brexit: and fishing rights... and selling fish

We are nearing the end-game in the final Brexit talks - and fishing is the key issue:

EU vows 'final push' in UK trade talks but fish rift threatens deal | Reuters

Rifts over fishing narrow in EU-UK talks

The fishing community voted overwhelmingly to leave:

Futures Forum: Brexit: and Fishing for Leave

It's always been an emotional issue:

France remains tough: An emotional dispute over fish could burst a Brexit deal - Brexit explained - YouTube

Brexit: The UK and EU both need to put aside emotion and cut a deal

But it's not just a question of catching fish - but also selling them.

And the problem is that the British prefer steak to shellfish, and this has been known for some time - as reported back in August 2018:

The problem is complicated by the fact that much of what these men catch is exported back to Europe. From the 90 lobster pots and 300 whelk pots that Harvey has laboriously hauled to the surface that morning, some of the catch will get to London but the rest is either too expensive or out of step with local taste to find a British market.

“I don’t eat them,” admits his brother Chris as they pick over a bucket of whelks, which are said to taste of rubber if you don’t cook them right. With lobsters fetching a tenner each on the quayside and up to £50-£60 by the time they reach London restaurants, Chris says he prefers a steak if he wants to treat the family.

This makes walking away from the EU without a deal for ongoing access to its consumer markets another worry for what is left of the British industry.

Some would still like to see UK fishing cut loose regardless. A rebalancing of British consumer tastes away from imported white fish and toward shellfish and other locally-caught produce could yet see this cottage industry grow into an artisanal success story.

'We have been hijacked': fishermen feel used over Brexit | Politics | The Guardian

Futures Forum: Brexit: and fishing rights >>>> "When Britain first joined the EU, the wholesale sell-out was a British choice – not an EU dictat."

Futures Forum: Brexit: and exporting shellfish from Brixham

Most fish caught in British waters is sold to the EU - and this was pointed out back in 2016, soon after the referendum and years before the current 'last minute' talks on fish:

EU trade is 'key' to success of UK fish industry as 75% of home-caught fish is exported - and majority of fish eaten by Britons is imported

Britons will have to eat more home-caught mackerels and fewer imported prawns if the Government fails to agree a favourable trade deal for the fishing industry with the EU following Brexit.

A parliamentary report published today has found that some 75 per cent of fish caught in the UK is exported, mostly to the European Union, while the majority of fish eaten in the UK is imported.

For this reason, it argued that trade agreements with the EU ‘will be a key factor to the future success of the UK fishing industry and fish processors’.

EU trade 'key' to success of UK fish industry as 75% of home-caught fish is exported | This is Money

Brixham also exports most of its fish to the EU:

Brixham is England’s top fishing harbour by value of catch landed. The port has almost doubled the value of landings, from £22million three years ago to £40million in 2017 – mostly on the back of a booming cuttlefish fishery.

About 90% of the cuttlefish is exported to EU countries.

Mr Marsden is vice chair of the Devon and Severn Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority and a board member of the Marine Conservation Society.“What happens if we ‘fall off a cliff’ and don’t get a trade deal?” he said. “This market thrives as the moment because it’s able to move fast and transport the fish within hours from here to the end destination. If that can’t happen, it would be very serious for Brixham.”

But Jim Portus, chief executive of the South Western Fish Producers Organisation, said: “I believe we’ll end up with a deal with our European colleagues because they also want frictionless trade into the UK.

Brexit could leave fish rotting on the quayside - Devon Live

Brixham is England's most valuable fishing port - Devon Live

And all other UK shell-fish ports also need the EU markets - as with this piece from the weekend:

Shell shocked: 'Lobster capital' braces for Brexit - BBC News

Finally, deal or no deal, 'British' fishing communities won't win:

Brexit news: UK fishing rights will remain 'in hands of millionaires and multinationals' | UK | News | Express.co.uk

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a critique of phonics

This blog has looked before at 'phonics' and the criticism coming from Stephen Krashen, Emeritus Professor of Linguistics and Education at the University of Southern California:

Whole Language

Krashen is a strong advocate of the whole language approach to the teaching of reading, and has written many articles in support of it. In essence, whole language proponents claim that children learn to read most enjoyably and efficiently by exposure to interesting stories that are made comprehensible to them through pictures and discussions. This is in contrast to structured decoding programmes (usually designated phonics) in which children learn to read by sounding out the various parts of words.

More on Whole Language

Whole language is the term for a conglomeration of holistic theories of learning, not only of reading. The principle is that proficiency is acquired by engaging in whatever is to be learned (complex though it may be), rather than separating out the component subskills for discrete practice before putting them together again.

The whole language approach became a major educational paradigm in the latter decades of the 20th century. In recent years, however, there has been something of a backlash (often called Back to Basics). Phonics has made a comeback, particularly in the US, where it has been facilitated by the policies enacted under the No Child Left Behind programme in 2002.

Comments

The whole language/phonics debate has become politicised and increasingly vitriolic. Constant media reports about falling literacy standards have alarmed parents, many of whom vehemently protest if they consider their child's school to have chosen the wrong approach. The issue is further complicated by the involvement of publishing houses which stand to make large profits if school districts can be persuaded to buy their comprehensive sets of phonics-based materials. Such an entanglement of interests is rarely conducive to making the best pedagogical decisions.

More comments on Whole language

Reading proficiency is in many ways the primary academic skill. Children who are poor readers usually struggle badly in school. It is no surprise, therefore that there has been such an enormous amount of research on the issue, and a similar amount of debate on the pedagogical implications of the findings. Teachers who would like to know a little more about the main issues are recommended to follow these links:

• Wikipedia article
• EducationWorld article
• The Reading Wars

An introduction to the work of Stephen Krashen

Jay Doubleyou: krashen and second language learning

Krashen is certainly not alone in recognising the failings of this approach:

Phonics Doesn’t Help Reading Comprehension
Another common criticism of phonics instruction is that it does nothing to help reading comprehension, as this passage illustrates:
“A child filled full of phonics rules may be able to pronounce a word flawlessly without having any idea what it means, much less what its relation is to the words sitting next to it.” 2

Phonics Criticisms | TheReadingAdviceHub.com

With more here:

Reconsidering the Evidence That Systematic Phonics Is More Effective Than Alternative Methods of Reading Instruction | SpringerLink

Why Phonics Isn’t the Be-all and End-all of Learning to Read | Learning and Development | Teach Early Years

An Evidence-based Critique of Synthetic Phonics in Literacy Learning

The phonics versus whole language controversy | Language Debates

And a piece from Misty Adoniou from three years ago:

How the national phonics test is failing England and why it will fail Australia too | EduResearch Matters

She writes again in the EL Gazette in October - with some excellent points made.

Click on the link below for the full piece.

English language learners need the whole linguistic picture

Anglophone countries have been struggling for years with declining achievement in reading and writing as students move through primary school and into high school.

In 2019 more than 25 per cent of Year 6 students in England failed to reached the minimum requirements in the annual national reading and writing assessments. This means around 1 in 4 students in England are leaving primary school ill-equipped to cope with the literacy demands of high school. Similar statistics are reported in Australia and the United States.

The US has decided the problem is that students do not have the skills to comprehend complex texts. So, they have developed a more challenging curriculum (the Common Core Standards) to raise expectations of what students should be able to read and write.

England has decided the problem is that students do not have the skills to decode basic texts. So, in 2011 they instituted a mandatory Phonics Screening Check for Year 1 students. Students are prepared for the test through government-approved commercial, synthetic phonics programs. Those who fail the test receive more phonics instruction and re-take the test in Year 2. The rationale is, if we can get the basics right, the rest will follow. Eight years on, it is clear the rationale is flawed.

But why hasn’t this phonics ‘first, fast and furious’ approach worked? And are there lessons for those who teach English language learners?

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English language learners need the whole linguistic picture | E L Gazette

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private language schools: accreditation and protecting clients

A very good place to go to see what's happening to the world of teaching and learning English is the excellent EL Gazette:

EL Gazette | Magazine News | English Language Schools Students UK

It's latest story in on how the big boys of the English teaching world are not doing so well.

Click on the link below for the full story:

Is Covid breaking the chains?

By

 Melanie Butler

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17th December 2020

The fact that Eurocentres has gone into a voluntary arrangement, not exactly a liquidation but a way of protecting creditors’ money while a company continues to trade should, perhaps, not come as a surprise.

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It is clear that Covid has caused particular havoc among middle-sized language school chains concentrated in one country...

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Accreditation UK, to use the official title of the scheme jointly owned by the British Council and English UK, has never included the financial situation of a school in the areas it inspects. Although the accreditation schemes in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand all do. Many, including Ireland, also have schemes which protect clients’ money.

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Unless the UK stiffens up the financial controls on its language schools, students and agents who face losing their money may opt for countries where their deposits will be safer.

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Is Covid breaking the chains? | E L Gazette

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new versions of traditional christmas carols

There are so many beautiful Christmas carols:

Jay Doubleyou: favourite christmas carols

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This is a beautiful arrangement of an old carol:

The Wexford Carol · Desmond Earley · Mark Waters · The Choral Scholars of University College Dublin · Irish Chamber Orchestra 

The Wexford Carol - YouTube

And there are other wonderful pieces in their new album:

Be All Merry | HIGHRESAUDIO

Be All Merry by Irish Chamber Orchestra & The Choral Scholars of University College Dublin on Amazon Music - Amazon.com

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And here is a group that has a very modern, but still very traditional feel to carols:

PTXofficial - YouTube

For example:

[OFFICIAL VIDEO] 12 Days of Christmas - Pentatonix - YouTube

[Official Video] Joy To The World – Pentatonix - YouTube

[OFFICIAL VIDEO] God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Pentatonix - YouTube

[OFFICIAL VIDEO] Deck The Halls - Pentatonix - YouTube

[OFFICIAL VIDEO] Away in a Manger – Pentatonix - YouTube

[Official Video] Carol of the Bells - Pentatonix - YouTube

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British composer Howard Goodall has done a lot on Christmas carols - with an interesting documentary:

BBC Two HD The Truth About Christmas Carols (2008) - YouTube

He's also arranged several carols very nicely:

Goodall: Enchanted Voices - Pro curatis (For Those That Are Cared For) - YouTube

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Here are some very interesting, older but 'modern' arrangements:

Queen City Brass Band - Coventry Carol - YouTube

Bing Crosby & David Bowie - "The Little Drummer Boy (Peace On Earth)" - YouTube

The Cherry Tree Carol - YouTube

Carlson School of Management Flash Mob, Deck the Halls - YouTube

Steeleye Span The Boar's head Carol - YouTube

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - The Petersens (LIVE) - YouTube

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will innovation or government save us?

Today’s big read in the Guardian looks at the difficult questions around new technologies and finite resources:    

The curse of ‘white oil’: electric vehicles’ dirty secret | News | The Guardian

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These news pages have looked at how potentially ‘dirty’ batteries are:

Cobalt in your car battery: the ethics of mining minerals – Vision Group for Sidmouth

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Even if the sources are relatively local:

West Country lithium – Vision Group for Sidmouth

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Earlier in the year, Michael Moore caused controversy with his latest documentary questioning ‘alternative technologies’:

“This film is the wake-up call to the reality we are afraid to face: that in the midst of a human-caused extinction event, the environmental movement’s answer is to push for techno-fixes and band-aids. It’s too little, too late.”

‘Planet of the Humans’: a new documentary – Vision Group for Sidmouth

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We are facing a conundrum, then:

Do we tackle a growing environmental catastrophe with ‘techno-fixes’ or do we look to more fundamental changes?

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The Futures Forum blog has looked at these issues over the years:

On the one hand, the techno-fix:

Futures Forum: The techno-fix … Can we engineer our way out of environmental catastrophe? Or … Can we ‘design for the real world’?

[And with a comment posted only today here:] Futures Forum: Techno-promises unfulfilled >>> Where did the future go?

Futures Forum: Our core ecological problem is not climate change. It is overshoot, of which global warming is a symptom. And technology won’t save us.

Futures Forum: Climate change: Are proposals to repair the climate offering “scalable technological fixes” or “climate despair”?

On the other, fixing the system:

Futures Forum: Climate change… and the possibility – or not – of “decoupling” economic growth from environmental impacts

Futures Forum: Climate change… “Clean growth is a safe bet in the climate casino”

Futures Forum: Climate Change: and growth on Radio 4

Futures Forum: Climate change >>> This Changes Everything >>> 

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The real question, though, is whether free-market innovation or the government is going to provide the solutions:

Center for a Stateless Society » Reclaiming the Public

Conservatives don’t hate climate science. They hate the left’s climate solutions – The Washington Post

Futures Forum: Climate change: “Conservatives don’t hate climate science. They hate the left’s climate solutions”

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There are two new books for your Christmas stocking which address these questions.

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Firstly, there is the contention that free societies produce innovation – from Matt Ridley, aka Viscount Ridley, disrupter, former chair of Northern Rock, and a ‘master raconteur’:

Innovation, he argues, is not mere invention: to take off, an invention needs to become ‘sufficiently practical, affordable, reliable and ubiquitous to be worth using’.

Frances Cairncross – Secrets of the Wheelie Suitcase | Literary Review | Issue 487

Asks RIchard Dawkins:

Why should fiction be more gripping than books about what really happened? I don’t know, but Matt Ridley certainly bucks the trend. “How Innovation Works” (Fourth Estate) warms to the “bottom-up” theme of his earlier “The Evolution of Everything”, moving on to the history of human inventions. No, not inventions, evolutions. Forget the “lone genius” theory. The steam engine, television, the light bulb, even the water closet – innovation after innovation evolved many times independently around the world. Fascinating stories by a master raconteur.

Books of the year | newstatesman.com

With further enthusiasm for his analysis:

How Innovation Works by Matt Ridley review — forget lightbulb moments | Saturday Review | The Times [paywall]

How Innovation Works by Matt Ridley review: the real mother of invention? It’s not necessity | telegraph.co.uk [paywall]

Saying yes slowly is what’s hampering progress today | The Spectator

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On the other hand, another book fresh off the press pushes for the same sort of interventions we have seen over the current health crisis:

In “Corona, Climate, Chronic Emergency”, Andreas Malm begins by asking why capitalist governments have seemingly been willing to pitch the world into recession to fight Covid, while they have been so resistant to calls to cut carbon pollution sharply. After all, Malm muses, “no champion of radical emissions cuts has ever asked people to submit to something as unpleasant as a lockdown.”

Book Review: Corona, Climate, Chronic Emergency | Climate & Capitalism

This is by Swedish academic and activist Andreas Malm:

Andreas Malm | jacobinmag.com

Andreas Malm | The Department of Human Geography | keg.lu.se

And there have been several reviews of his latest work:

Malm mines the initial states of emergency imposed by governments in 2020 responding to Covid-19 for insights and lessons in contrast with the very different responses to the more serious climate emergency.

Capitalism can’t be curbed with carrots – Tempest

Global fever | theecologist.org 

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hibernating language schools

It's been a difficult time for the teaching English industry:

Jay Doubleyou: how are english language teachers doing?

Jay Doubleyou: how is the english language teaching industry doing?

This is from an excellent piece about the state of schools - and how to find out for yourself:

Is hibernation the answer to a Covid Christmas?

By

 Melanie Butler

 -

4th December 2020

Melanie Butler tries to sort out what’s going on with school closures.

To be fair to my fellow hacks, in the midst of a global pandemic where schools have been ordered to open and close their doors like cuckoo clocks, it’s astonishingly difficult to find out what is actually going on.

In the UK and Malta, for example, the only way you know that a school has closed is when they disappear from the accreditation lists. But even then they can suddenly appear again...

No wonder the Gazette is inundated with e-mails from agents demanding to know if a certain school is in trouble. (Answer: if it is in the UK, check for free at Companies House where all companies’ financial information is available. If it isn’t in the UK, we’re not going to pay to find out for you.) Also, see our updated list of UK school closures and changes to legal status...

Bring on hibernation. Show us all to the bear cave. We need some rest.

Is hibernation the answer to a Covid Christmas? | E L Gazette

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some rappers have a larger vocabulary than shakespeare or melville

"Designer Matt Daniels looked at the first 35,000 words of artists’ rap lyrics — and the first 35,000 words of Moby-Dick, along with 35,000 words from Shakespeare’s plays — to compare the size of their vocabularies. He found that some have bigger vocabularies than Shakespeare or Melville. Of course, vocabulary size isn’t the only measure of artistry. But it’s an interesting look at how English has changed."

25 maps that explain the English language - Vox

The Largest Vocabulary in Hip Hop

Largest vocabulary in hip hop uses more unique words than Shakespeare

Data scientists reveal the rappers that have a better vocabulary than Shakespeare | indy100 | indy100

The Best Infographic for Comparing Rapper Vocabularies, From Wu-Tang to Yeezy | WIRED

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