The Politics of Dancing

One third of British teachers recently polled believe that creationism ought to be taught on an equal basis to natural selection. This poll went unreported; I only caught this information on Teachers TV, a surprisingly interesting cable channel. Now I suspect that if one third of British teachers believe that a religious fundamentalist doctrine, not just unscientific but an anti science position, equivalent to the advocacy of astrology as part of the science curriculum, ought to be taught to our children this should be a cause for some concern. Now there are two possibilities for this state of affairs. Number one is that the overwhelming power of the Creationist, the intellectual rigour of the so called Intelligent Design position has simply converted one third of the teaching profession, or secondly faced by schoolrooms filled with young minds indoctrinated by religious doctrine, particularly from within the Christian fundamentalist and Islamic communities , they have simply, as they

Before he finally leaves office I would like to place on record that I could never bring myself to dislike George Walker Bush. I thought him ineffably stupid, extraordinarily lacking in sensitivity and completely unqualified to hold the office of President of The United States. However I also believe that he was sincere in his beliefs and rather than the centre of a great conspiracy to enforce American hegemony believed that you could export the freedoms enjoyed by the American people by force, to the point of naiveté. A recovered alcoholic he carried into the Oval Office all the solipsistic assumptions of this breed of born again human being, that is he believed sincerely in a personal God to whom he had a hotline. This belief, which is I suspect fairly common, if often less intense than in the ‘saved,’ is responsible for much mischief. Being held by the President of The United States it has bordered on the disastrous.