Category Archives: ranting or raving

take your pick

Tax, benefits, morality and #spartacusreport

Posted on Sat Jan 21 2012 by Jax

I’ve been arguing with the HMRC website this afternoon. It’s coming up to the deadline for SA returns, and even though I’m fairly sure I don’t owe anything, I have to submit on time or I get a £100 fine. … Continue reading →

Posted in Stealing your freedom, political stuff, ranting or raving | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Can you imagine it?

Posted on Tue Jan 10 2012 by Jax

Yesterday I posted about the spartacus report and the government welfare reform bill and what you can do about it. I tweeted lots, watched the post views triple, emailed my MP, signed and shared the epetition, was featured by Mumsnetbloggers, … Continue reading →

Posted in Stealing your freedom, blog for good, ranting or raving | 13 Comments

I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this any more.

Posted on Mon Jan 9 2012 by Jax

I read an article in the Guardian last night. It had chilling echoes for me of a previous situation where a government decided they didn’t like something and would legislate against it, regardless of the actual facts of the situation. … Continue reading →

Posted in Stealing your freedom, blog for good, ranting or raving, the public face | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

Book related rant – is Harry Potter really all that?

Posted on Fri Jan 6 2012 by Jax

I’ve just, courtesy of twitter, come across the latest words of wisdom from a politician on reading. The headline is All children should read Harry Potter books by 11, says minister The actual quote is “By the end of primary … Continue reading →

Posted in ranting or raving, reeling, writhing | Tagged , , , | 22 Comments

I have been accused of neglect.

Posted on Mon Nov 7 2011 by Jax

Again. Oh no, it’s not the first time. No, it’s not me personally. It’s worse than that in a way. It’s yet another invidious slight against the home education community. This time at the hands of the TES (times educational … Continue reading →

Posted in It's where it is, Stealing your freedom, home education review, political stuff, ranting or raving | Tagged , , , , , | 22 Comments

When do charity requests cross the line?

Posted on Thu Nov 3 2011 by Jax

Last night Big returned home from Guides with the instruction that they’ve to take £1.50 in next week as they are going to buy Innocent Smoothies and knit hats for them for charity. This confused me on several levels. First … Continue reading →

Posted in Big, ranting or raving | 18 Comments

Some things make me cross.

Posted on Tue Sep 6 2011 by Jax

Actually, quite a lot of things make me cross. I do a fair bit of ranting offline, and I used to do a fair bit on here too. I don’t know where the rant mode has gone. I think it’s … Continue reading →

Posted in ranting or raving | 16 Comments

Things I didn’t buy today.

Posted on Mon Feb 28 2011 by Jax

This is a t shirt for a 2 year old. It appears to have a built in garotte. I thought that was a nice touch. Brand name called out to me too. Not. Am I just hopelessly old fashioned? Two … Continue reading →

Posted in ranting or raving | Tagged , | 13 Comments

Baby led weaning.

Posted on Fri Jan 14 2011 by Jax

So there’s a new report out is there, that now says exclusive breast feeding until six months could be a problem. I haven’t read the report. I’m not going to. I haven’t even read any of the newspaper articles about … Continue reading →

Posted in It's where it is, breastfeeding, ranting or raving | 29 Comments

Won’t you think of the children?

Posted on Sun Dec 12 2010 by Jax

There’s a journalist on twitter this afternoon rehashing old ground and proposing that home ed families should submit to monthly visits to ensure that their children are safe and not being abused. Leaving aside the issue of how a quick … Continue reading →

Posted in Stealing your freedom, political stuff, ranting or raving | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

School, huh, yeah, what is it good for?

Posted on Tue Nov 16 2010 by Jax

Despite appearances to the contrary, given that we home educate, I’m not actually anti school per se. I’m just not sure I can see the point of it. And I think that there are an awful lot of ppl with … Continue reading →

Posted in It's where it is, Montessori minded, political stuff, ranting or raving | Tagged , , , , , , | 21 Comments

A quick rant.

Posted on Wed Dec 30 2009 by Jax

I’ve been inspired by an article in a newspaper to have a quick end of year rant. Toby Young is displaying his educational ignorance in the Independent. As the father of three boys under five, I share the Government’s concerns. … Continue reading →

Posted in how we do it, political stuff, ranting or raving | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

The story of the carpark.

Posted on Fri Sep 25 2009 by Jax

We went to the park this afternoon, as I mentioned. After a couple of hours we headed back to the car, to discover that someone had been there before us. Someone who had smashed the passenger side window and taken … Continue reading →

Posted in ranting or raving | 5 Comments

Excluding four year olds

Posted on Wed Jun 24 2009 by Jax

Schools need not expel under 7s In the report, The Exclusion From School of Children Aged Four To Seven, Ofsted said most children “responded well to the school’s expectations”, but a few found this difficult. In the BBC report on … Continue reading →

Posted in political stuff, ranting or raving | 10 Comments

Politicising the offspring.

Posted on Tue Feb 17 2009 by Jax

This afternoon Big and I have wrapped IT and civics together by sitting down to talk through and complete her response to the current review on home education. Her identifier was 1103, so the numbers are climbing steadily this week, … Continue reading →

Posted in Ages past, Big, OU, Puters!, Small steps, political stuff, ranting or raving, reeling, writhing, rhythm of the day | 3 Comments

Waste of money

Posted on Wed Jan 28 2009 by Jax

We have just received through the post four separate envelopes, each containing three pages (printed on each side at least) about “the development of a New Health Centre” in town. I’ve yet to work out what is wrong with the … Continue reading →

Posted in ranting or raving | Leave a comment

This is a good one.

Posted on Sat Jan 24 2009 by Jax

Garden Organic outraged at plans to charge schools and community groups for composting I am frequently very annoyed that homes are practically blackmailed into recycling, sorting out waste, composting and all the rest, and you go to work or school, … Continue reading →

Posted in It's where it is, political stuff, ranting or raving | Leave a comment

Christmas no 2 and a birthday.

Posted on Wed Dec 31 2008 by Jax

It’s Princess’s birthday today, so we gathered in a softplay area and gave her presents. We gave her a pack of books and an England supporter kit, and other ppl just kept on giving. I lost count of how many … Continue reading →

Posted in It's life Jim, It's where it is, Small steps, family, ranting or raving | 6 Comments

Not adding up

Posted on Thu Nov 27 2008 by Jax

I have been struggling to keep the joint bank account under control for some time now, and tonight, in a moment of clarity, I suddenly realised why. We have two credit cards with one provider and my understanding was that … Continue reading →

Posted in ranting or raving | 1 Comment

UK’s renewable energy efforts ‘ineffective’ | Environment | The Guardian

Posted on Thu Oct 2 2008 by Jax

UK’s renewable energy efforts ‘ineffective’ | Environment | The Guardian Britain ranked 31st in the cost league of 35 countries, prompting criticism from environmental group Greenpeace. “Our renewables industry has been left to wither on the vine while our European … Continue reading →

Posted in political stuff, ranting or raving | Leave a comment