Outside In

Culture

The Labour Family

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MM

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Apr 9, 2017

A version of the essay that appeared in the Blue Labour book (available to buy here) The Labour Family by Michael Merrick Introduction The family. Not something the contemporary left is terribly good at talking about, the family. Mere mention of the word can bring about fits of blushes in…
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Education

The Challenge of Traditionalism

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MM

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Feb 18, 2017

‘Traditionalism’, so far as that label catches anything, has had something of a fraught time of late. It has been put to all manner of uses, positive and negative, from those who seek to attach legacy and prestige to their latest innovation, to those who wish to dismiss a proposition…
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Education

Liberty and faith: a defence of church schools

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MM

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Jan 3, 2017

This article first appeared in the online Fabian Review on November 2016. It can be accessed here. As Catholics who teach in Catholic schools, we must necessarily approach the church school debate with an air of resignation, sure in the knowledge that we will be deemed from the outset…
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Education

The Limits of Aspiration

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MM

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Dec 31, 2016

A version of this article first appeared in the TES magazine print edition in October 2016. Aspiration Aspiration has become quite the fashion in education. It appears to be the solution to everything from social mobility to boys’ underachievement, from poor discipline to dreary school culture. And we might…
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Education

Teachers on Treadmills

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MM

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Dec 23, 2016

Playing the Good Game I used to love football as a kid. The camaraderie was a key part of it, of course, but I also genuinely enjoyed the technical aspect of the game: I learned my craft through endless rounds of heads and volleys, of one-man knockout, of ‘wall-y’, of…
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Culture

Blue Labour Manchester – Panel Outlines

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MM

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Nov 12, 2016

Since 2009, Blue Labour has been exploring and detailing the growing disconnect between the Labour Party and those whom it has traditionally sought to represent. At its heart has remained a consistent, core insight: an all-out embrace of liberalism, both social and economic, has alienated the Labour Party from its…
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Culture

A Letter to (those leaving) Labour

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MM

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Sep 24, 2016

So, Corbyn wins. And lots of people are unhappy about it. We know this, because lots of people are tweeting and blogging about How Very Unhappy they are about it. Some have even taken the time to curate their tweets into mini-testimonies, kindly enunciating the precise reasons for their discontent,…
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Culture, Education

Should Catholics want more Catholic schools?

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MM

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Sep 10, 2016

This article appeared on the Catholic Herald website in September 2016. Read it here. For all we are told about Theresa May’s cautious nature, her recent approach to education certainly has the air of the renegade about it. Forthcoming Tory plans for our schools have a little bit for everyone to be…
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Culture, Education

Feminists and working-class boys

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MM

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Aug 20, 2016

If you are a working-class boy, there is every chance that most of the professionals you will come across in your formative years are women. If you are a working-class boy, there is every chance that most of the authority figures you come across in your formative years will be…
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Culture

A Letter to (liberal) Labour

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MM

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Aug 9, 2016

So you feel disenfranchised? Alienated? Like your party has been stolen from you? That you have no voice? That you are not welcome? Not valued? Feel that nobody is willing to listen, let alone talk about your concerns? That your political home has been taken over by those hostile to…
Continue reading →: A Letter to (liberal) Labour

Hello,

Welcome to Outside In, a blog first started back in 2009 and which has been revived to collect together the various things I have been involved with more recently. You’ll find some newer stuff that has generally appeared elsewhere, my old archive of work on education, politics, and culture, as well as a few other tidbits too. Take a look around!

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“I am a Christian… so that I do not expect ‘history’ to be anything but a ‘long defeat’ — though it contains (and in a legend may contain more clearly and movingly) some samples or glimpses of final victory“

J.R.R. Tolkien

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