Jonathan Mountstevens

Ooh definitely the Amiga 500 for me too!

I was 18 so I didn’t think I could include it in my childhood. I went and stood with the crowds on the hard shoulder of the M1 to watch the hearse go by, not because I had any particular interest in Princess Diana but because the public reaction felt significant and I wanted to watch.

You’re just telling me how much younger than me you are!

What five events defined your childhood?
Mine, in order...

1. Chernobyl
2. Margaret Thatcher's fall from power
3. The Soviet coup against Gorbachev
4. IRA ceasefire
5. Mad Cow Disease

Aside from the obvious ethical concerns, it’s so poorly done that it took me some time to work out what point it was making. But I’ll bear it in mind next time I want to put a pretty sticker on my arm.

Times are tough. And trying to get a specialist throws coach on the supply market is almost impossible. You often have to make do with a catches coach.

Have you had to cut provision so you only have a Heavy Throws Coach across the Trust these days?

Maths teacher still in his work clothes because he went to the pub after school and couldn’t be bothered to go home and get changed before the night out.

Sometimes duty is nice. Today a highlight was the Year 9 student sitting in the dining hall reading The Thursday Murder Club at a table with her friends, half of whom were also reading books. She expressed a cautious scepticism as to whether she was the target audience.

Good question. It’s quite an old one. It’s called Inside the Terror.

I go in gradually. Remind of background of non-violent party purges, use a video clip on impact of Nadya’s suicide on Stalin and then Kirov’s murder, then use extract from Simon Sebag Montefiore on Trial of the Sixteen. They do some work on elite victims then we broaden out to wider purges/terror.

Stalin’s purges with Yr 12 today. Every year they know in advance that it’s going to get dark but they are still struck because they didn’t realise quite how dark it was going to get.

Absolutely. So far I think we’re starting to see how voters then get disillusioned by the reality of them in power and are prepared to vote for somebody else (e.g. Biden in 2020) but it doesn’t reset the norm and change expectations, so people still swing back towards populists (e.g. Trump in 2024).

Also how much do most Reform-curious voters in the UK more widely pay attention to Welsh politics?

Question is how forgiving their voters will be of cock-ups and that’s a big unknown. Some of it will be priced-in and will fulfil expectation that they are insurgents, but what will limit be? Voters not very forgiving of big stuff like Truss budget but Tories are supposed to be competent.

They’ll lash out and blame stuff like civil service, the establishment etc. Make cock-ups part of their narrative. Borrow from the Trump playbook.

Why education can never be fun Proven with maths

Latest on our Substack - I attempt to prove mathematically that education can never be fun, with reference to The Flowerpot Men, Jock Stein & the Galapagos tortoise.

substack.nomoremarking.com/p/why-educat...

Castle Rising?

I had grounds for saying ‘You ain’t Stalin and I ain’t Trotsky’ to a valued colleague the other day and the more time passes the more pleased I’m getting with it as a line.

Yeah come to think of it part of my problem might have been caused by my official videographer too.

Trump demands inquiry over UN 'triple sabotage' The US president called the incidents that included an escalator and teleprompter mishap "a real disgrace".

Can I have an inquiry as well over the photocopier getting jammed, somebody else being in the toilet when I was in a rush and then the projector remote control needing a new battery, all in the build up to one lesson the other day? Must be sabotage.
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Especially for the adult who’s taking it.

An absolute icon. RIP.

That makes me quite happy.

I loved being all insufferably smug about it and pretending I knew so much better but looking back I was just being a pompous jerk.

Reminds me of all the pretentious arguments in Sixth Form about whether the examples she gives are actually ironic as we all tried to look clever.

There’s something in that although when it’s an audiobook about Stalin that comes on in the car it’s less like poetry to the sunrise. Definitely good though.

I spend so much time in the summer feeling grumpy about it being unpleasantly warm in bed at night that I forget how unpleasant it is to have to get out of bed, shave, get dressed etc when the house is cold.

Politicians should also have learned their lesson from Brexit that it won’t win the argument with voters.

Well it's early days and I've only got the evidence of some classroom discussions, but they seemed able to draw the right distinctions and nothing made me worried. Time will tell I guess! Do you add references/bibliography to your stories?