Under new plans for education in the Republic Ireland, history will no longer be compulsory in schools; thus it will be possible for Irish citizens of the future, like Afghans of the present, to have in their heads nothing other than some myths and prejudices about the past.. Colm Toibin If you don’t know where …
A polite notice taped to the front of a till in a busy café on a university campus: “We appreciate your phone call is very important to you, therefore we will not interrupt it to serve you until you have finished it.” Epicureans know instinctively (because they are civilised and think of others), when not …
“Respectable people do not write music or make love as a career.” Alexander Borodin But then they don’t work in banks, either. What today is a respectable career? Epicureans, whatever career they choose, should conduct themselves with honesty, integrity, understanding, empathy and good humour, always remembering our mutual inter-dependence. Just make a comfortable …
Teach First, the British scheme that fast-tracks top graduates to teach in deprived areas, has become Britain’s single biggest employer of university leavers. The scheme took on 1,261 graduates this year, more than banks, the Army or the civil service graduate scheme. Its first intake, in 2003, was 186. Many of its recruits come from …
There is a top secret division of the US Drug Enforcement Administration that spies on drug runners using wiretaps, informants and electronic surveillance, and tips off the police. The latter take suspects in on petty charges and use the occasion to search the people concerned and their property. This branch of the DEA “doesn’t officially …
