SIAW and Hak take the opportunity to point out a couple of mistakes they think I've made. Embarrassingly for a teacher, it seems I've made a grammatical error by using "amount" when I should have used "number" in this post. I've corrected it now and will be performing a self-criticism before killing myself later on today, if that's any consolation.
However, I'm not correcting (sic) "referenda" here because it is actually the plural of referendum - not "referendums" (it's the Latin, dear boys, the Latin). The reference to the German constitution banning referenda because of Hitler's use of them is historically accurate. I do agree with the German assessment that "referenda are the devices of dictators and demagogues" but I'm not going to labour the point 'cos I don't care about it that much.
I have no satisfactory explanation as to why I call myself "Shuggy". It's not my real name, I just thought of the silliest name I could think of the first time I ever left a comment on someone's blog (Shuggy McGlumpher) and I wish I'd though of something else because it's too late to change it now (as with the title of this blog: bloody stupid - and boring). The "modies" in the URL does have a rational explanation but unfortunately, I have to disappoint; it isn't anything obscene : originally, I intended this to be a blog for my fellow professionals and "modies" is what the kids call "Modern Studies", the other subject I teach along with history.
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