Oooh discussing the dowry! I like it.

It should be borne in mind that I also like Wagner.

Are you watching the Met performing the Ring? Recorded the first 2 so far, not yet viewed.

I missed the first part, so have got myself the Blu Ray of [iRheingold[/i. I'm going to give myself over to it this weekend while tb is off watching the Tigers in Perpignan.





There's the start of a series on BBC4 this evening, with the director of Covent Garden explaining the whole cycle.7.15pm, I think.

I agree on most of this although others have also said there are hints that the ring was the H-bomb and Sauron was just the embodyment of the German nation (Evil thought to be destroyed only to return).

Tolkien did whilst joking say himself that it was a major work of creating a mythical history of GB as ours was destroyed when the Romans then the Vikings and finally the French decided that we had rather nice land that they wanted to own.

Yet Tolkien himself objected to the anti-German rhetoric that the government used during the war, even though he was avowedly anti-Nazi: he didn't like the demonisation of a whole people and didn't consider it any better if it was doneby the UK than if it was done by Goebbels.



There are major religious themes in it – JRR being a very observant Catholic, who is said to be responsible to CS Lewis finding faith (although he was less impressed when Lewis opted for the good old CofE).

Indeed but as you say he said other influences were not true as well plus he didn't need to demonize the German nation himself to use the idea.

My point is that if you start pulling it apart there is an awful lot in it to find (It's influences obviously).

[url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-22558756Gove accused of bullying by NAHT[/url



I can only assume that the weasely little [is[/ihit was himself bullied as a schoolboy and judging by the way he's playing around with sports funding, I reckon the closest he came to any physical exercise was as timekeeper for the school speedchess championships



And in other education news: [url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-22571711Academy group accused of funding extravagant jollies at taxpayer expense[/url

Read that report and you quickly summarise that Sir Bruce got off the gravy train at the last stop before Sacksville,







None of which would matter in the slightest if they were a private company generating their own income and profit and answerable only to their own investors - but its public money intended for education of children that they are being criticised on spending recklessly - "not having an order" in the quote above means that Sir Bruce has personally authorised payments to individuals without any paper trail, no substantiation, and no auditing - makes the bloke sound like some sort of buffoon who believes himself to be above scrutiny.

...and more misuse of public funds by private educational trusts amid a culture of not actually realising that you can't pay for your private party's using public money ...



[urlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-22577069[/url





Meanwhile Gove seems to think its the way forward ...



[urlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-22558756[/url



Quite surprised to read that over half of all secondary schools are now Academies, when did that happen (when we weren't looking).

Now school's are Academies thay tend to see themselves as businesses competing for customers (pupils). In Wigan, where there are more places than kids, some became academies to avoid closure by the council (my brother was made redundant when they closed the school at which he taught) and this has lead them to wasting money that should be spent on the kids on advertising to attract pupils. You see it on advertising boards around the town, on buses and even the electronic advertising hoardings at the DW stadium.



I spoke to my local Labour councillor about this waste of money and was told that as the Academies aren't run by the councils there is nothing they can do, even though they too see it as a waste of money, and that the spending would have had to have been authorised by the Board of Governors at the schools involved. In my opinion the Governors and / or head should be shown the door for wasting money that should be spent on the kids.

Hull is going the same way, the inspectors go in and judge a school to be 'failing' and push it towards academy status against the wishes of staff, pupils and parents. The Tory government want privatised education, they will tolerate very poor standards in academies, but LA schools need to be 'excellent' to stave off Gove's hatchet men.