Spirit of the age and the way we live now.
Spirit of the Age
Dundee:
A Scottish primary school asked its pupils to sign a contract in order to be allowed to play football at break times. Children at Forthill Primary School in Dundee were required to agree to 17 terms – including no chanting, no gloating, no hogging the ball, no “banter” and no being a “sore loser”. Breaking a rule triggers a three-day football suspension; players who break three risk being banned for the rest of the term.
Buckinghamshire:
Teachers at a primary school in Milton Keynes were told not to blow a whistle to mark the end of playtime because it is “too aggressive”, and the noise could startle the children. Instead, staff at St Monica’s Catholic Primary were asked to raise a hand in the air, and wait for pupils to notice the signal. However, teaching assistant Pamela Cunningham revealed that she still carried a whistle in case of emergencies.
Wiltshire:
Police in Wiltshire were accused of wasting public money after they sent nine squad cars – sirens blaring – to a cul-de-sac in Salisbury, in response to a 999 call that a “madman” was on the loose with a “bladed weapon”. The madman turned out to be a gardener trimming a hedge, but a spokeswoman insisted that the police’s response had been correct, because every call should be taken seriously.
Somerset:
A leading independent school has done away with traditional PE lessons and replaced them with “well-being” classes. Pupils at Wellington School in Somerset can use these sessions to do Pilates, yoga or Zumba, or to practise mindfulness. The headmaster, Henry Price, said that not all children enjoyed team sports, and that they shouldn’t be forced into “an arms race of competitiveness that removes all the fun”.
Dorset:
“Disorderly” pensioners were reported to be wreaking havoc in the queue for a Dorset bus. A new breed of rude and aggressive OAPs were accused of pushing past other passengers to get on the Purbeck Breezer. One retiree mentioned a “relatively young OAP” who jumped the queue in Bournemouth – but nobody said anything, because he was “bigger than them”.
Northamptonshire:
A Northampton couple treated their guests to a “freegan” feast – made up entirely of thrown-away food – when they tied the knot in August. For their sustainable wedding, Nicola Hedges and Christopher McKenna hired a catering firm that only uses food discarded by supermarkets.
Cambridgeshire:
Couples are having less sex because they’re hooked on watching box sets, a Cambridge statistician has warned. The average couple now has sex just three times a month, down from five times in 1990 – a decline David Spiegelhalter blames on people bingeing on TV series instead of going to bed. In the past, he says, many couples had sex because there was “nothing else to do”.
London:
Pagan inmates are now entitled to bring wands and incense into prison. Earlier this year Whitehall circulated a 104-page document to prison staff making it clear that pagans should be allowed to use tarot cards, under a chaplain’s supervision – “but only following a local risk assessment”. The guidance draws the line at some pagan practices, however: it explains that “Skyclad (naked) worship” should not be permitted.
East Sussex:
Brighton College lived up to its reputation as “Britain’s most forward-thinking school” by scrapping the distinction between boys’ and girls’ uniforms to accommodate transgender children. All pupils at the independent secondary school can choose to wear either dark trousers and a blazer and tie, or a skirt and a jacket.
London:
Two students from Brixton set up a new dating website after the Brexit vote to help sad Remainers retain their ties with the EU. Idbenothingwithouteu.co.uk promises to find British citizens friends and lovers on the continent. “We thought, let’s solve it by throwing loads of love at all of the hate,” said Katy Edelsten and Chloe Cordon.
The way we live now
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Cambridge students cancelled an Around the World in 80 Days-themed party this spring on the grounds that it could encourage “cultural appropriation”. Pembroke College’s Junior Parlour Committee said guests would be likely to dress up in costumes belonging to other cultures, and that this might cause offence.
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A Canadian academic has condemned the canoe as a symbol of genocide. Dr Misao Dean argued that although the boats may come across as “morally untouchable” and “natural”, they actually represent Canada’s historic crimes towards its indigenous population – and are today mainly only used by privileged white people.
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An Edinburgh University student was threatened with expulsion from a student union meeting in March for raising her arms. Imogen Wilson’s gesture, in response to an accusation from a fellow student during a debate, fell foul of the student union’s “safe space” policy, which bans head-shaking and “hand gestures which denote disagreement”.
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Attempts to reduce sexual assaults on university campuses by asking freshers to attend “consent workshops” appeared this year to be causing growing discontent. At York University, where every first year is expected to attend a session, some students staged a walkout in protest; and when a session was held at Clare College, Cambridge, not one person turned up. The college’s women’s officer posted a picture of an empty hall, and described the lack of interest as a “huge step backwards”.
