The more I find out about this one, the angrier I get
Someone at the Reading Agency needs to apologise, or resign
Today's @Telegraph editorial on the omission of any work by @jk_rowling from the list of 70 influential books written in the Queen's reign
Their mission is WHAT? And they left JK Rowling off the list?
If you want to complain, contact information for the Reading Agency is here. They need to explain their reasoning at the very, very least.
I can’t think of anyone whose writing for children has encouraged reading more than JKR.
It's hard not to be livid. I am fuming. There's been a proliferation of charities and 'agencies' that have flourished in the spaces where things used to be. Over the past few decades, which is now long enough to destroy and blank the memories of a generation or two and all organisational memory. Outsourcing all knowledge for core parts of our society and civil society. Healthcare. Mental Healthcare. Social care. Housing. Education. The Arts. Publishing. Prisons. Probation. Our Institutions and Professions. The insidious rot is everywhere. I had not heard of these people but it's a crowded field in 'grassroots' and 'access' and 'community' and they cross all sectors. And dilute the quality of it all.
The lines between them are blurry, often they get 'contracts' to provide 'services' that used to be a core part of national or local government delivery but some bright spark decided to marketise something and 'provide more choice'. University education? Yeah, we'll bid for that! Bin collections? Yeah we'll bid for that! Literacy and early years? Yeah why not we'll bid for that! Bridge building? Of course! We'll make it up as we go along! Get a flashy website and we're on a roll. They are often under no performance regime, have no clear remit and are accountable to no one. Everyone is an 'expert' because genuine expertise is underfunded, underpaid, understaffed and reeling in shock at the bouncy know-nothings that have taken over.
We know the issues with contracting out to private sector providers, we know the issues of funding cuts, lack of investment and austerity. The short-termism and the concurrent growth of removing face to face provision and sticking everything online. No longer 'teachers' but 'educational delivery specialist consultants' and other meaningless pap. The pervasive gender ideology nonsense. We know this - it's just yet another example. The morons at the family sex show for children with obvious links to Stonewall - it's the same names, the same gravy train and no one seems capable of addressing how they have destroyed so much or how to rebuild. When they're challenged or questioned they collapse or deflect. Who picks up the pieces?
People who know enough and might be of retirement age have been warning about this for decades.