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At the chalkface: The New Year

“I was going to hit this guy, a very little guy, so hard his head would spin, he wouldn’t know what the hell happened,” he opined at a rally. Ah, the nuances of Socratic debate.

A new year and the lurch to oblivion looms. Unless he blows up, blows us up or otherwise implodes, Donald Trump will become US president on January 20. Yikes! With few exceptions, Europe is drifting to the ugly right. And the UK, well England, could go Trump-lite. Paul Nuttall and his Kippers might see to that.

How will this toxic discourse, this blizzard of hatred, effect our classrooms, our playgrounds? One shudders. Who can defend the children from it? Teachers? On the frontline yet again?

This pernicious nonsense is now mainstream. Acceptable. “If you believe you’re a citizen of the world, you’re a citizen of nowhere,” says our leader in a craven, calculated dog whistle sort of way. There are still about 75 languages in my old school, a myriad of nationalities. Dear me.

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