It’s a nail in London’s coffin when gardens are covered over

Posted on 4 February 2013 by Ros Coward

The sterile fashion for hard surfaces instead of greenery is contributing to flooding and the disappearance of fauna

For the last six months the house opposite mine has been in the process of “renovation”. This means that, apart from its Victorian facade, every aspect has been “modernised” into a state of gleaming sterility. The finishing touches are being done now. The back garden is being concreted and the front garden covered with what looks like black bathroom tiles. Not an inch of ground has been left visible, let alone a hedge – indeed that was the first thing to go when the builders moved in. The developer is strolling about looking satisfied and the estate agent is in tow composing the brochure. But what he will doubtless describe as “finished to exacting standards”, I prefer to describe as another nail in the coffin of London’s environment.

Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/feb/04/london-gardens-replaced-hard-surfaces-disaster

Market forces have brought chaos to universities

Posted on 24 January 2013 by Ros Coward

Lifting the cap on fees has marketised higher education, with falling student numbers and reduced entry requirements

Some call what’s happening in the university sector a “radical overhaul”. This sounds planned and orderly. But as student numbers fall and talk turns to the politically embarrassing possibility of university bankruptcies, this starts to look more like a demonstration of the law of unintended consequences.

Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jan/24/market-forces-chaos-universities-fees

Wandsworth jail reading group: ‘Here, they don’t have to be prisoners’

Posted on 15 January 2013 by Ros Coward

The reading group in Wandsworth jail offers offenders a welcome escape from their restricted lives

Wandsworth prison is an ominous place with its dark brickwork, iconic gates and perimeter walls topped by billowing rolls of barbed wire. The prison library, however, looks a bit like a comfy community library.

I’m here at the invitation of academics Jenny Hartley and Sarah Turvey who have been running volunteer reading groups in Wandsworth and other prisons for the last 13 years. Recent policy has prioritised vocational qualifications for prisoners. But Turvey sees the groups as equally vital. “The majority of prisoners have had negative experiences of school and are wary of formal education in prison,” she says. “We’re helping prisoners develop skills they need before they can even think about qualifications.”

Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/jan/15/wandsworth-prison-reading-group

Jimmy Savile was protected by the media’s defence of the status quo

Posted on 18 October 2012 by Ros Coward

Even in places where you might expect most awareness, my experience tells me paedophilia doesn’t get taken seriously

The revelations about Jimmy Savile have rightly induced soul searching among those who dealt with him in the media. How did he get away with it for so long? Why was he shielded? Some people have even asked if he was protected – or helped – by people in full knowledge of his behaviour. But what if Savile was protected, not by a knowing network of big players making big decisions but by endless small decisions to protect the status quo? What if these are the kind of low level decisions – about finding the subject of sexual abuse embarrassing, uncomfortable and disruptive – that go on every day and which mean Savile’s activities don’t belong to a dim and distant, sexist past but very much to the present?

Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/oct/18/jimmy-savile-protected-media

Caring dads? Proud posers, more like

Posted on 2 July 2012 by Ros Coward

Men who flaunt their domestic responsibility gain brownie points at work – but for women it’s a different story

The school summer holidays are in full flow. Even if you don’t have children, you’re sure to be only too painfully aware of this. Why? Because many of your colleagues with children have no doubt cancelled meetings, rescheduled events or have been leaving the office well before home-time. I can sympathise. The same thing is common in my workplace during school holidays. It’s not the women who behave like this, though. It’s the men. It is only too common for male workmates of mine to declare, with a distinct air of virtue, that meetings have to be rearranged and deadlines extended “because of childcare obligations”.

Full article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/mother-tongue/9434683/Caring-dads-Proud-posers-more-like.html

Why Kate Middleton is no Princess Diana

Posted on 20 March 2012 by Ros Coward

Media and public desire for a new people’s princess is palpable. But this time the royal family are ready

Kate Middleton has given her first speech. Cue enormous excitement in the media and huge praise. According to one source, she delivered an “assured” performance to “rave reviews”. The speech in fact was a few tremulous sentences in which she thanked the charity for inviting her, described its important work, and mentioned missing William.

Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/mar/20/kate-middleton-no-princess-diana

Stephen Hester’s bonus is wrong – but what about Wayne Rooney’s millions?

Posted on 2 January 2012 by Ros Coward

Bankers’ bonuses are an easy target. Politicians should raise other excesses, such as footballers’ pay or lottery winnings

Politicians have been falling over themselves to have the toughest stance on Stephen Hester’s £1m bonus from RBS, which he has now turned down. Being tough on bankers’ bonuses is seen as an easy vote-winner, and they are desperate to make political capital out of the public mood. Like anyone with a commitment to greater social equality I don’t dissent from the near-universal criticism of Hester’s bonus. However I can’t help feeling cynical about the outcry. If politicians are so concerned about pay excesses, why don’t they talk about some of the other areas of excess – the obscene pay of footballers, for example, or unimaginably vast lottery winnings.

Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jan/30/stephen-hester-bonus-wayne-rooney

Can you hurt a chimp’s feelings?

Posted on 30 April 2010 by Ros Coward

Video footage claiming to show chimps ‘grieving’ has sparked new debate over the ethical treatment of animals – but we should beware of jumping to conclusions

Is it an invasion of privacy to film an animal in its burrow? Or a whale as it exhibits its penis in a courtship display? Or to use a remote camera to film a bear giving birth in its den? According to a film studies lecturer from the University of East Anglia, it could be. If an animal retreats to its burrow, it obviously doesn’t want to be seen, he claims. Unlike the inhabitants of the Big Brother house, these creatures have not given consent. These assertions are a step further along the line from a cautionary ethical approach towards taking care not to disrupt wild behaviour. Instead, Brett Mills appears to be claiming that human emotions can be assumed within animals as well.

Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/apr/30/chimpanzees-emotions-ethics

‘Grieving’ chimps need rigorous study

Posted on 1 April 2010 by Ros Coward

Chimpanzee images have been presented as proof they share human emotions. Be wary of such speculative observation.

Who could have seen, and not been moved by, the video shown this week of a group of chimpanzees apparently mourning the death of Pansy, an elderly member of their troupe? The chimps gathered around her, moving her bedding gently and apparently checking her breathing. The video accompanying a report in the journal Current Biology was offered to support the idea that chimpanzees share human emotions like grief. Last year an equally striking image had shown a group of chimpanzees watching as the body of one of their group was carried off. The chimps stood silently, their arms around each other’s shoulders, apparently consoling one other.

Full article:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/apr/29/grieving-chimps-need-more-research

Why are British taxpayers funding EU students at our universities when our own children are being turned away?

Posted on 19 March 2010 by Ros Coward

British universities will soon learn exactly how much their individual budgets will be reduced, following cuts to higher education.

But they already know one general consequence of these cuts. There are likely to be over 100,000 disappointed applicants this year.

On top of this startling figure, there are 46,000 disappointed applicants from last year who, despite being rejected from their first choice universities, have the necessary qualifications and are applying again.

Full article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1258508/UK-taxpayers-funding-EU-students-universities-British-children-miss-out.html