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Our most esteemed Winterval Wally to date - Baroness Julia Neuberger

Oh how wonderful, we have our most esteemed Winterval Wally to date. The establishment's near favourite faith leader Baroness Julia Neuberger has just spouted this untruthful nonsense for the Washington Post:

"Some local authorities in the UK wanted to ban Christmas at one stage, and tried to invent a 'winterval', a winter festival, with no associations."

Oh no they didn't Julia and you are our latest nominee for Winterval Wally of 2007 for recycling lies in the Phoney War on Christmas. See here, here and here for more details on the award. 

Read the article and it seems Julia might be a potential recruit for this year's new culture clash, the War on Halloween. We shall watch with interest.

How faith schools proved to be electoral arsenic for the Conservatives in Canada

They may be wrong, but they are also popular. So goes the refrain about faith schools. So how to explain why in Canada when the Conservatives proposed to introduce religious schools into Ontario it became the main election issue, voters objected strongly leading the Conservatives into a crushing defeat. The Conservatives now describe their faith schools policy as "dead as a doornail". Well, fancy that. 

How faith schools destroy parental choice

Here's a shocking example of how the policy of handing over community schools to religious organisations and other Blair-inspired experiments have destroyed any hope of meaningful school choice for liberal or progressive parents who don't wish to send their children to non-selective, non-sectarian or non-fee paying schools.

From Hansard for October 22nd 2006

                Ken Purchase (Wolverhampton North East, Labour) Link to this | Hansard source

"The hon. Gentleman mentioned church schools, which are bedevilling—forgive the pun, which was not intended—education in his constituency. The reason given for establishing academies there is that they will provide more parental choice. My constituency has three private schools, a girls grammar school, four Church schools, two foundation schools, a city technology college, Walsall academy, St. Thomas More Catholic school and a raft of specialist schools. In fact, the situation has become impossible for a liberal-minded parent who wants a school for their child that is non-selective, non-sectarian and non-fee-paying. This is how, in the hon. Gentleman's constituency, like mine, the choice agenda has resulted not in a wide liberal choice for progressives, but in a narrowing down of opportunities, which are restricted basically to those of a regressive understanding of education."

Later in the same debate:

                Bob Russell (Colchester, Liberal Democrat) Link to this | Hansard source

"Although I have a Christian upbringing, I am not an Anglican, but come from good nonconformist stock. I have serious misgivings about two of Colchester's local secondary schools being shut down and their replacement academy handed over to the Chelmsford diocese. If the diocese wants to have a secondary school to promote Anglican teachings then let it, like the Brentwood Roman Catholic diocese, organise its own school in Colchester to serve the whole of north Essex for those parents who wish to have such a denominational school—not impose itself on a particular geographic area of the town whose parents may not necessarily wish to have their children taught under a religious regime. What parental choice will there be for those in Monkwick and Shrub End who do not want their children to attend a religious academy? Will other secondary schools in Colchester have places available to accept them?"

The Phoney War on Christmas: We have our 2nd Winterval Wally

Wow, if this story had appeared in a national newspaper we could have declared this year's phoney War on Christmas well and truly open. However, and slightly bizarrely, our latest nomination for a Winterval Wally award for trotting out myths about Winterval goes to Management Today magazine. In an article about a biblical toys franchise the magazine boldly states:

"Yet it seems like an unlikely time to be pushing religious toys, especially given that the multicultural nature of our country has already led to many schools ditching the term ‘Christmas’ in favour of the more inclusive ‘Winterval’."

Excuse me? Schools ditching Christmas in favour of Winterval! Where is the evidence for this, it's a new one on me. Of course, we know there isn't any, as evidence and truth play no part in the phoney War on Christmas. 

Anyhow, as no one has put their name to this article, on the online version at least, we will have to award this Winterval Wally award to the guy who signed off this guff, Management Today editor, Matthew Gwyther. Congratulations Matthew, you are our second* Winterval Wally of the season. Happy Holidays!

* Nathan Bevan from Wales on Sunday was the winner of the first Winterval Wally award.

Yes, you can have a TV career and not know if the Earth is flat

A creationist talk show host in the US says on air that she doesn't know whether the Earth is flat. Yes folks, perhaps we too often put creationism down to blind faith, when in fact it's often a case of extreme ignorance.  Watch this video clip and be amazed. (The celeb is Sherri Shepherd, presenter of ABC's chat show The View):