The Return of the Curried Eyeballs

First Christmas night out, and to say that I overdid it is being economical with the actualitie. In my defence, I only found out about the night out two hours before we were meeting in the restaurant, and I hadn't planned ahead. The meal was excellent if a bit fussy (Scallops on individual mounds of scrambled eggs, fillet of beef with a minature cottage pie (!) and a nice scottish cheeseboard). I'd recommend Langs to anyone who's in Glasgow and on an expense account. Too much wine, though, white and red, and then too much whisky afterwards.

When we went our separate ways (about one o'clock) I decided a stroll was just the thing to sober me up, and ended up doing a tour of all the office buildings I used to work at. That took me to St Vincent Street (Ford), Waterloo Street (Lloyds Bowmaker), Bothwell Street (Scottish Development Agency) and finally Washington Street (where I worked for a four person start up, in the preserved offices of a whisky bond. I was saddened to see that our old office has been modernised and looks like every other business centre now).

This is when I sobered up, and realised I was in a very bad part of town with a wallet full of money and lovely credit cards, which is when I jumped in a taxi and headed home.

Now I'll be measuring the rest of the day by cans of Irn Bru - I wish we could get the glass bottles of the stuff around here (Glasgow folklore has it that only the bottled version is actually made in Parkhead, and is the best for killing a hangover).

(no subject)

The league tables for Scottish schools have just been published. I realise that league tables are a blunt instrument for measuring performance, but I thought I’d have a peek at how my old school, All Saints in Glasgow, was doing.

The results depressed me, showing just how bad the exam results were compared to the city’s norm. Then I looked at the results for the private schools in Glasgow, and I stopped being depressed and started being furious instead.

Leaving aside the morality of private education, the results demonstrate just what can be achieved by throwing money at education.
2 out of 3 pupils getting five or more highers (the Scottish A Level) against 1 in 20
97% of pupils going on to university against an average of 32% or worse.
More than half of the pupils at my old school are poor enough to qualify fro free school meals – how many of their children will end up the same?