I’ve touched on this possibility more than a few times. I’ve suggested that I might do a regular post, which draws attention to opinion, arguments and analysis that I find stimulating. Hopefully I will preface the link with an explanation of why I think it’s worth the time of day. This might be brief or extended, more likely the former.

Rest easy, I refuse to point you to the torrent of relieved attention to the minutiae of the lives of Epstein and his company, pursued by both the mainstream and alternative media. These individuals are no bad apples. They personify the continued evil existence of a corrupt and criminal ruling class, whose vision of the future bodes ill for the rest of us. Evil is not a word that comes easy to my lips but how else to describe its intention.

And so, as it happens, I’m linking firstly to an article that dropped on my desk this very morning. It is not directly about the present spectacle. It is the fourth in a series, in which Hugh McCarthy, the former Director of the Northern Ireland Council for Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment, explores the effects of COVID lockdowns on children and education. it seeks to:

• Present the evidence of what has been done to our children — a compendium to remind people of the damage inflicted on a generation and for which no one has been held accountable.
• Reject lockdowns as a valid public health strategy.
• Reflect on the experiences, words, and feelings of the children and those trying to educate and care for them, and
• Highlight that, in the words of Professor Ian Brighthope, “They knew. They did it anyway”.

Part 1 and Part 2 focused on the justification for lockdowns and examines the evidence and the data available at the time regarding the damage to children caused by the lockdowns and resulting school closures and sets it against what actually happened.

Part 3 set out the feelings and experiences of the children and their parents.

Lest We Forget Part 4 – A Voice to the Silenced
Through the Eyes of the Educators

In continuing to be deeply concerned about the manufactured COVID crisis, I know I am getting on people’s nerves. Indeed good friends have intimated that living on Crete meant that I was insulated from the COVID reality. I’m not sure. We couldn’t leave our homes without carrying notice of our intentions, which were narrowly prescribed. We couldn’t socialise publicly without proof of vaccination. The evidence-free imposition of masking and arbitrary distancing was a fait accompli….and so on. Having, to my shame, been vaccinated, I refused in solidarity with my principled non-vax friends to go where they couldn’t. And the death toll and incidence of serious illness, however painful, reflected the threat globally to those at risk. It was not extraordinary. It was not an existential threat to humanity at large.

Part Four begins:

The purpose of this article is to give voice to those who are trying to educate and care for children. To understand their feelings and experiences, I conducted primary and secondary research. The main method was by means of a questionnaire, after which there were follow-up interviews by telephone and messaging. I also wanted to assess whether experiences differed according to the type of school, the seniority of the teacher and the role played by the person in children’s education and well-being.

I contacted parents with children in primary school, in secondary school, at university, and with special needs. I contacted a range of educators, including teachers in nursery schools, primary schools, and selective and non-selective post-primary schools, classroom support teachers, university lecturers, and psychologists. I also contacted a range of teachers with varying degrees of experience, including headteachers.

Part 5 of this series, co-authored by McCarthy and Professor Diane Rasmussen, UK Column’s Commissioning Editor for Written Content, will present experiences of teaching and learning in the higher education sector during the Covid lockdown era. It will also explore the pedagogy of remote/online learning (does it exist?) and question whether it worked.

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Secondly, here’s a link to one of my favourite American writers and commentators, WD James at Philosopher’s Holler.

Aristotle v. Capitalism : an attempt at clarity

To give you a glimpse of his eclectic exploration, at one point WD explores the relationship between Marxism and Catholic Social Teaching. If I had the wherewithall I’d like to respond with all manner of questions and criticisms but at heart his argument gives me hope for the necessary dialogue, which transcends the seemingly obligatory divide between the Left and Right.

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I’m indebted as well to WD James for introducing me to the music of Appalachia and Kentucky. Here find the hauntingly pure voice of Jean Ritchie, a legendary figure, who gives me the courage to sing ‘a capella’.