Organic-Ally

A certain man made this statement: Team GB chief: dominance of public schools is unacceptable . But of course, he must have been quoted out of context. I had to go out to buy some ginger to put into my slow cooker where the glorious aroma of cinnamon and star anise means the belly pork must surely taste wonderful come dinner time. There was a steel band made up of young people (black and white) performing at the town centre. In the sunshine. I found myself thinking: now how would the lives of our young people be different if they are required to be in a steel band, a marching band, a school cadet corp, a competitive sport, etc. for all the years that they are at school. This goes back to my own school days when I spent so much time playing in the school band and orchestra I had no time to get up to any mischief (or pregnant). Every year we had a marching band competition. We had a concert band competition. We played in concerts from the presidential residence to public ...

My cousin and her husband passed through Heathrow early this morning. My husband met them to collect a package of food for me. I was delighted that she had brought fresh food. My son watched me eat a strange red thing which we call "ang koo kueh", or "red tortoise". He watched me tear off the banana leaves from the bottom of this "cake" and said, "Banana leaves." I said, "Yes, banana leaves, completely biodegradable." Son also chose to buy me a large basket of flowers for "Yummy Mummy" this Mothering Sunday. I really appreciated it. However, it came wrapped in yards of a plasticized clear wrap. It is very difficult to find real cellophane these days, the crinkly variety that actually biodegrades when exposed to light and air. I look forward to a week of eating dumplings wrapped and steamed in banana leaves. Yumm!

Some weeks ago I dealt with a young man from the Horn of Africa. I came this close to throttling him. He slumped into my office and started off straightaway with "I want to know what benefits I am entitled to". [Why should he be "entitled" to anything? He has not contributed a penny to the British economy.] He told me he was being given some benefits in another part of the country and so clearly he was "entitled" to those benefits. But his JSA (JobSeekers Allowance) was stopped because the woman at the Job Centre said as a student he is not looking for a job and should not be entitled to JSA. This woman is right. Otherwise every college student would be claiming JSA but these students are not really prepared to leave their courses to work. The point is without his JSA his Housing Benefit (paying rent) and Council Tax Benefit (paying council tax) were also stopped. So this poor chap had to move in with his sister. Previously he had "his...

My clients yesterday included a 44-year-old mother of four who suffers from incontinence and told me that "I am claiming [benefits] for them [husband and sons]". She's one of the thousands the government is trying to move off Incapacity Benefit (she was classed as severely disabled) back into work (JobSeekers Allowance). However because no one in the family works, for her to lose her benefits would mean the family would struggle to survive. This is despite one son and husband also claiming benefits. She "claims for them" in the sense that she is entitled to most. When I probed further she said that she is a bit embarrassed by her problem and so does not feel that she could work. She also mentioned depression. I wonder if the depression is a result of her not working or her reason (excuse?) not to work. Similarly her son who trained as a plumber could not find a job -- and is depressed -- and so has signed on. Before I met this lady I didn't think inc...

Warning: This is a brag post, originally written for a Singapore audience. My son, his mate and I enjoy watching the comedy series "Miranda" in which Miranda's friend (and employee) often holds up a mask of Heather Small and mimic her singing "What have you done today to make you FEEL proud?" Yesterday I went to bed thinking that I really toted up well. First, a meeting with fellow social scientists outside academia. It was a group I started – by accident – some years ago and now it has grown, nearly 400 members! Was able to encourage those present. Then on the way home – my train, for which I was careful to buy a first class ticket to ensure a seat after a tiring meeting, was cancelled – I was squashed into a Tube train whereupon a man with a beard, long hair, a very large ring in his nose, dirty finger nails, on a walking stick asked my fellow social scientist and myself whether the train was going to MK. He, too, was supposed to be on my cancelled t...

On Thursday mornings before I set out for my stint at the local CAB my son often tells me, "Hope you don't get too many benefits cases." He knows how I detest having to deal with benefits clients who say, "I'm entitled to this. Do this for me. NOW." Today I was incensed that a client has had his benefits stopped. This man is a refugee from an African country. He has four young children. He was on unemployment benefits and housing benefits because of that. He decided that he needed to improve his English and signed up for a college course (ESOL Intensive) and did so well that he passed his exams before the end of his course. However as a result of the 15 hours he was studying, plus some mistake made by some civil servant (who turned this into 16 hours), he was deemed "unavailable for work" and therefore his JSA was stopped, leading to his Housing Benefits (which pays his rent) being stopped as well. Now his landlord is threatening eviction ...

Wrote this piece for my friends in Singapore: my perspective of what Mr Cameron called the "sick society". David Starkey in using the phrase "The whites have become black" has been branded a "racist". I am no fan of Mr Starkey. As a social scientist from outside the UK, one who is not weighed down by the guilt of British colonialism (but is in fact a product of it), one who is colour-blind except when it is culturally significant, I feel that Mr Starkey is only using this statement to make a "shortcut" to what I had alluded to in my original blog piece referenced above. There is something in the black African/West Indian/Caribbean culture/s that is preventing their younger generations from benefitting from all the resources thrown at them in the UK. The same is happening amongst a certain class of young white generations. Taxpayers should be keen to ascertain what exactly are the factors (fatherlessness, lack of disciplinary boundaries, ...

After building up my sourdough starter for two weeks (details in the next post, perhaps) I was very excited about making my first sourdough loaf. The diary was cleared. This was my starter in the morning. The volume has reduced from its evening time high, as you might have noticed from the "tide marks", but still bubbling when viewed from the top: I am trying to followed a "recipe" from Dan Lepard in a newspaper and combining that with a recipe by Daniel Stevens ( River Cottage No. 3 ). Emptied most of this into a mixing bowl, added 500 strong wholemeal (because I don't like eating white) flour and about 300ml tepid water and mixed into a ball. Left it for 10 minutes. Then decided (perhaps wrongly) that it probably needed a little more water. Added what I thought was about two teaspoons of salt, but probably much less. Left this for about two hours and it became like this. Notice the holes on the surface. Removed this onto an oiled surface and knead...

When I read how his mum tweets about how he was being locked up for 23 hours a day, my heart bled for her. But not for long. Instead I found myself mulling over what is meant by a "privileged upbringing". Was young Gilmour privileged on the basis that he has a loving mother and stepfather? Was young Gilmour privileged because he was given every material need? Was young Gilmour privileged to be an above-intelligent person (assuming that as he had gone to Cambridge)? In court it was argued in mitigation that young Gilmour behaved the way he did because he faced rejection from his birth father. He was drugged up to the eyeballs when he was swinging from the Cenotaph. Would my biographer (if I had one) also describe me as having a "privileged background"? On the basis that my mother never worked, and never made us do any household chores. Though she was criticized by the extended family for being so, her response had always been, "I want my (six) c...

I've put the following together for friends (especially from Singapore) who have taken an interest since I wrote about making bread. I had borrowed a couple of bread books from our local library and looked at various sites on Internet. Not a bread machine in sight, I'm afraid. I started when I need to take out my frustration and there was no turning back. Then I read this article . It does not take all that long to knead, but you must be patient with waiting for the dough to rise. I now gather all the ingredients together before starting and can get a lump of dough ready for first proofing within 20 minutes. It's cheaper to buy a packet of yeast rather than the 7g sachets. In the UK and if you have room, you could also have bigger bags of flour delivered. You could then opt for locally-grown and/or milled flour. =========== For Basic White Bread Ingredients • 625g strong (bread making) white flour (Sorry, don't know which or where brands are available in Sin...

When my son was born I had this inordinate fear, an overwhelming fear, totally illogical fear, that he would be gay (not in the "happy" sense). After years of parenthood now I realize that even if he did decide to be gay, I as a parent, would still love him. I would not abandon him. My Christian response to this debate is -- and I am not ashamed to say that I am a committed, Bible-believing Christian -- this is how I imagine God would respond to homosexuals. He still loves them nonetheless. They are still his creation, and he loves them one and all. Some Christians shorten this principle as "hate the sin, love the sinner". Of course it is not nice to be called a sinner, but that is what we are, if we believe in what the Bible says about our "fallen nature". What would Jesus do? (WWJD?) We read in the Gospels that Jesus associated with those who are the lowest of the low in his time on earth: the prostitutes, the lepers, the tax-collectors. Inde...

In my last visit to Singapore I (or rather my sister) managed to retrieve an old plastic folder of my newspaper clippings. I used to write letters to the local press (nothing's changed) as well as occasional "Analysis" pieces for the Sunday Times . In my folder I found a clipping from 7th April 1985, a letter entitled: If we took the Master at his word . Back then we were admonished by a senior statesman to follow a "Confucian ethic". I attach the text of this letter in full below: =========== It was interesting to have a People's Action Party Member of Parliament quote Confucius in support of Confucius policies. For if we are going to take Master Kung at his word, life in Singapore would be very different. For example, the Sage teaches that there should be no distinction of classes in education. If we accept that, streaming must go. Leonard Hsu, in The Political Philosophy of Confucianism , writes: "Equity, in Confucius philosophy, condem...

The excitement over the forthcoming General Election in Singapore is palpable, even where I am, miles away from home. It reminded me of the elections between 1981 and 1984, when I was often worried over whether an increase in bus fares would mean I could not afford to eat, given my meagre income giving private tuition as an undergraduate. I don't remember much of elections since then, and in particular in 2006. 2006 was when (1) my son had the most difficult time at school before his special education needs were identified, (2) my husband was very ill, and (3) my business was in its infancy. It has been said of British politics prior to 1997 when the Labour Party came into power, that it was not that the electorate wanted Conservative rule, but that there was no "credible opposition". I remember how every time the then PM John Major came on radio I switched it off. His "back to basics" rhetoric was torn to shreds as minister after minister, politician ...

The potatoes in my garden are going berserk. Every time I see new leaves I cover them with compost (as per instructions). If I put compost on it last thing at night, new growth appears the following morning. If I cover it with compost in the morning, the leaves break through again by the end of the day. New leaves appear despite the compost. Or is it because of the compost? I’ve been baking my own bread. In the temperate clime here it takes a long time for bread dough to prove (rise). But when it has risen to the right size, it takes but a few minutes to bake, and then soon we can tuck into delicious warm bread. When it’s the season for potatoes to grow, nothing would stop it once it finds moist, fertile ground. Fed with alternative views via the internet and watered by rising dissatisfaction, the political ground in Singapore is fertile for opposition growth. The ruling party might dig up the dirt and heap it on the opposition. But mudslinging and dirt (as compost is but ...

It's been a long while since I last posted. Together with all the usual busy-ness of life during this time of year I had been doing my weekly stint at a local charity which gives advice on all areas of life. (This means I have less time to run my business, but never mind.) Of course we are not know-it-alls. We merely have the resources to point people in the right direction. Some folk who come in need more help than others. For these we spend more time with them and help with writing letters, making phone calls, etc. My role in this charity is to assess within as short a time as possible how we might (or not) help the "client". We get all sorts. People asking about neighbour disputes over boundary fences, pensions and how these affect their current benefits, whether they are genuinely required to pay underpaid taxes because HMRC completely fouled up, domestic violence, how to apply for benefits for 19-year-olds, etc. We get the few odd-balls, for want of a better w...

First Tunisia, then Egypt and now Libya is at the brink as I write. People power. Gaddaffi sees himself as a revolutionary leader, not a president, and so cannot resign, as the people demanded. Revolutionary leaders ought to be respected for their vision, for their fortitude and for their ability to bring about revolution and surviving. When we look at the east Asian countries, not excluding Singapore, we see historians having rather nice things to say of leaders who took us out of colonial rule, hailing these as "fathers" of the nation. Problem is such leaders, after being comfortably in unopposed power (dictatorship?) for years often forget that whilst the nation might owe them a lot, the nation does not owe them EVERYTHING. The rot sets in when such leaders begin to see and appropriate their nation's wealth as their own. They start enriching themselves, and their families, blurring the line between what belongs to the nation and what belongs to the individual. Worse, ...

Yesterday was a difficult day. At my CAB session I had a young man who refused to leave my room because he had no money. What was I supposed to do? I am only a volunteer here. I have done all that I could to help him, as the last person he saw did, but if he did not help himself to resolve the situation he was in, what could we do? Do we let him keep coming back and beg for emergency money? Then you realize that at the coalface of this "Big Society" answers are not always easy. Today was a much better day. On the day that we read of 50% of five-year-old boys are falling behind, I had six (SIX!) new mothers at our Toddler Group. Many are first-time mothers. It was especially interesting (encouraging, even) to see two mothers using the "time-out" for misbehaving two-year-olds. There is hope. I also noted to a childminder that one of her charges was really good at looking after himself (took off his coat, hung it up on another child's pushchair). It appears that he...

Yesterday I was listening to Today in the morning and someone used the term "chinese whispers" (re: how suspect treated in Bristol murder) and I felt very uncomfortable. Affronted. Why "Chinese"? Should I make a complaint to BBC and campaign for a ban on the use of "Chinese whispers" with its negative connotation? (Just kidding.) It's the new Chinese lunar year today and I am quite excited (but tired). I am salivating at the pictures posted by friends on FB. The eve of Chinese New Year is when families gather for the Reunion Dinner. I remember having to wait for hours for sister to come back from her nursing shift and/or father from his new year's eve haircut. Then we tuck in. Ah! I enjoy most the thrill of putting on my new pyjamas. Mum could not always afford to buy me new clothes -- going-out clothes -- but she would always used to buy me pyjamas (they were very cheap). So I give my son new pyjamas, too. Except that his cost a bit more. Few peo...

In my late parents' flat was a stone that was often left underneath a chair in the living room. I remember my father being given that stone (nearly six inches long) by a friend soon after we moved to the Tanglin Halt flat. He said to rub his feet on the stone for good health. I was only very young then and I thought: was there magic in this stone? how could rubbing one's feet on this stone give one good health? Father didn't actually use it as instructed. It was just there, left there, for years and years. At university I remember a lecturer talking about traditional medicine. He spoke disparagingly of such, referring to "a bit of dried bark". How could we place our faith on the healing powers of a bit of dried bark when we have the whole backing of science on antibiotics, etc.? You see, where I was growing up, we revered everything that was "scientific". The west was scientific, so we revered it. Anything that was non-western and/or non-scientific was d...

This time every year we run a Christmas party for the children and their parents/carers who bring them regularly. We provide party food for the children and the adults are asked to bring food or give £3 towards food. We give each child and adult a Christmas present. The money for the food and presents comes from what is left over from the £1.50 we collect every week, after we have provided drinks and biscuits for both children and adults, craft materials for the children, etc. We also invest in new toys and equipment regularly. Mdm P is a parent who usually arrives quite late. Sometimes after I've put my moneybox away and I would say, "Pay next week." But she'd forget to pay the following week, especially if someone else was standing in for me. In fact, even if she did come early-ish, she would shuffle about, taking ages to look for her money. Sometimes I have to confront her (which I find very embarrassing) to say, "Have you registered?" and she would claim...