Danger - This Poem Might Make You Think

A poem by one of the U.K.'s leading contemporary poets, Carol Ann Duffy, had been withdrawn from an anthology for schools because of complaints about it. The problem? It tries to understand a young person who uses a knife by looking at it through their head.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7594566.stm

How stupid! This is not a rant about poetry needing to connect to everyday life (it should and does) - but what kind of thinking says we hide the problem away and don't try to understand what is happening? Some young people do carry knives - we know that. What Duffy's poem does is allow a teacher to explore the feelings and reasons that are behind the action of such individuals. But oh no - the exam board have caved in and joined the 'stick out head in the sand' brigade and taken the poem out.

How do we tackle knife crime? How do we address the feelings that cause young people to feel the need to carry weapons? Just increasing punishments (important though these messages can be) will achieve little. Here was an opportunity to help young people think through the ideas behind the action and it has been thrown away.

A sad day for poetry, for education and for society. Right...that's off my chest...I'll go a read a poem about daffodils (until the pollen police say it has to be banned because some people will get hay fever from them so its unfair to suggest they provide a beneficial service).

Greenbelt 2

There is so much more i could write about Greenbelt, but here a just a few, short, random thoughts.

Firstly I was amazed by the amount of work and dedication of the teams who keep the whole thing running. The teams who work through the night to keep people safe, the people who run the control room, the medics, those responsible for safety and the list just goes on and on. For the last few years I have simply enjoyed being a festival goer – the step up to having an area of responsibility opened my eyes to the incredibly commitment of so many people to the festival. They are an amazing bunch and it was great to work with them.

Secondly I’m really pleased about the response to a number of bands on the fresh talent stage. On that stage we had bands who were made up of performers aged 18 and under. In their extensive review of the music at the festival crossrhythms magazine wrote “Certainly The Royal Welcome sound good enough to be hiked up to Greenbelt's Underground venue next year together with the other two outstanding bands from the Fresh Talent venue, Something For Sophie and Toxic Federation. It seems Greenbelt can still unearth exciting grassroots talent.” I’m so pleased that the talent of these young bands was recognised both for them, and because I believe giving young people a chance to develop their skills in the arts is a key part of what the festival is about. You can find the full review of Greenbelt at http://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/articles/music/Greenbelt_08_The_Music_Reviews/33185/p1/

Thirdly it was great to work with a fantastic team of over 100 youth workers all pulling together to create a great weekend. You know who you are...thank you!!

Greenbelt 1

Where to start? Heading up the youth programme at Greenbelt was an amazing, incredible, fantastic, confusing, complex and shattering experience!

Technical problems on the opening night saw venues opening late (or in the case of one youth stage staying dark), but once we got going we had a great night. In Humanic (14-17's) the team lead some crazy games between some great performances. The Royal Welcome, Just Fuzz, Zerostar and thebandwithnoname all played their hearts out to a crowd that just kept growing. Meanwhile Sounds of Salvation paid their first ever visit to the 11-14's venue and had a fantastic night with over 300 kids in that venue. Tom Elliot was everything a magician should be - funny, interactive and unbelievable, and a great time was had by all.

Of course there was lots of dashing about backstage, but we got off to a great start. By 11pm on Friday the message was out, this was not going to be jut another year in the youth venues, but a giant leap forward in terms of ambition, depth and strength of the programme. But that was only the beginning...