This will be a blog primarily about English as a subject, so therefore teaching English. I wanted to call it Mike’s English, not a particularly inspiring title, but I thought there was mild mileage in the humour of starting with SPaG [if you’re reading this I’m guessing you have a working knowledge of teaching English]: the apostrophe would have worked two ways, firstly, as possession because the views that are going to be expressed on the subject of English are defiantly mine, though I know shared by many; and secondly, as omission to introduce irony because I am an American. I am an American who has lived in the UK for 48 years and taught English at an 11-18 comprehensive in Devon for 30 years, 18 as Head of Department. So I have some form.

However, Mike’s English was already taken as a blog name, apparently, so I have settled with mikeandenglish. There will be cleverclogs writing enough later on, so perhaps being content with the pragmatism of what it says on the tin is a sensible start.

There will also be plenty of nostalgia but hopefully a concentration on current commentary. I have learned the hard way that my immediate and angry commentaries on education in general and English in particular have not been particularly popular on Facebook of late where they get few if any acknowledgements, especially when compared with more ecstatic likings of photos of hamburgers on the barbecue.

I will start with my next posting which is a copy of the letter I have sent to Nicky Morgan, Education Secretary, regarding the banning of American authors by her predecessor Michael Gove from the GCSE English Literature syllabus from 2015. I am currently awaiting her reply.