FErret

24th February 2012, 12:00am

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FErret

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/ferret-164

Dough! The Sandwich World Cup escapes us

Well done to Brooklands College bakery student Emily Smith, who last week became the youngest competitor in Delifrance’s ninth Sandwich World Cup. Wait, what? There’s a Sandwich World Cup?

Even more surprising is that the competition was held at the Paris School of Bakery and Pastry. Messieurs, you may know how to whip up a macaroon but any fool knows that the French are clueless when it comes to the art of the sandwich. L’Academie Francaise hasn’t even got around to coming up with a word for it, centuries after the fourth earl, John Montagu, felt peckish. Sadly, among these philistines, 18-year-old Emily wasn’t able to place in the top three with her peppered beef sandwich with kale, bitter greens and a caper and gherkin sauce. Perhaps just like in the football World Cup, the English can only win at home.

UCU and IfL take aim... at each other

What did you do in the FE professionalisation wars, granddad? It’s a question that will captivate future generations.

The sniping between the University and College Union and the Institute for Learning continues over compulsory, paid-for membership of the professional body.

In a previous episode, the former deputy chief executive of the IfL, Lee Davies, criticised UCU’s survey, which the union used to support its claim that the mandatory professional body should be scrapped. Mr Davies had a point, since he had been able to register and complete the survey despite not being a member of UCU. Polling members in this slapdash way undermined the union as a democratic voice, especially given a low response rate, he pointed out.

But UCU is not taking this lying down. One member turned the tables, questioning how democratic the IfL’s advisory council is. Could he please see the voting figures for the newly elected members? Er, no. “It is not our practice to release voting data,” he was told, not even the turnout. Even Saddam Hussein used to make something up for the punters to pore over on election night.

See Sally Hunt’s column, page 54.

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