Enter Steve Biddulph

My husband alerted me to Steve Biddulph's response to the report that nursery places are being shunned by mothers.

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Six inches of time and 20 centimetres of parenting left

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The year that was 2023

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 It's been another year of ups and downs. A recent trip to Montalbano and Godfather country (Sicily) to celebrate 25 years of marriage was certainly an "up", despite a burst tyre three minutes before reaching our first hotel (the "down"). However, I would place the highlight of my year as learning about goalball and watching it played 'live' at the recent "Blind Games" (IBSA: International Blind Sport Federation).  Back in August I decamped once again to a university in the Midlands to teach EAP (English for Academic Purposes) to incoming international pre-Master's students. Seven weeks away. I really do enjoy teaching these students. Most of them come from university cultures where they do not question the authorities and certainly not their professors. They were used to quoting their professors in order to get a good grade! Talk about stroking egos.  Imagine their surprise when I tell them that, "Look! Teachers do not have all the a
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Overcoming obstacles or the blind leading the blind?

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 In sharing university campus accommodation with blind and partially sighted athletes at the 2023 World Games, I learned of a most amazing game called goalball . This comes amidst my contemplation of Martha Nussbaum’s “capabilities framework”, which suggests that instead of making everyone “the same” to achieve equality, we start with assessing the individual’s capabilities, and then decide on the resources needed to make that person function at their fullest (God-given) capacity. Athletes arriving with guide dogs and sighted supporters to help them navigate unfamiliar terrain Goalball is a very physical game. Players use their whole body to stop their opponents scoring goals stretched across the width of the pitch. Bells inside the 1.25kg ball allow players to “see” where the ball. If you watched them ‘live’, as I did, you might notice the incredible way players catch and block the ball as it bounces and rolls. You might even forget that they are blind. By embedding bells, the
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