News, views, slews and stews.. well, some of them anyway....

Now, as you all may not know, except for those of you who don't, if that makes sense (and I fervently hope that it doesn't...) the Beard never claims to be up to date with the news... the local gossip, possibly, especially that which he makes up himself on the spot, and never mind this country's tortuous libel laws... but I digress....

However, two recent articles have caught the hirsute eye of this blogster... and, unrelated as they are, it seems thematic similarities may or indeed may not tie them together...

Of course, contrary to any sense, let alone reason, the allegedly big news this week is that some poor French photographer has managed to take some topless photos of a certain kate Middleton, wife to a possible heir to the possible heir to the throne of this country... and not, as was stated erroneously on the radio today, the wife of the heir to the throne... (for those of you who may be interested, and for the sake of accuracy, the wife to the heir apparent is currently one Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall... and prince William is currently merely heir to the Duchy of Cornwall and to the Principality of Wales...)

But regardless, a lot of fuss is being made of this, and the Beard has to admit that he cannot fathom why... for several reasons... first and foremost, as was so ably stated by one commentator today, if a British magazine managed to get similar shots of the wife of the son of the heir to, for example, the king of Norway, would we feel the same? Of course we wouldn't... but why?? The Duchess of Cambridge is, when you get down to it, no more connected to most of us than said Norwegian... for despite our tabloids telling us that we somehow own our celebs, we don't...

Secondly, it seems to me that the tabloid press is being even more than usually hypocritical in this instance... had these been shots of, say, Victoria Beckham, they'd be all over everywhere... the French, of course, who value celebrity far less, can't see what the fuss is about...

Thirdly, of course, it has to be said that said Kate should really know that the press will be following wherever, and maybe should have thought twice about removing garments where she could be seen from the road.. and I know that it was a long way from the road, but surely most peope nowadays know about telescopic zoom lenses....

Lastly, and most importantly, the reason the Beard feels there is too much being made of it all is that after seeing the pics, the Beard has to say that what she has, is, put bluntly, not really worth seeing... I know we keep getting told about how beautiful she is, but honestly, she's just the latest in a long line of vapid, vague and bland thin women who are, I'm afraid, not actually attractive... although, bucking the trend, I must admit she is better looking than her sister...

Now I'm not saying that Kate is vile, or ugly... she's evidently not... but neither is she either good looking or sexy... and I know it's a crime to say so... but it's true... along with so much of the present day, from music, to art, to literature, beauty is very much a case of the Emperor's new clothes... people are beautiful because we are told they are, and we are told they are because they are rich and famous... it's all about image, shallowness and publicity...

Now, if the beard were any kind of cynic, he would be saying that maybe Kate is, as the tabloids claim, trying to stand in the shoes of the late Diana, Princess of Wales... that is, that she is learning how to manipulate the media and the public, and shamelessly self-publicise... for the Beard can but wonder what the young royals expect to gain from their injunction... the photos will still be published, the press will not change their behaviour, and the royals seriously do not need the money... and if you add in the fact that if they'd stayed quiet the whole thig would have been forgotten about by Thursday, then it just seems to the Beard that the only reason to make a fuss is so that more people know about it...

But I digress... the other thing in the news is, of course, education... and the news that the GCSE system with its course work si to be scrapped... which a lot of people are saying is a good thing... a return to the old system of learning for years followed by an exam must be better.... and being old, the beard must surely agree... or so you say.. but of course, as with most things, the Beard does not agree at all... but then, the Beard believes that the purpose of education should be to teach people stuff... and as we all know, except for a slightly confused couple of decades, the aim of the education system in this country has always been to restrict and regulate social mobility...

Shock! Horror!! Exclamation marks!!! That, I hear you say, is a serious accusation... and so it is, but one that bears thinking about...

Now, how many times have we heard young people complaining about what they learn at school.. when, they ask, will we ever use any of this?? And the answer of course is that they won't... so why learn it?? Well, as the Beard has previously stated, the reason school was set up in such a way was that the system was all about seeing who could memorise lots of information and recall it under pressure, a valuable skill to those who were going to have higher end, non repetitive jobs... and this system was chosen simply to favour the better off...

Simply put, imagine the following... student A has well off parents, who are educated, and have office jobs that allow them time to spend with their child... Student B meanwhile has poor parents who work long hours in a repetitive job, has to work himself in order that the family can pay the rent, and consequently has less leisure time or time with parents than student A... now which of these two is most likely to be able to memorise long strings of information in the first place?? and so, when theexam comes, which will be less stressed, and better able to recall/? And so social mobility is restricted... and all this stems from the belief that those in the higher echelons of society are better and therefore cleverer than the lower classes... and so, when universal schooling looked likely to become a reality, a system was devised to fulfil this prophecy...

Of course, occasionally a bright spark would emerge from low down, and he or she would be encouraged to advance, but only so far.. that way, rebellion was quashed, and the bright poor person was put somewhere where he could be kept an eye on... Which is one reason mine workers, with their love of proper education, were seen as more of a threat than other members of the working class...

The GCSE system, however, at least made a step towards actually educating people... let me ask, because I will anyway, which of these is your idea of a perfect education system... is it testing people incessantly and judging them by the grade they achieve there and then, regardless of any prospect of future improvement, or ist it allowing them to revisit older work, and redo it until they get it right? If you teach someone a practical skill in Scouting, for example tying knots, do we sho them a few times, then when they fail to tie the knot themsleves, call them a failure? Or do we carry on helping them until they are able to tie the knot?? Thought of in this way, surely the method of continuous assessment through coursework is, despite its shortcomings, a better method... unless, of course, you don't want the sstudents to improve??

But I digress... it remains to be seen what the future has in store, and so, until we all learn properly, and until the Emperor realises just what cloth his clothes are cut from, Wisebeard salutes you!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Travels of the Beardd... well, some of them...

As strange or not as may seem, although to be honest strange is a word that hints at far more than seeming, especially when used in connexion with the Beard, several months have passed since the hirsute blogster has put virtual ink to screen and posted anything of interest... I know, I know, oh ye regular readers of said blog.... if I'm honest it's probably several years since the beard has had anything interesting to say either on here or elsewhere... but I digress...

So, why the silence, I hear you ask?? Or, to be pedantic, why the absence of words.. for as you have probably realised, Wisebeard!!!! , no matter how many exclamation marks it has, lacks any form of sound save for that which the reader hears in his or her head.. for which I, as always, deny all responsibility....

Well, in order to answer the question, the Beard needs to take you back in time to a rather nice part of his life when he met the young lady destined to be Mrs Beard...As you know, that led to a house move to Solihull, and a one and a quarter hour each-way commute to the wonderland that is Coalville... But over that last few months, due to work developments at the beautiful Mrs Beard's place of employ, the family Beard has downsized, downpriced, and downpillowed, leading to yet another move... this time back to the Beard's homeland, that beautiful area of the East midlands that lies at the borders of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Staffordshire and Warwickshire... and that, coupled with the house hunting, packing, moving, going on holiday and helping Mrs Beard move into her temporary digs in Bristol, along with trying to get on with wwriting that I actually get paid for or might get paid for, and still working full time,the old Blog has been sadly neglected...

But fear not Beard fans, for the Beard is back... at least, i assume he is.. but I may be wrong...

For those of you who are interested, which i realise is probably a minority of less than one, teh Beard has finally visited France... and a rather nice experience it was... as you all know, the Beard is a great fan of comics, and especially that form known as the Graphic Novel.. and to be quite honest, the french are possibly the greatest proponent of the genre... even more so than the Japanese, the British and the Amercans... so the beard makes no apologies for the time he spent hidden away in a Hypermarket reading Moebius (for those in the know, and for those who don't, the pseudonym of Jean Giraud, possibly the greatest comics artist ever...).... The adventures of Mike Blueberry being among the greatest westerns ever written....

Now the Beard has spoken several times about comics... and makes no bones about his love for the things... to me, a good comic is preferable to a good movie or tv show... and possibly even to a good book... and yet the comic is, even now, seen in this country as some lesser form of story telling... just as animation is seen as the poor relation of live action... but as any artist can tell you, a picture can be worth a thousand words... and comics for many used to be their entry to discovering the pleasure of reading... they are, when done well, like a film in still form... each frame advancing the story through the amalgamation of image and word, just as the cinematograph does... and they are suitable for adults, despite what some may say... adult comics deal with issues that somehow hit harder or become more accessible than if they were in any other form... and adult does not necessarily mean violent or obscene.. take Persepolis, for example.... and yet, comics are also very suitable for kids, being as they are a good halfway house between the childrens picture book (big pictures, few words) and the childrens story book ( smaller pics, lots of words)...

Which is why the Beard was saddened to hear of the demise of the Dandy.... and gladdened by news that it will survive, albeit in digital form... now we can moan all we like about the superiority of the paper comic over it's digital cousin, but like it or not, sales of paper comics are declining... and surely anything that encourages the reading of comics, that beautiful joining of art and literature, is to be applauded... ok, so you can't swap digital comics, you can't easily lend tham to friends, but lets's be honest, that sort of thing only happens rarely anyway... and there will always be paper comics... hopefully these digital ones will lead people to some of the good stuff out there.. hopefully, the modern, digital format will at least stave off the accusation that comics are old hat... but the Beard has always been full of hope...

I will admit that I was neer a big fan of the Dandy... I was more of a 2000AD kid... especially after the demise of Action, possibly the comic that more than any other inspired the more adult, darker, British comics industry that gave us Luthe rArkwright, Watchmen, Judge Dredd and V- for Vendetta.... and with more and more comics on the shelves that seem to consist mainly of a free gift, with one or to simplistic tv based stories and a rubbish quiz, maybe the digital Dandy will show kids taht comics vcan be so much more... so roll on December, and fingers crossed...

But it grows late, my internal spellchecker has decided to give up, and I still haven't told you about the Red-rumped Swallows, the possible Bonelli's and definite Short-toed eagles, Honey Buzzards and other such wonders, let alone the wolves howling in the Pyrennees, and the marvellous wildlife at teh new Beard-house.... but they can wait for another time... it just remains to say that hope springs eternal, and until all our springs gain that eternity, Wisebeard Salutes you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!