There is this homework group of secondary school pupils who are all ambitious yet underachieve due to English being their second language. When they speak, the speak with a Glaswegian accent. They are as giggly or boisterous as any kid their age. They have friends, from their country, form here, and generally get on well, as well as you can if you are an asylum seeker. Their problem is spelling and writing, and because they know they aren't as good as others, they have started hating anything that involves taking a pen in their hands and putting words onto paper. ...   more »

Last night I was at the Mount Florida Community Council meeting, as I should in my new role as a community councillor. And, quite in line with what I enjoy doing, i.e. networking and using the internet and new technologies to facilitate this, I volunteered to set up a community council website for Mount Florida. I had put forward some ideas to the chair, and we set up a sub-group to discuss this. In my research for the suggestions I submitted for consideration and decision, I came across some interesting initiatives which I'd like to share.

Napier University in Edinburgh ...   more »

After having spent all day trying to get my head aroun the Gimp, image formats and how to alter them, all to produce a holding webpage for my darling's new game development, I don't feel much like spending much more time in front of this screen, so this is going to be short. I spent Saturday in the local Co-op supermarket, manning an Amnesty stall for most of the day, interrupted by the joys of food shopping (I must be the only woman who doesn't like shopping, so even standing at a stall and getting over the fear of approaching ...   more »

- English summary below -
Einer meiner Neujahrsvorsätze ist, dieses Jahr meine alten Reisenotizen überarbeitet zu digitalisieren und ins Blog zu setzen. Ganz willkürlich hatte ich meine Heftchen auf den Schreibtisch gelegt, ganz willkürlich eins in die Hand genommen. Es war meine Spanienreise von 2001 - doch was mich wirklich erstaunte war, dass die Sprachwahl auf Deutsch fiel, als ich es schrieb. Stutzig ließ ich mich drauf ein und schrieb auch den entsprechenden Blogeintrag auf Deutsch. Mein erster deutscher Beitrag. Warum bin ich erst jetzt drauf gekommen, dass es eigentlich eine Alternative zum Englischen gibt? Warum blogge ich auf Englisch? ...   more »

I spent yesterday and today being trained. In how to manage people. In the initial getting to know you exercise I also mentioned that I have a blog by the name of cartside, so maybe one of my fellow trainees (or even trainers) is lurking right now - welcome!
Now, I'm not a manager, and I'm not even being particularly managed in my job (which, incidentally, I quite enjoy, I love to work autonomously), but I do have a training budget and thought it would be a useful course to do, and maybe even be beneficial for some future career ...   more »

Today marks the fourth anniversary of the first transferral of detainees to Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. naval base in Cuba. 500 people have since been detained at Guantanamo Bay, some of them for the full four year. None of the detainees has been tried, very very few indeed have been charged with any offence. The trial which may eventually take place will be a military one, which means that principles of power sharing are lifted: The executive of the US will be performing judicial functions.

For me, the existence of Guantanamo Bay is evidence of the greatest hypocracy of our ...   more »

It's the 8th of January and I still haven't decided on my new year's resolutions. So here they are, with no claim to comprehensiveness:

1. write two funding applications and one annual report in January
2. don't panic
3. don't work overtime if at all possible
4. take overtime and remaining holiday off without creating more overtime in the process
5. be calm and focussed, do one thing at a time and resist distraction
6. achieve singlehandedly or, better even, with the support from the whole wide world that the UK will be a safe haven for refugees, with a ...   more »