h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Or:

In my imagination
There is no complication

RF

I always liked 'Lord of the Dance' No really I did. And it is quite funny for the merry dance he leads us on.

We did Jonah man jazz that was quite fun. great tune.

Ninevah city was a city of sin, the jazzing and the jiving made a terrible din. Beat groups playing a rock and roll, and the Lord he said, well bless my soul

Point taken - and as I've said, I regard religion as innately divisive.

But I'm wondering if some of the hoo-hah in this instance isn't caused specifically by the Muslim dimension.

I remember my favourite hymn was the rousing:

At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow...

ah, i remember my folks being very against Lord of the Dance when i was a kid. Too much jollity and happiness about the crucifixtion of Our Saviour (tm). Thankfully they've chilled out a bit since those days.

Have you ever heard Wee Free hymns? Talk about gloom!

I see they're getting Maoist in Prince Harry's ass:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/feb/12/prince-harry-diversity-course

A Prince of the Realm, third in line to the throne, born into rank, privilege and wealth - sent on an "equality course" - interesting

I think all religious schools should be closed - they are selective and divisive.

I'd also close single sex schools, purely on the grounds that it's an artificial environment.

I was perversely amused by the army saying from that article,

' but will not harm his career'

If you say it in the right way it has a certain ring of truth to it...it never harms a British officer to throw around the p word now and then,

McKay, I agree with you on the religious schools bit (though one of the best schools in Bradford is nominally Catholic with over 60% Muslim kids) but single sex schools do work.

They're a strange environment, to be sure, but both girls and boys do better. There's less distractions and it means teachers and support staff can focus their efforts and use strategies more effectively. Girls mature quicker than boys so a single age group in a mixed school will have a much broader range of abilities, which helps no-one. Boys tend to be more kinaesthetic learners, while girls tend to be more visual or auditory - a teacher with just one or the other can be more effective.

I know a few schools (including my new one) are going to experiment with single-sex classes but mixed-form groups and social stuff. It'll be interesting to see how that goes.

I will saw, I'm dead-set against single sex 6th forms - they should definitely be binned.

<<' but will not harm his career'>>

Gran:-now Harry your annual prince appraisal is here and i can see that your grandfathers ways are rubbing off on you, so as a result, you will not be getting a raise from the civil list and you will not be invited to sandringham this year, you are also banned from attending any function with your grandfather.

or

Colonel:- you have been a very silly boy your royal highness, don't do it again,......by the way, any word on that knighthood??????

>attending any function with your grandfather.<

which grandfather might that be? Are we talking blood here or appearances?

It's widely rumoured that Harry's Great-Gran held some virulently unreconstructed views.

Gawd bless ye, ma'aam.

If by secular hymns she means songs that don't refer to god or Jesus, Morning Has Broken would be out, surely (last line, "God's recreation of the new day")?

But that one that my children sing at their (nominally CofE) school, the one that sounds like a Soviet dirge, that goes along the lines of "We will get along much better, if we all obey the rules" and goes on about walking in the corridors and being quiet in the library etc, would be in. Not exactly a rousing start to the day, though.

Community singing is a Good Thing, I think. I have no religion (I cannot emphasise this enough) but I do show up at church occasionally just to join in the singing. Community singing at sports events, local drama evenings, guide and scout events - all really effective at bringing people together. Except for those that can't sing (not knowing the song isn't a problem cos good community songs tend to be repetitive and relatively simple, but it must get a bit lonely for the tone-deaf when everybody else is in full voice).

I should probably have used the phrase "musically challenged".

Sorry, bit off topic there. Again.

Isn't there room for both sorts of assembly over the course of a week? We used to have daily assemblies at secondary school (one hymn, one prayer, notices), but every day a different year had its own "year" assembly in the drama hall. If you had a secular whole school assembly every day, but on Mondays a separate Muslim assembly, Tuesdays a separate Christian assembly, and so on, *at the same time as* the whole school assembly ( which would actually then be a rest-of-school assembly) then surely that's recognising diversity without being divisive (if I haven't just contradicted myself).

Perhaps.

Mol

What does anyone think about the Dutch MP refused entry?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7885918.stm

It does seem that he's gained far more publicity for his ban. To be honest I'm not in the slightest bit interested in watching his film although apparently millions now have on YouTube. Without the ban he wouldn't have gained half this publicity. He came to Heathrow knowing he wouldn't be let in and gained maximum publicity for his film.

*by his ban*

I just saw that story briefly at lunch time. This was Sky News in a cafe with the sound down and no subtitles. There was a chap from UKIP and a Muslim Labour MP sounding off about it, but I have no idea what they were saying.

TRiG.

It was the top story on BBC1 10pm news.

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