Things Are Different In EnglandTim Worstall has a
weekly Britblog roundup. You might think that it would be interesting only for other Brits, but that is not the case.
For one thing, it serves to educate us Americans on how different things are in Merry Olde.
For instance, this
terrific post at Politicalog on the British government's policy of handing out I-Pods to teenagers to get them back into school:
If my kids want an iPod or £100, they have to get it from me. I might be able to afford it if I wasn't already supplying free iPods to a bunch of NEETS. (NEETS= [Teens] Not in Employment Education Training or School.
This gives me a chance to talk a little about job training. We hear often from Democrats about the need for job training and retraining. Over in England they do it pretty agressively, as I found out by reading a humorous little book called
Wilt by Tom Sharpe. Wilt was a somewhat meek professor at a UK university, charged with teaching literature to unemployed butchers who obviously don't want to be there but won't get their unemployment compensation if they don't. So they take it out on Wilt, who's supposed to be getting them to read the classics. It's a hilarious story, but one that I think most Americans would have a hard time getting their minds around. I mean, teaching literature to unemployed butchers? Who in the world came up with that idea?
On the opposite side of the coin, we learn that there are wacky farming methods catching on in the UK as well. Listen to this description of bio-dynamic farming:
For example, all biodynamic crops are raised and harvested, not just in keeping with the sacred rhythms of Gaia, but also in accordance with "the position and influences of the sun, moon and stars," as one sympathetic observer puts it. Biodynamists schedule growing activities via a standard calendar, published annually by the Biodynamic Agricultural Association.I had some veal recently that was obviously out of tune with the sacred rhythms, so I know how important that is.
