What's going on, or not

Due to the fact that they sneak it on after Spooks, I watched the News.

The joys.

Russell Brand/Jonathan Ross/Andrew Sachs. Idiots. Cruel. Why is everyone talking about it? The House of Lords? David Cameron? Me? Why? I don't get it. I don't get why some things get mega'd and others just ignored.

The American election is worrying. Obama says something that makes sense:
We need to invest in infrastructure.

The American public go:
Oh, we don't really want to SPEND money

McCain says:
Yeah, we need the infrastructure, but we're not going to pay for it
(which is illogical)

The American public go:
Yes! That's what we want to hear!


Uh huh. Brains connected anyone? No? Hello?



Then I spoilt myself and read the Scotsman headlines to see what happened in Scotland yesterday (it takes me a while to build up the tolerance to read these). Nothing, as usual. There's a big hooha about independent schools and charitable status, and then the inevitable comments after. Of course, this leads to the "private education is ethical and immoral" (I exaggerate nor paraphrase not) comments, which rouses a LOT of rantage from me.

I went to a private school. It was nice. I won't be sending my children to one.

I have never in my life thought that my school makes me one iota better than the next person, but since the day I started there, it has been assumed that I do. Why?

(Exception to this being when I lived in Lesser England and spoke to small minded people - which I am prepared to concede in my old age is not actually the norm for English people, some of them are remarkably nice, but y'know, I'm Scottish, I have to say "English" with a slightly bad taste - who did not believe I could have gone to a private school or surely I would have lost my common Scottish accent)

As a parent, schooling is kind of an important thing to think of, and so I tend to talk about it to other parents. Some have chosen to send their children to private school, and they're not being elitist about it, in the slightest, they simply want their children to get the best possible education. Listening to their reasoning, they sound perfectly sensible. There are those, and they shout loudest, who do it so they say their precious lovelies are at St Snots and so the lovelies can meet lovely snotty friends and marry into some lovely snotty family. But most people aren't like that and they do genuinely want their children to get the best from their education. That's the whole point of paying for something, is it not? Is private healthcare also elitist?

I won't be sending my boys to private school. Main reason: it costs about £9000 a year, per child. That's a whole salary. A big salary after tax. The other reason is that I ended up a dilettante, so it didn't do me a whole lot of good in the long run. Oh, and their semi-anarchist father would never allow it in a million years, he has almost forgiven me.

Years of conditioning make me reluctant to post this because I don't want to be considered elitist and unethical. Maybe it explains it all. Maybe it doesn't. Maybe it doesn't matter.