditions.  ”

I read that calls for prisons to rehabilitate offenders and not simply punish them are more than “do-goodery”, the Justice Department’s top civil servant has said. Nick Perry, permanent secretary at the department, said the devolution of law and order powers to Stormont had allowed for a major overhaul of the justice system, including prisons.

Well, I disagree. There is next to no punishment and a plethora of do-goodery. And what happens when we have an emasculated prison “service”?

The Northern Ireland Prison Service has begun an investigation after three officers were injured during trouble inside Maghaberry Jail in County Antrim. The incident happened when three inmates refused to go back into their cells after using phones just before 19:00 BST on Wednesday. A scuffle then broke out. One prison officer was knocked unconscious, another was cut behind the ear and a woman prison officer was treated for shock. They were taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast but discharged after treatment.

Well, some of us have been saying this for a LONG time but good to have others rally to our side;

George Soros has lambasted eurozone leaders today and claimed they will lead Europe to its ruin by maintaining the ‘rotten’ euro. The Hungarian business magnate and investor claimed that he would now ‘bet against the euro’ in any future deals unless there was a change in European leadership or policy. In an interview with French newspaper, Le Monde, Mr Soros said: “The euro threatens to destroy the European Union and, with the best of intentions, the leaders are leading Europe to its ruin by trying to impose inappropriate rules. ”The introduction of the euro has led to divergence instead of bringing about convergence.”

All as predicted in these pages.

The scale of Labour’s wickedness is laid bare:

The immigration boom under Labour led to the face of Britain changing faster than any major nation except Italy, a study by an Oxford University think tank revealed. During the five-year peak of the influx, the UK’s migrant population soared by 22 per cent – double the average of G8 countries, figures from the Migration Observatory show.

Over the past two decades, Britain’s foreign-born population has increased from 3.8million – or 7 per cent of the total population – in 1993 to almost 7million, or 12 per cent per cent in 2010.

The foul Labour regime’s declared intent to “rub the Right’s nose in diversity” was nothing less than ethnic and cultural war against the indigenous people of our islands, one which will result in a social catastrophe unless and until reversed. I sincerely look forward to the day we begin to reverse what they did against us and seeing the perpetrators stand accused in the dock for their evil crimes.

Mobile phones are more of a danger than I thought!

“The pilots of an international flight forgot to lower the landing gear and had to abort touch-down at just 500ft because the captain was distracted by his mobile phone, air safety investigators have found. Australian Jetstar flight JQ57 was making its approach to Singapore’s Changi International Airport on May 27, 2010 and was less than 2,500 feet above the tarmac when the captain’s mobile phone messaging alert sounded. The first officer twice tried to get the captain’s attention to set a ‘missed-approach altitude’ and when he looked over noticed the ‘captain was preoccupied with his mobile phone,’ an official report into the incident said.”

Sack him.

Either you really couldn’t make it up, or they really don’t want him to go.

Two days ago Theresa May, the Home Secretary, brandished a piece of paper and declared “extradition for Qatada in our time”. Today, the Council of Europe says: “Oh no you don’t”. The BBC carries the breaking news.

It’s long been the lament that “we don’t make anything anymore”. Well we do, as this chart shows:

It plots the value of Britain’s manufacturing output from the end of WW2 to the present. Tim Worstall has set up camp at The Telegraph (it’s about time it featured some economic sense) and, as he explains, the value of manufacturing output has well more than doubled since 1945 (or just look at the line and the numbers). He also explains a few more facts of manufacturing life over there. Before anyone again is tempted to lament “the decline of British manufacturing”, I do hope they give the piece a read. Go on, go shoo.