Not There

Sometimes, if you want to understand what's happening, you have to look for what isn't there.

There's a Lord Peter Wimsey book called Five Red Herrings. I think I can say without spoilers that it concerns an artist found dead at his easel. Lord Peter examines the scene and looks for something that isn't there. He's looking for a tube of white paint. There isn't one, and there should be. Accordingly, he knows that this isn't an accidental death.

It's a key thing to understanding people's lives. What don't they talk about? Where don't they go? And when somebody is trying to sell you something - let's say, somebody's trying to sell you a battery-operated toy hamster. They tell you that it has a guarantee for six months, it takes AA batteries, it does forward somersaults and climbs up walls. What are they NOT telling you? They are not telling you why the guarantee only lasts six months, or how many batteries or how quickly it goes through them. It doesn't tell you if it lands the right way up after its somersault, and whether it can climb down the walls again or if it gets stuck up there.

Where is all this leading? Well, the government, like many governments from all directions, are very keen to get younger and younger children into nurseries. More children, even from the age of two, into more nurseries for more days and more hours in the day. These will provide stimulus, expertise, socialisation skills and preparation for school. Time and again our television screens show glimpses of children in brightly decorated nurseries, playing with bricks or being read to by highly skilled nursery nurses.

What aren't we being shown?

What are they not providing for these children?

This is quite a big subject. I'll continue it when you've had time for a think about it. Excuse me while I go and have a bath, if Much hasn't pinched the rubber duck.