It is time for me to return to Death of a Nightingale and to the pivotal issue in the Play. I outline it in the Prologue. I illustrate it in the play.
In the UK and beyond, where does control stop and participation begin? This is one of the most important questions that Western democracy has to confront.
The Prologue
There are all those working in the public service who feel obliged to do some things they know they shouldn’t be doing, or not do things that they should.
There are school governors, and people like them, who are doing valuable voluntary work within the community, but who are deliberately denied the tools to do it properly by those who prefer to do it themselves, but want to make it look otherwise. It is the System that needs looking at, the con in consultation, the charade of partnership, the make-believe, and as a result, the mess of much of it.
I am only saying here what more and more people are saying. Lying has become endemic from the top downwards. But, when proven lying is a heinous crime in our society. the denial and the cover-up necessarily follow, and compound the initial problem. The checks and balances that I always thought were an integral part of a democratic society have been disabled.
………….
The recent Power Report pointed to “the weakening of effective dialogue between governed and governors” and “the rise of quiet authoritarianism within government.” If I can remove the wrapping paper, it is saying that our democracy is often just a sham, and that the problem is not so much spin as twist.
It is a serious criticism of those who wield power – the subtle and not so subtle pressures they exercise – the patronage they use to get their way. It should be no surprise that lawyers, accountants, academics and others, from time to time compromise strict standards of professional behaviour and play word games instead.
I have seen it happen. If the System does look itself in the mirror, it needs to recognise that the mirror itself is a distorting one. Will it do even that? Sad to say, the report has already been allowed to gather dust.
These extracts show how it works out in the play. You should read and “freeze frame” each scene in its entirety. That is one reason why it is “a play written to be read.”
Act One, Scene 2
James Harrington, the Mandarin from the Department for Education and Skills, is discussing with David Harding, the Director of Education in Wexborough, how the policy of Inclusion can be driven forward through the closure of Brighouse School.
JAMES HARRINGTON The key is to get the Head teacher on side. You really must try to do that.
DAVID HARDING To get the egg to accept the frying pan. You’re right. The parents have got a lot of time for her. They trust her. If she argues the case for closure it will be much, much better than if we do. And the staff will go along with it too. There should be no problem getting the School Organisation Committee to go along with the closure after that.
JAMES HARRINGTON She must know that virtue has its reward but definitely not otherwise. She will need another school when the School is closed. You do write her references, after all.
DAVID HARDING Yes, we do. But that’s a trade secret. Governors might do it more knowledgeably, maybe more honestly. We do it more …er purposefully.
Act One, Scene 5
David Harding, the Director of Education in Wexborough and Gerry Thompson, SEN Controller persuade Margaret Williamson, the head teacher of Brighouse School, to argue for its closure.
MARGARET WILLIAMSON I thought OFSTED was interested in standards and wouldn’t like what you are suggesting.
DAVID HARDING You misread it. They’ll turn a blind eye to it. They won’t put a black mark against you or your school while this is going on. And when they inspect us they’re only interested in whether we are delivering government policy and meeting government targets. That’s the way that things get done.
MARGARET WILLIAMSON And people get done.
GERRY THOMPSON Margaret, just look two years ahead. Fewer kids. Less money. Fewer staff. Do you think you personally, never mind the School, can face an OFSTED inspection.
MARGARET WILLIAMSON I’ll have to if that’s what the parents want.
DAVID HARDING Look, we’re all in the same boat. Can’t you see that? If you lose half your school, do you really think that you can deliver the national curriculum to the rest?
MARGARET WILLIAMSON It wouldn’t be easy.
DAVID HARDING It wouldn’t be possible. And meanwhile you’ll have a battle royal on your hands. The parents will be on your back and on ours, and don’t think you can escape the backwash. You’ll still need another job sometime. You must see that you will have queered your own pitch. People will be looking for reasons not to appoint you. You must see the danger of that.
MARGARET WILLIAMSON I haven’t much alternative then?
DAVID HARDING None.
MARGARET WILLIAMSON Tell me, am I a mouse in a trap or a rat leaving a sinking ship?
DAVID HARDING Neither, you’re just doing the job you’re paid to do, like everyone else. When you are employed by the State you’re not paid to ask questions. In particular, you’re not paid to ask yourself any questions. That’s not part of your job description, and it’s incompatible with Health and Safety Regulations.
MARGARET WILLIAMSON When you’re employed by the State, you don’t have to be brain dead but it helps. Of course this is how the Germans and the Russians learnt how to survive their little dictatorships. Can I have a glass of water please?
Act One Scene 6
Margaret Williamson, head teacher of Brighouse School is explaining to her friend Joan Errington, its English teacher, how she has been pressurised to argue to parents the case for the closure of her school.
MARGARET WILLIAMSON They gave me no choice. They really didn’t. The Government wants schools like ours closed. They think it’ll save money which it won’t. They pass the buck to the local authorities to do their dirty work for them and the local authority passes the buck to me. God, what a lousy world.
JOAN ERRINGTON I can see what’s going on. They don’t want another losing confrontation with parents at all costs.
MARGARET WILLIAMSON You know what I feel like? I feel like a lump of plasticine, a little lump of plasticine that they have twisted in to a shape of their own choosing…. (Pause)…. Give me a hug, Joan.
In case you have still to read the play I need to explain to you who is the Nightingale in “Death of a Nightingale.” It is not Margaret Williamson, the head teacher, who tries to take her own life when she is asked to betray her school. It is Brighouse School itself … or it can be anything else you value that is under threat if you do nothing about it.
It is, of course, not only those working in the public service who feel obliged to do some things they know they shouldn’t be doing, or not do things that they should. It can happen in the private sector as well, and in the professions too. Sadly there are far too many examples of this, and too many very unfortunate consequences. I refer to one here.
Act 2 Scene 7
Joan Errington, the English Teacher, Margaret Willamson the head teacher and Eileen Winterton the chair of governors watch the bulldozer at work demolishing their school.
JUDITH ERRINGTON … You know, all they do is play games with people’s lives – you kids are just little pawns in a gigantic game of chess.
MARGARET WILLIAMSON Sacrificial pawns, Judith. And for everyone else it’s “Snakes and Ladders”, with more snakes than ladders.
EILEEN WINTERTON In Enron there was another name for it. They called it “rank or yank”. You were “ranked” if you played ball with them, “yanked”, sacked, if you didn’t. Well, no-one blew the whistle, and people lost billions of dollars and their jobs..
I flag up this issue in Death of a Nightingale, using the drama of the human dilemma. When you are presented with it, do you keep your head below the parapet … or do you jump off it? What would you do?
And what should Society do?
I shall consider this in my next Post.
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