Category Archives: poetry

Is AI bigger than the internet revolution?

Posted on by
Reply

During my lifetime, I have experienced three major revolutions driven by technology; the microprocessor revolution of the 1970s and 1980s; the internet and social communication revolution of the 1990s and 2000s around the internet and phones and gaming, and now the Artificial Intelligence revolution: or AI as it almost universally known.

Over the past week, I have set three different AI sites three different tasks, all using free versions of the software. The tasks were: draft a script for a play; create a website of this blog and turn a poem into a song and add new verses.

I was amazed at the results for all three tasks, and especially how quickly they were performed so early into the AI revolution.

I asked for a script for a play about a closure of a college, and ‘The last assembly’ gave me 5 key characters, four themes for the play and even some possible dialogue for a final speech and how the other characters reacted to its delivery.

In its way, even more impressive was the website created to market this blog. In under 5 minutes, and after a bit of interplay with the AI agent there was a useable website that those, I have sent it to thought was an attractive website. Sure, there were a few wrinkles to iron out, such as the wrong date being assigned to some posts used as examples, and the first version being just in monochrome. But, 5 minutes, and free, and perfection is expected!

The third task took a poem I had written to celebrate a music festival’s 40th anniversary and created a song for primary school-children based upon a first two verses from the poem that I had created.

Here was the poem’s first three verses.

Sing for the sound of singing

Sing for the joy of singing

Sing for the harmony of singing:

So, sing we all together.

As we sing together here,

Different schools, but single purpose,

Combining in this special place

For forty summers since.

Forty years of many pupils,

staff and parents, come all to

Celebrate in song and sounds

Old, new, would be traditional.

And my attempt at a song, something I have never tried to do before.

[C] Sing, sing, sing

[F] Sing for the joy of singing

[C] Sing, sing, sing,

[G] Sing for the sound of singing

  • So we
  • sing to·[C] gether.

[Am] Let us sing as one

[F] Different schools,

[C] but single purpose,

  • Let us
  • sing to·[C] gether.

Here’s what AI added

[C] Raise, raise, raise

[F] Raise up your voice in chorus

[C] Loud, proud, strong,

[G] Let every heart sing with us

  • So we
  • sing to·[C] gether.

[Am] Every voice belongs

[F] Every note a story

[C] Blending dreams

[G] in shared harmony

  • Let us
  • sing to·[C] gether.

[C] Hope, hope, hope

[F] Hope in the songs we’re sharing

[C] Shine, shine, shine,

[G] Shine with the love we’re bearing

  • As we
  • sing to·[C] gether.

I was also offered platforms where the backing track could be created. Now, the poem was written in an hour after receiving the invite, and isn’t great literature, so the song isn’t a work of art, but AI was asked for something primary school children might sing, and I think that’s what was created.

If I can do these three things with no tutorial support in less than half an hour all told, then we have to take AI, and its implications for our school system seriously now.

These three tasks were relatively value-free, but AI has the power to drive thinking, values and morals.

With the government extending the franchise to those aged 16 or above, what we teach in school is now of vital importance, and it must no longer be just a diet of facts or an attempt to create a purpose for handwriting other than as an art form. Politicians of all parties need to think seriously and quickly about what we need to teach in schools.

This blog was created by a human except for the verses of the song that were created by AI

Youth Theatre in action

Posted on by
Reply

Last evening I attended the Chipping Norton Theatre’s Youth Theatre production of ‘Tales for the traveller’s inn’ an adaptation of some of Chaucer’s tales for the 21st century by young people of different age groups.

Chipping Norton is fortunate to have its own theatre. The main auditorium was originally built as a salvation Army citadel, in 1888. After some years as a furniture warehouse, it was rediscovered in 1968; fundraising began in 1973, the theatre was registered as a charity in 1974, and it opened as a theatre in 1975. It subsequently acquired adjoining properties to provide space for a bar, gallery, green rooms, offices and rehearsal space.

The Youth Theatre is part of their outreach work and last night’s production included children from a wide range of different ages from Year 4 upwards.

The hard work and original scripts were visible for the audience packing the theatre to see. There were some real stars in the making on display last evening and the mixture of mime, music and the spoken work went well with the themes behind Chaucer’s timeless tales. Fr many of these young people it will have been their first time on a full-size stage and they performed admirably.

The Theatre at Chipping Norton has an extensive outreach programme including putting on 41 mental health workshops in schools; providing 970 art packs for children from low income families; sourcing 9,000 lunches for local families and providing 45 free holiday workshop places for children on Free School Meals.

Sadly, tonight is the final production, but I am sure it will be playing to a full house of family, friends and locals. It was a privilege to have been invited to attend and to witness the work of both the young people and their tutors. The arts can provide so much enrichment to the lives of those that both participate and also those that just come to watch.

Thank you to the hardworking team at Chipping Norton Theatre and I look forward to returning next year.

Twin Tracks

Posted on by
2

********* NOW PUBLISHED IN BOOKSTORES THIS WEEK OR BUY DIRECT ***********

Although this blog is my personal view of education, and particularly some of the numbers around teacher supply in England, it doesn’t encompass everything I do.

Regular readers will be aware of the poem written to commemorate the sacrifice of young men in war, published as a blog post on the 4th August 2014, the 100th anniversary of the start of World War One.

Coincidentally, world War Two features in my latest book: Twin Tracks. This is an account of a journey my twin brother and I took by rail around Europe in the autumn of 2019. We wrote it as a manual to encourage others to take such trips, but it has become a record of a vanished life since covid-19 struck the world.

Twin Tracks will be published at the end of November 2020 but, as the ISBN has been allocated, it can be pre-ordered through good bookstores and other sources. The ISBN is 978-1—19163099-3-7 and the cover price in England is £12.99. Sadly, the first edition of 200 copies has now been sold out – July 2025. we are investigating a new edition covering our 2024 rail trip around Australia as well as .the chapters in the first edition.

Below is a short extract from the chapter in the book about the shadow of World War Two.

Four of the nine places in which we stayed displayed visible reminders of the war. Two of them had modern museums devoted to the war. It sometimes felt that every major city had a tank on display somewhere. We had planned possible visits to the modern museums and were glad that we had done so. There were other places, such as Budapest, where time did not allow for a visit to the military museum, enough merely to note the presence of the T34 tank outside. It would have been intriguing to have seen how the museum dealt with the tanks on the streets of the city in 1956. There are still signs of the ‘uprising’ if one has time to look.

No doubt there are signs of uprising in what was the Soviet Zone of Germany post-1945, what became known to us in the West as East Germany. Certainly, in Berlin there are more visible signs of that era, with remnants of the famous Berlin Wall that encircled the parts of the City not within the Russian sphere of influence for more than 20 years. Checkpoint Charlie, the crossing point between the American and Russian Zones is also remembered. It is interesting that the films of the Second World War have now been replaced by films about the post-1945 Cold War that often feature Berlin.

On a happier note the book also contains details of the memorable meals we ate during the trip. Here is an account of one of them.

This restaurant is worth the trip up Buda Hill for dinner. It was too cold to eat outside, so we were in the relatively small main room that is two tables wide and stretched back from the road. There was a pianist located near the door, but the music wasn’t too loud as to be intrusive.

Food was to a high standard, although the menu was not that shown on their web site, and why should it be. The best dish as far as I was concerned was the pork with puffed rice and a sauce. The baked cheesecake with red berry compote was also good. I cannot fault the porcine mushroom soup for flavour, but I did feel that the presentation could have been better thought out. The mushrooms were quartered and not sliced and for a restaurant of this quality it wasn’t the best way to start a meal from the presentational point of view. I must make it clear that I was not unhappy with the soup, but with its presentation….
The wine list was good, and there were three different Tokaj wines of varying ages. I had a glass of a very mellow 10-year-old wine. We had no difficulty in ordering in English and there was a menu in English as well. This was an enjoyable experience just short of memorable.

For anyone interested in travel, this might make a good Christmas present. Send me a comment either if you need more details or your bookshop won’t stock it. But, the first edition published by Oxfordfolio is a limited one. Signed copies are available for a small donation to the charity Children Heard and Seen.

Children in Care

Posted on by
Reply

The reports from the Children’s’ Commissioner on Children in Care published today are alarming. https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/ The number of young people taken into care has been increasing over the past few years for a number of different reasons. Some local authorities tend to take children into care at a younger age than others. Some have more than can be placed with families, albeit sometimes even those placed with families are not located close to where they have been growing up.

A lack of foster families – not just parents since other children in the family need to be part of the decision to foster – especially for more challenging teenagers and groups of siblings can be a real problem. My own family ancestry includes a family group split up in the 1920s. They were fortunate that they were able to keep in touch and retain their familial bonds, even after one was adopted.

The challenge of being moved around, often at short notice and involving a change of school, must be a terrible burden.

A child in care once wrote:

“I moved again toady

Discoloured, ripped bin bags struggled to hold my things.”

We cannot countenance the pain felt by such a young person. Their need to hit out becomes more understandable. Less so, the failure of the State to recognise their needs and to allow any undue profits to be made from their situations by the private sector.

The Children’s Commission Stability Index 2020 identifies that

Just over 1 in 10 children in care (8,000 children) experienced multiple placement moves in 2018/19. This rate has remained largely unchanged since 2016. Looking over the longer term, 1 in 4 children in care in both 2018 and 2019 (13,000 children) have experienced 2+ placement moves over 2 years.

More than half of children in care in both 2017 and 2019 have experienced at least one placement change over this 3 year period. These rates have remained broadly constant since 2016.

Older children are more likely to experience multiple placement moves in a year than other children in care. 14% of children in care aged 16+ and 11.5% of children aged 12-15 have had two or more placement moves in 2018/19. Rates are highest amongst 12-15 year olds who also entered care aged 12-15, where nearly 1 in 5 of these children experienced multiple placement moves in 2018/19.

Along with Special education Needs, where demand has also risen significantly, children and young people in care is also an area that need additional funding to address the current shortcomings in the system.

We must also ensure that the young people have a voice that can be heard through groups such as local Children in Care Councils and that local councillors take an active interest in those for whom that have corporate parenting responsibility. Do civil leaders or even ward councillors often visit their local children’s homes and acknowledge the work that foster families are doing? I know that the best do.

These reports need to be read and acted upon at all levels.

Covid-19

Posted on by
2

Someone has suggested that I put these two poems on my blog. They are both somewhat downbeat, or even melancholy, as befits the mood when writing them. As this blog is now more irregular in its offerings, I feel able to do so.

Please keep safe and well and my thanks to everyone helping in whatever way to fight this pandemic.

Covid-19

How ironic that

We looked at never ending rain

Through sullen windows.

Just to view the sun through self-same panes

 

For, now most must not do more

Than look; don’t touch.

An almost silent spring.

Where hidden sounds emerge.

 

Was that a woodpecker’s drill?

Unheard before the clamour

Of our streets had died away

To stillness and serenity.

 

Social media replaces

Print, and nails the coffin

Of the daily newspaper

We have loved?

 

What words will disappear, so

Bandwith, router, social distance

Can appear in dictionaries?

Not curfew, coroner, shielding

Now brought back to use.

 

We fumble forward

Turning freedom on its head.

Still unwilling to surrender

Liberty for lockdown.

 

Where will we go?

We do not know.

The end from this beginning

Changes every day.

 

27th March 2020

Fears remain the same

The casual swipe of death

Pierces life’s sunset pattern.

Breaking comfort and order

Through sudden phone or text

 

We wish we’d never answered.

Such modern telegrams

Of isolated death.

Apart from loved ones.

 

Missing as former warriors

Lost in battlefields.

Lovers die surrounded

As they were, by

 

Acquaintances, but

Rarely family or friends.

This war, building daily,

To reflect the biggest battle yet.

 

No funeral for these fallen,

Taken ahead of time.

Buried with scant ceremony,

To await a future remembrance.

 

Private grief, without even

Neighbours solace offered.

But, by phone or email;

Too hard to read.

 

What will time heal?

As yet, we do not know.

But, hope eternal springs,

From life’s indomitable spirit.