Peter Jackson column
Oct 26 2006 By Peter Jackson, The Journal
It's an important thing in business, as in life, to know where you're coming from, and where you're going to.
And this is what makes geography such an important subject.
I haven't got a satellite positioning system, but I have driven a car that has. It (the system not the car) was directing me to a business meeting, but, to my chagrin, I ended up in a cul-de-sac on a derelict industrial estate in the middle of nowhere, even though the system's robotic voice was assuring me I was on the dual-carriageway I was in looking for.
Only on looking up did I realise the road I wanted was being carried high above me on a flyover. That I was actually underneath it would not have been obvious from a satellite.
The dangers of these systems were further underlined in Germany the other day.
A motorist obeyed the command, "Turn right now!", and careered off the road 30 yards before the true junction, on to a building site, up a stairway, and into a toilet shack.
He caused 2,000 euros damage to the stairway, 100 euros damage to his car and was fined 35 euros. The extent of the damage to the toilet is not reported.
Maybe it is a growing reliance on satellite navigation which explains the national decline in geography as an academic subject.
Despite being better travelled than their grandparents could ever dream of, one in five British pupils questioned in a recent survey could not locate the British Isles on a map, and one in 10 was unable to name a single continent.
Nearly half failed to identify China and 40% did not know where the US was in the poll of six to 14-year-olds.
This level of ignorance can be a great handicap in life - though not I suspect when it comes to getting a Grade A in geography A-level.
Presumably those responsible for the national BBC News website are afflicted with this geographical ignorance.
In a news item this week on the map showing England's tranquil places, the London-centric BBC showed a map which contrived to omit the North of England.
